Seeing is disBelieving
by pearl84
Summary: Cowritten with Truephan. Rated T. Before PP. Ghost OCs. Caught in the crossfire between Time and Existence, Danny and Vlad are forced to face the Master of Time, the Defenders of Existence, a new Enforcer, and, ultimately, extinction. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1:Violent Struggle

**Seeing is **_**dis**_**Believing**

**Co-written by: Truephan and Pearl84**

**Rated: T. Adventure/Suspense **

**Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs solely to Butch Hartman. **

**Summary:**

**Before PP and after Urban Jungle. Ghost OCs. Caught in the crossfire between Time and Existence, Danny and Vlad are forced to face the Master of Time, the Defenders of Existence, a new Enforcer, and, ultimately, extinction. But this new Enforcer also happens to have his own plans for the hybrids that could possibly be worse than death itself...Or, the illusion of it, at least.**

…

**Pearl:**

**Hello there, little pawns, er, **_**readers!**_** Sorry, I've been spending a little too much time with my Vlad muse. Heh. Ahem. Anyways, I just wanted to make clear a few things before we take off with this new little story! **

**First, this is a stand alone story for me. So, 'Checkmate' and my other stories don't really count for this one; though you will see I _hint_ at a few things here and there. Heh. Second thing, even if Truephan and I decided to post this fic on my fanfiction account, this story is as much mine as it is **_**hers**_**. Therefore, we will both be reading your wonderful thoughts on each chapter. So, please make sure you all keep in mind that you are addressing the both of us. I tell ya that because we will be taking turns replying to each of you. So, while it will be me who replies to some chapters; on others, it will be her. *winks* Hopefully, this isn't too confusing! Heh-heh! But this is also a first for Truephan and I, so I guess we are all on the same new boat! *grins* Okay. This is my note. Now, I'll turn it over to my dear—No, not you, Vlad muse! I was talking about Truephan! *glares at muse before smiling encouragingly at Truephan* All yours! :)**

**Truephan here:**

**Uh, thanks, pearl, and nice musey-musey! *cringes*. Ahem, anyhow, hi there, everyone and, really, ever since pearl and I had worked very closely to write up this little story, and I got to know her and her muse, I have to say that it was a bit difficult at first to survive the ordeal because of her muse-uh, not because of pearl! But I couldn't have survived if I didn't discover something very important about myself that I didn't know I had until I needed to fend off her muse. So, really, I have to thank him and say I'm not really scared of him anymore! And I'm sure that both pearl and her muse know what I'm talking about. But, heh-heh, of course y'all don't. Well, here it is for ya! I am very excited to tell you that I have discovered that I have multiple personalities. That's right! Most of them are benign, or are very clever and witty. And all of them are drop-dead gorgeous—well, they were when they were three-years-old anyways...But there is a dark side of me that is quite ruthless and does do a great job of fending off pearl's muse—at least some of the time, as evidenced by the production of this story… And that would be—ta-da—my very own Ms. Hyde. Yep. Quite the muse-slayer when she wants to be, especially when she fights dirty. Perhaps she'll be out to talk to you soon, but you never know about those ingenious multiple personalities! ****Anyhoo, enough blather about that! It's time to get to the story. I need to tell my phans that this story is a little out of sequence from my other stories. But, of course, pearl and I have separate stories going and we had to intersect as some point to collaborate on this story. So, just suspend your belief when reading this one, K? We all, of course****—and, oh, that would also include pearl and her muse—hope you enjoy it!**

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**Chapter 1—Violent Struggle**

* * *

Two fiery red bolts of light burned across the humid black curtain of the sky, appearing as wayward comets, ripping through and brightening the otherwise moonless night.

Suddenly, a large green ball of shimmering energy met the red lightening bolts head on, their impact echoing through the darkness. But instead of being destroyed by the collision, those scarlet balls of fire became _more _energized, as if suddenly taking a life of their own.

As a result, the red bolts continued their aggressive assault; and yet, the green energy was not destroyed. This time, the crimson forces changed tactics. Pulsating in various degrees of intensity, they reached out to the opposing green force, as though they were somehow measuring the strength of their challenger.

An instant later, however, the animated scarlet rays pulled away, seemingly yielding ground to the green energy, only to turn sharply around in a counter attack. They suddenly moved faster, growing in size as they charged back. The crimson bolts then melded together, becoming one just as the glowing emerald ray changed and redirected its aim.

Once again, the rival red and green beams collided; but this time, the now single red ray intensified its effort to subdue the glowing green one. And it immediately succeeded, now more angrily thrusting its emerald foe back towards its source.

A gasp was heard from the commander of the green energy in response to the turn of events. Nevertheless, he pushed back against the crimson force, only to struggle with his attempt.

Still high up in the sky, he grunted this time when he felt himself being rammed back and downward by each pulse of the strengthening red force; and, consequently, he was unwittingly retreating against it.

At this rate, he knew he would be slamming into the ground. But just before the red bolt pounded his green bolt of energy mercilessly into the ground, snuffing out its life, he managed to break away in a bare escape.

Still, the green ray's commander gasped again as he looked back, gaping in dismay at the large charred crater that could have been him instead. Even still, he didn't think about it any longer. He instantly recovered and shot back up into the sky and then just as quickly fired another round of green energy in the general direction where the now unseen force had once been.

The power source for the red energy answered with two more beams of its own once more. They instantly joined again, pulsating violently toward the next volley of emerald energy. But at the last moment, the single crimson ray split apart at the middle, and the green ray passed between the now twin rays with no effect.

The two red beams then charged onward toward their mark.

This time, the master of the emerald energy floated back both in astonishment and dread as the pair of scarlet beams drew closer and began to spin around him, suddenly glowing brighter before melding into a ring of fire large enough to _not_ burn him, but _near_ enough that its flames eagerly licked at him.

But that was the least of his worries.

He could barely believe his eyes at what he was now seeing. And although the rest of its body remained hidden in the murky night, he was sure the renegade tail rising above his floating form belonged to a dragon-like creature. And at an instant, the muscular tail suddenly jutted toward him as a slashing knife from under a mysterious cloak, and took a swipe at him. It moved rapidly and dangerously close to him, and he was certain that the tail had every intention of smashing him into the hard ground several feet below. That is, if the ring of fire still surrounding him did not suffocate him first…

But when he saw the tail come at him at such force, a quick duck under the ring prevented his being hit, even as he yelled in fear when he barely missed some of the fire when he moved.

The intended victim of the dragon then hitched his breath, momentarily dumbfounded at what happened next. The ring of flames countered his action, swiftly slithering like a snake as they moved downward and around him, placing him in the middle of the hissing flames once more.

And a heartbeat later, the ring of fire began to swell, momentarily stunning its victim with fear at its suddenness and fierceness. The flames' growth started at the base, and soon the ring of fire solidified as it crept upward and outward toward the top and toward the bottom.

The victim finally jolted out of his shock, now realizing he was seconds away from being encased in a searing red, dense fiery dome!

Quickly scanning the area and seeing no dragon attached to the tail that had been there just moments ago, he wasted no time and soared towards the opening above him that was rapidly closing.

In desperation, he formed an ice shield in front of him in case the dome closed before he could reach the end. But to his dread, the ice shield melted even as he poured more energy into it. Still, he pushed onward. He really had no choice. So, he kept his eyes glued to the narrowing opening and increased his speed, even when his ice shield completely evaporated under the heat.

With a cry of pain he shot through it, escaping the fiery trap in the nick of time… but not unscathed.

Thick heavy breathing blended into the thick muggy night as the black-and-white-clad Ghost Boy struggled to clear his mind and slow his breathing. He winced with the pain and held his burned right arm. Still, his mind raced, attempting to figure out _any_ reason for all of this.

It just didn't make any sense!

What was happening and why? Hadn't he been sleeping in his bed just a few minutes ago? Why had he suddenly been attacked like this? And what were those red bolts… all that fire…**and that** _dragon_?

Maybe… Maybe this was just some sort of intense dream?

But the fifteen-year-old boy knew it couldn't be a dream when he suddenly _heard_ another red lightening bolt coming out of nowhere as it raced toward him. He immediately darted away from it; but it, in turn, immediately altered its course.

The boy gasped again. How could it track him? But before he knew it, he was hit and it instantly engulfed and riveted his body with its painful, burning energy.

Danny screamed with the sting even as he reflexively tried to twist away from it. But no matter how hard he fought against it, the biting red energy clung to him as if it were glued to him, sapping him of his strength as easily as a spider feasting on its victim. Finally, after what felt like eternity, the boy couldn't resist any longer and he plummeted downward, ultimately plowing roughly into the ground.

The young hybrid lay stunned, trying to force the air back into his burning lungs. But when he wearily rose his head up a bit, his breath instantly hitched once more when he just as sudden realized that there were _other beings_ now around him. His vision, however, still had not cleared well enough to be sure. And even though he couldn't see them through the blackness of the night, he knew, no, _felt_ they were there.

But were they ghosts? Then… why hadn't his ghost sense alerted him?

His unanswered questions were momentarily pushed back when he felt the pressure of several sets of red, piercing eyes and burning, acid-like breath bearing down on him. He began to feel sick to his stomach as he wafted in their breath, his mouth instantly watering from the nausea. Still, he struggled to make his mind work. What were these new creatures? They couldn't be humans …right?

His hazy mind instantly rejected that crazy notion. Since when did humans have red eyes and burning, acid-like breath? No, they were not human! So they had to be ghosts…What else could they be?

The ghost teen peered upward and then thought he saw the blurry outlines of red dragons. Though his head spun with the lack of oxygen, it nevertheless forced him to consider the millions of countermoves now flipping in his mind like pages in a book. The beings began to circle him and he could see their blood-red, wild eyes through his hazy vision. He was sure they were dragons, like the one that attacked him at first, only now, there was a group of them.

But in the next moment, they stopped, as if somehow suddenly frozen in their tracks…

"_Danny Phantom…"_

The young hybrid jerked his head up and to either side, scanning the atmosphere in order to confirm what he had heard. Was he imagining things now?

"_Danny Phantom… human child… ghost boy..."_

No mistake there. He _had heard_ it. But the voice wasn't coming from any of the dragons. It was coming from his _surroundings_. It was as if the wind suddenly had a voice but it was indistinguishable, almost like it was not there.

"_Danny Phantom…Surrender…before you regret you had not…"_

The young half ghost jumped to his feet with the wind's voice again, ignoring his aching body. But the second he did, the dragons seem to come back to life again and instantly lunged at him.

Danny, however, quickly reacted and flew upward before they could dig their claws into him. But then, out of the blue, _more_ of the dragons appeared in front of him, blocking his escape.

Great. Now, he had dragons in front _and_ below him, all clearly wanting to cause him more pain! But there was more. Some kind of instrument suddenly appeared in each set of their hands. Danny's eyes widened, instinctively twisting away, looking for some kind of path to which to retreat.

But _even more_ of the dragons blocked his way. And each of them was holding the same kind of instrument. In desperation, the boy looked downward at the other group of dragons below him, the ones that had tried to capture him only moments before. They, too, now possessed the same kind of strange devices in their hands. And in the next instant, those instruments began to glow and pulsate to life.

Small, but bright, red orbs formed on the top of each device, followed by a menacing humming. The teen instantly knew that these must be some sort of weapons and that something painful was about to explode out of them.

But his confused mind suddenly paused and he then outwardly frowned with the same emotion. Why were the dragons on the ground the only ones readying themselves in attack, while the other dragons in front of him hadn't followed suit—yet? Maybe they were just taking turns? But the ones floating around him looked… frozen.

Unfortunately, the teen didn't get any more time to figure that out.

All of a sudden, larger red auras formed around the smaller red orbs of those weapons below him. That was enough for Danny. Not hesitating any longer, he flew down and landed on the ground far enough away from all the dragons to give him a moment to prepare himself. Then he forced as much air as he could into his hurting lungs and let out his Ghostly Wail toward the threatening dragons. But to his dread, not only had his effort depleted him of his energy to the point that he reverted back to his human form, but his power seemed to have absolutely no effect on the dragons! In fact, the waves of energy just passed through them, like they weren't even there!

The boy panted with the pain shooting through his lungs and burned arm, as well as, with his exhaustion. And to his dismay, he knew this was all far from over.

But before he could even attempt to muster his strength enough to morph back into his ghostly form, several red beams suddenly came at him! He gasped, and knowing that there was no way to avoid them, he reflexively gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, preparing for the painful blows.

But… nothing happened.

The teen snapped his eyes open again, surprised that the beams had somehow missed him. Still confused on why he had not been hit, he nevertheless made another attempt to change back into his ghost form. This time, he was successful. But just as he reverted back, he saw the dragons moving toward him again, their weapons glowing in preparation for another attack.

Taking a deep but still painful breath, he pushed himself upward and away from those red orbs, jerking back just enough to thrust several ice rays in their direction.

The loud crack of the ice forming around the orbs was followed by angry hisses of steam. A moment later, the orbs sent their strong bolts back at the retreating boy.

Danny barely dodged the assault; but then shot more ice rays at the dragons as they began to charge their weapons. But to his disbelief, his ice rays went right through them! Just like his Ghostly Wail had!

"_This can't be happening!" _he screamed in his mind._ "Are these things even dragon ghosts? If they are, then they're not like the ones I've faced before! My ghost sense is not even detecting them! What. Is. Going. On?" _

Danny's internal panic attack came to an abrupt end when he suddenly heard _the air_ speak again, and his head jolted around at the sound, trying desperately to find out where it was coming from and who was saying it…

"_Last chance, Danny Phantom. I will tolerate no more. Come quietly, and all will go easier on you!"_

Still not locating the focal point of the voice, he immediately yelled back, "What? What are you talking about? And who—or what—are you and how do you know me?"

But the entity didn't answer him.

Instead, the dragons renewed their attack, this time dropping their weapons before bellowing out large flames of fire at him.

Danny answered with several ice rays, and they seemed to stop the flames, but the dragons nevertheless pressed down upon him once more. The boy barely dodged most of their attempts to grab him. But then one of the beasts jerked its body wildly around, and because Danny was still weakened from all the fighting, he didn't move fast enough.

Before the boy knew it, that dragon's tail made firm contact and smashed him into the ground.

He wasn't even able to scream in pain, this time. Instead, the boy grunted with the abuse. But forcing himself to recall the seriousness of his situation, he soon shook his dizziness away and struggled to pull himself up. He glared up at the sky as he then quickly anchored his feet under him.

With a determined growl, he finally propelled himself upward, blazing away at any dragons with his own powerful green ectoplasmic rays.

However, before he could really do any damage, and much to his surprise, the dragons darted away. He looked around for his adversaries, wondering if they had truly fled. And when nothing happened after a minute or so, the boy allowed himself a sigh of relief.

Only to instantly regret it.

"_You are so much fun… little freak…_," he heard that eerie echo taunt. _"And_ _though you are both irritating and amusing me with your petty resistance, I cannot wait to keep you…" _

"Not if I can help it, jerk!" the boy defiantly shouted into the night. Still, he couldn't help but grow nervous since he still couldn't locate the source of the voice. And he was getting more exhausted. He didn't know how much more he could take.

"_YOUNG FOOL!" _the air thundered back this time; and a nearby tree shook under its verbal assault.

Danny gasped at how loudly the now increasing wind had yelled at him. He whipped his head around, searching in vain for its source. And as the wind picked up speed, it seemed to caress him, but not in any soothing way. It was like a hot iron rippling over his skin; only that, like those red energy bolts, the burning wind, too, seemed more alive than not since he could swear it was pressing against him, flaying him alive with a kind of malice, _even_ hate.

He bit down on his lip, trying not to scream at the searing pain, even when he felt as if an anvil had been suddenly dropped in his stomach at the same time…

Not able to take anymore, the boy jolted upward in a panic even as the nausea he felt intensified. This sick feeling was not right! Was this some kind of freaky power, some new tactic of attack being thrust upon him from the dragons? It had to be! But where were they now? They had now just disappeared. And how, _how_ were they doing all of this?

Once again, he had no time to think about it anymore. Since his exhaustion was mounting yet again, his one thought now was to escape. He didn't care what was going on and didn't want to waste any more time on trying to figure it out. He just wanted to get out of here!

Unfortunately, the dragons decided to reappear at that instant.

"Get away!" he screamed, firing several energy beams at the dragons, hovering all around him. But the beams went right through the dragons as before. Only this time, the teen's attacks caused the dragons to blur slightly before they cleared again, almost like a broken image...

"_Okay, now I'm really confused. What the heck is all this? And why is this happening?"_ the boy silently screamed at himself.

Yet again, Danny's thoughts were interrupted by a noise to his right. It sounded like the mere rustling of the wind, but the boy now knew better. Then he heard that odd humming again, still questioning why he couldn't see who—or what—was making it. But this time, like the voice, it didn't seem to be coming from the dragons… He looked up at the dragons and they only confirmed his hunch. They were still looking at him, but they weren't…moving. They were frozen in place again. And they hadn't retrieved their weapons…

It was then that he realized: something—or someone—was _controlling_ these dragons. And that thing had to be here. Something he still couldn't see…

At that moment, a powerful red lightening bolt charged at him; and with a yelp, Danny instantly willed an ectoplasmic shield to meet it. The blow of red ray upon the green shield shoved the boy back with such force that he ended up several hundred feet from the impact site and plastered against a large oak tree. He groaned as he slid down to the ground.

"This is definitely not going well," he moaned, staggering to get up and holding onto his still sore right arm.

He didn't even realize that he was now very near the mayor's home…

Instead, he looked up and scanned the murky sky, trying to think of what to do. "_Now I know_ _I can't take much more of this. No time to figure out what the heck is going on! It's more than obvious that there is something else out to get me besides these dragons, and it definitely has the advantage right now. And whatever it is, I doubt it's the __**actual **__**wind**__!"_

He continued to search for any sign of his hidden foe or foes, desperately hoping that luck would finally smile down upon him.

However, when he came up empty, he then nervously thought,_ "Darn it! I can't fight what I can't see or sense!"_

But just after he thought that, he mentally paused, suddenly recognizing where he was. A sense of hope quickly refocused him. However, before he could take off, that eerie wind jolted him out of his thoughts.

"_You're hopeless… Danny Phantom... even if it seems as if you are everything the rumors say you are…You and the other will be perfect for what I need!... But fighting me any longer is futile…You are no match for me!"_

"Oh, yeah? How about if I instead kick your butt when I find you—you and whoever else is here with you?" Danny shouted back before a sudden hunch lurched forward from his mind. _That_ might do it.

He instantly shot upward with his idea. And double-checking his bearings, he started to head back toward his home. He knew, well, at least _hoped_, that his parents would have some kind of weapon which could give him more of an equal footing in this lopsided battle.

But he hadn't gone that far when the wind angrily bellowed at him again:

"_Your stubbornness only fuels my anger! How dare such a loathsome creature ignore my command! You are nothing compared to me! Now you __**will **__yield!"_

The boy increased his speed, but still defiantly called out to the air, "Whatever, dude! I've heard that same lame line from about a billion other ghosts! So, then, what makes you so special? Oh, wait! I don't care! Just leave me alone and go back under that putrid little dark rock that you crawled out of!"

But then, Danny felt an angry push against him in response, and his entire world spun.

_Literally_.

Danny watched horrified as his surroundings moved as if he was inside a centrifuge, but in a matter a seconds, it stopped. The teen let out a gasp at seeing the street that he was following home was no longer there. It was a dead end! It had vanished!

Danny was so stunned and his head was still slightly in awhirl from this strange event that he didn't see the entity that had been attacking him this entire time finally materialized. It hovered just below and behind, not at all too far from where he was. But the entity's form was non-distinct, and anyone looking at him would swear he blended right into the background.

The odd entity started his approach, creeping quietly yet purposely toward his unsuspecting victim. He would have to act quickly so as to completely surprise the boy. And that would mean compromising his stealth power, a power that only _he_ could use to perfection, and which was far superior to merely being intangible or invisible like other ghosts.

With this stealth power, he was virtually undetectable to any being. It so perfectly melded him into his surroundings that it seemed as if he weren't there, but at the same time, as if he were also _everywhere_. His form would stay intact, but his stealth power dispersed his essence and spread it out onto the atmosphere like a thin layer of butter on a piece of bread. And that would make him not only practically undetectable, but almost invincible to attack.

Even so, he did not want to risk wasting the chance to catch his young victim completely by surprise. So, he quickly conceded some of his power since it did have one downside, and that was that it compromised his normally acute vision. And wanting to use his powerful ghostly night vision to the fullest, he soon dropped his stealth mode and focused his now clear sight on the unsuspecting boy.

The entity suddenly smirked, certain that there was no chance of failure. In fact, it was impossible. After all, he was dealing with a _lower life form._

But then he felt a sneer goading him to pursue his next thought. This would be all too easy an aim, as the teen had his back to him. It had been fun to play with his victim for a bit. But enough was enough. This young creature had now resisted him for too long. And that meant he now had no reason to hold back any longer…

The formidable ghost suddenly returned to stealth mode and oozed right back into the surroundings, blending perfectly as he soared back toward his prize.

But just as the ghost readied his next attack, Danny had that same sick feeling in his stomach like before, only that it was much stronger. He instinctively turned around, just as a scarlet lightning bolt shot towards him.

Danny yelped as he reflexively dodged the bolt that had come out of nowhere, especially when it barely missed his head. He instantly reacted again by shooting a beam right back in the direction of where the beam had come. But this time, the boy didn't stop shooting with that one beam, and immediately followed with a heavy dispersal of energy blasts in the general area. He increased his speed upward and then flipped over and downward, his arms extended fully to his front as he soared downward like a dive bomber.

But even as he plummeted, Danny saw an odd shift in the muggy night's haze, and this time he noticed that same sick quiver suddenly grip his stomach. Going on another hunch, he halted in mid-dive and simultaneously shot ice beams from his eyes and ectoplasmic beams from his hands right at that odd shift. Though he half-expected his hunch to be right, he gasped in surprise nevertheless when a red haze appeared at where he shot his beams, absorbing them as easily as a sponge.

What was that? Did he hit it? Then, why wasn't there any further reaction from whatever he hit? A moment later, he got his answer, but it wasn't the kind he had wanted. Another red bolt, which he now suspected to be the same kind that had been attacking him all this while, turned on him again, now taking the offensive.

Again, Danny gasped and instantly produced a shield, but since this time the red beam was nearer to him, it effectively cut through his shield as easily as softened butter and hit him squarely in the chest. Danny let out a painful scream as, all at once, the wind was knocked out of him and his body was jettison upward into the sky as if he were a human rocket.

Danny barely clung to consciousness as he felt his body twist and turn out of control in its upward climb. Finally, his momentum slowed and he knew he was headed down toward the earth again. He strained to keep his mind focused as he fell, trying to somehow control the direction, hoping he could steer himself to a soft landing.

But then, he saw the dark outline of the lake not too far away and willed with what strength he had left to move toward it. But even this was too much and his senses rapidly began to ebb into the black night, though the teen remained aware of the feeling of wet ectoplasm on his chest…

But then suddenly, he was frozen in mid-fall and he could barely make out the red aura surrounding him. He looked down and saw that he was suspended barely ten feet from the ground, caught in that red net. His stomach unexpectedly lurched.

"You are more resilient than I thought," a hollow voice suddenly said to him, no longer sounding like a whisper of the wind. "And certainly more obstinate! But it does not matter. I will have you one way or another. But know that your injuries are your own fault. And if need be, more will come if you continue to resist. You will not keep me from my purpose. And that includes getting to the other one…"

The voice seemed both near and far to the boy. But Danny didn't care. He still wasn't going to give up that easily. He concentrated and took in a deep breath, mustering his inner strength. With a determined yell, he formed an ectoplasmic ball of energy around his body and it immediately burst outward, destroying the red aura around him and throwing him several hundred feet away, just before he fell roughly to the ground below.

But as Danny tried to get his bearings, he heard the wind's whispers return again.

"_No, you are not escaping, Crossbreed! And you will now taste my wrath and my power because of your audacity!"_

This time, however, the voice no longer just huffed with hatred. It breathed with hot anger, and heaved with evil.

Danny gasped as that same wind as before suddenly snaked around him, tightening its hold on him, as if it could squeeze the life out of him if it wanted. Though he immediately struggled against it, the force still pulled him up further into the sky, all the while twisting his stomach with nausea. But then, inexplicably, the hot air actually felt as if it had become more solid as it swathed itself around him and then burned him, like the clinging, biting tentacles of a deadly jellyfish.

He screamed in pain, reflexively pulling harder away and downward, finally breaking free and then soon touching ground again.

But then, the 'wind' didn't stop at that. In the next instant, it seemed to grow a hand and this time, it wrapped itself firmly around his throat, cutting off his cry. Danny's hands reflexively went to his throat as he fell to his knees. He tried to fight off what was choking him, but there was nothing physical to grab or fight against. It actually appeared as if the teen was choking himself!

"S-Stop!" Danny choked out, feeling the strange sick feeling in his stomach intensify. In another desperate attempt to get away, Danny lowered his hands from his neck and encased himself in an ice shield. Immediately, the 'invisible force' vanished as if it could no longer reach him through his shield.

Fingers digging into the dirt under him, Danny took gasping breaths, and trembled from all the burning wounds he had all over his body, as well as the wound in his chest he knew was still bleeding. And needing more than ever to escape, the boy looked up through the fog in front of his eyes and saw through the ice that he was now a few feet from a house… a house he knew very well.

Suddenly, the ice barrier he had put up in his last effort to protect himself seemed to vanish before his eyes, and the instant he saw this happen, his attacker returned. He couldn't see him, but he was certain now that he could _feel _him.

Danny got to his feet and did the only thing he had energy left for:

He ran.

Only to instantly slam into something hard and cold.

The boy cried out in surprise, but quickly realized he had collided against his own ice shield! He had seen it for a split second before it vanished in front of his eyes again! It was unbelievable! His ice shield had been there the whole time! And still was! So, then, why couldn't he see it now?

The teen didn't take any time to think about it and turned intangible enough to go through the ice wall. He ran straight towards the house, but as he did, his surroundings began to spin again, just like when he had tried to head home before.

Danny almost completely shut his eyes, knowing by now he could not trust his vision and just kept running towards the last place he had seen 'the house'.

He was so scared! He couldn't remember the last time he was _this_ terrified! All he wanted at the moment was to get away from the thing after him! Danny finally reached his destination; but then, he stumbled forward, only to trip on the doorsteps of the house and slam his forehead against them.

Now with ectoplasm dripping out of a fresh gash on his forehead and from the injury still on his chest, the boy struggled to pull himself up, looking up through his worsening blurry vision at the door he found himself in front of. At least he could see the house again, even if barely so with his ectoplasmic blood now running into and stinging his eyes.

Still, he was sure he recognized the house. And even though he would not have chosen this place, he knew he had no other choice now that he felt his strength slipping rapidly away. He staggered to the door and pounded on it with his fists with his last ounce of strength. But just as he did, he fell to his knees and he unwittingly felt the rings of his transformation return him to his human form.

With no strength left, he fell against the door and couldn't stop his body from sliding down against it and then to the ground. And yet, he still tried to pull himself back up when he heard the door at last open. And just before he lost total consciousness, he barely uttered a single plea:

"V-Vlad! Help… me."

And finally collapsed at the mayor's feet.

* * *

**Pearl: **

**Yeah, you are all probably wondering what the heck happened to Danny here. Heh-heh. You'll find out soon enough. If you are a tad confused, that's okay. You are supposed to be. Well, two quick announcements on my part. First, there will be another chat over at the 'Hidden Pearl'. But unlike the last one, which immediately followed CM's update, it is going to be until the following Saturday for various reasons. (the 24th). At least, I think so. Make sure you check the page to make sure. I hope by then I will have another CM chapter up; so we will probably be killing two birds with one stone for this chat sessions. And I do believe Truephan will be there; so it's gonna be even more fun than last time! Okay, second thing. Both the 'Hidden Pearl' and the 'Niane-club' are having contests, and the prizes are quite juicy. I even threw something in there for the winner. So, if you like to draw or write, you can enter the contest. Again, go to the pages for further info. **

**Well! That is all for me! Thanks so much for your support! And I look forward to your thoughts on this new endeavor! Now, I leave you with Truephan for her closing remarks! Ta!**

**Truephan: **

**Ditto with what pearl said. I can't wait to meet y'all in that chat room! And it would be fun to see if you can guess who was the main author of each chapter, hmmm? Just a thought! See ya!**


	2. Chapter 2: Tricks and Trades

**Truephan: Well, hello again, y'all! And, oh, goodie, it's time for an update! Heh-heh… looks like there's still a lot of wickedness brewing about…but, gee, isn't that what y'all want? It's certainly what my muse wanted. And speaking of Ms. Hyde, it was very hard to contain her during this whole chapter, especially when pearl's Vlad muse just tried to stir her up just for the heck of it. Man, that sure made nailing down the final cut difficult….especially since that fight between them was pretty messy. But after everything was said and done, it looks like the chapter pretty much came out unscathed, which is really the most important thing, right? In any case, I want to let you know two other things before I give pearl the reins. Firstly, I thoroughly enjoyed all of your reviews and my first chit-chat on the Hidden Pearl chat site last Sunday. Everyone made me feel like an old pro at it even if I felt like I was watching ten tennis games happening all at once. I think I'm still a bit dizzy from it—happily so, though. And secondly, pearl and I did reveal to the gang there who was the main author of Chapter One. So, it's only fair to let y'all know the same thing….well, it was me. But, of course, pearl added lots of wonderful spice to it, because her muse would have insisted upon it anyways! So with that, enough said from me….pearl?**

***Vlad Muse jumps in* Actually, I think I will be taking the reins from here. Yes… *looks around* Well, I suppose I **_**should**_** thank you all for your comments…. Hmm. Yes, I **_**should**_**. However, I have better things to do. But if it will make you all feel better, Pearl thanks you. Tsk. Silly girl.**

**Well, now. Here is the next chapter to this new project. And it will feature yours truly… Somewhat. Close enough, anyways. If you like it, then the credit goes to me. If you do not… *smirks* Blame Truephan's muse. *laughs insanely and vanishes***

***Pearl blinks* Uh… Happy reading? Yeah…. *grumbles and stalks after Vlad muse***

* * *

**Seeing is _dis_Believing—Chapter 2—Tricks and Trades**

* * *

Vlad had stirred in bed again. Lying on his right side, he looked at the clock next to his bed. What? It was three o'clock in the morning? And only _one_ hour had past since he last looked at it?

He groaned and jerked over to his other side. He squished his eyes together, trying to block out the same thoughts that had been plaguing him for the past few weeks; but especially for the past few days; and now, obviously, for the past few hours...

And all these thoughts centered on one person: Daniel Fenton.

Ever since he first became major and the boy had outwitted him by making him retract the city ordinance he had passed against the teenagers of Amity Park, he had been brewing with revenge…And_ yet,_ it was coupled, strangely, with a more intense desire to have this clever boy at his side. The younger hybrid was the perfect son, proving his worth even more with each of their confrontations. From the beginning, when they had met at the reunion, to their last encounter that had dealt with Vortex...

Vlad sighed tiredly, though he felt irritated with the circle of thoughts. And as he rolled on his back and his eyes opened wide awake with his insomnia, they continued to plague him…

Why in the devil was he letting the boy keep him awake at this ungodly hour? He needed his sleep. He had an emergency board meeting to go to the next morning! And all because of the latest ghost attack last week by that ghost named Undergrowth! Thanks to that blasted weed, he would have to meet with his confounded mayoral staff right at nine o'clock and alert them of the change in plans in regards to controlling the ghost threats in Amity Park. _Just_ the thought of it made him mentally groan; but more so because he simply couldn't make himself fall asleep!

He just _had_ to find a way to get the boy on his side! Either that, or find a way to permanently disable him from continuing with his heroics, and, in turn, thwarting his plans for domination.

Suddenly, he yawned, feeling the sleep that had been evading him for many hours now tug softly at the edges of his mind.

"_And a bit of hot tea should encourage it right along," _he thought, smiling a bit with his idea. "_And I have just the one that will do nicely... Humph. You don't have __**that **__much power over me, Daniel!"_ he added triumphantly.

He slowly pulled himself out of bed and stretched where he stood, rubbing his temples with the sudden realization of the dull, throbbing headache coming on. He headed downstairs toward the kitchen in slow motion, feeling that if it took any longer to get there, he might just try to sleep on the nearest couch instead.

Finally, his 'autopilot' movement successfully steered him to the kitchen and he grabbed the tea kettle and filled it with water. He set it on the stove and after turning the burner on and placing his favorite tea cup next to it, went to the small room adjoining the kitchen. He searched briefly and found the glass jar, which emanated with a surreally orangish aura from its contents.

That jar sat next to other similarly glowing jars which contained several varieties and colors of already prepared dried ghost leaves. He opened the jar, grabbed a measuring spoon, and dumped a portion of the ghostly loose tea leaves into a ghostly metal tea ball that he had already retrieved. He quickly closed the jar and returned it to its original position before heading back to the stove.

He placed the tea ball into his cup and leaned against the counter, rubbing his throbbing temples again as he waited for the familiar whistle. Like a well-conditioned Pavlov dog reacting to the bell, Vlad breathed deeply, already relaxing with relief as he heard the hissing of the angry water. And with a second sigh, he finally poured the kettle's hot contents into the cup and lazily steeped the metal ball. At last satisfied with the strength of the concoction, he quickly added some honey to it and retreated to the front parlor.

He kept the lights off in that room on purpose, hoping to quickly fool his body into more readily accepting the tea's charm. As he nestled into his favorite plush lounge chair, he suddenly heard a quiet 'meow' before a familiar figure jumped on his lap.

He smiled tiredly at his cat. "Mmm. Maddie. I see you're up, too. Well, not for long, hmm?" he said quietly, lightly stroking her purring form before turning his attention back to his tea. He exhaled slowly as the warm steam of the tea began to massage the tension out of his face. The thick, soothing aroma wafted up his nostrils, like smoke through a chimney, penetrating his mind and dispersing his anxious thoughts, just as the wind would disperse the smoke bellowing out of that chimney.

He slowly brought the cup to his lips and sipped the tea in. He soon relaxed even more as he continued to drink, knowing that the tea would wash away his insomnia as easily as ocean waves ebbed away the soft beach sand. When he was about half way through, he could already feel the weight of his eyelids pressing against him, but he didn't fight it.

He placed the teacup down beside him and leaned back into the chair. As soon as he got back from his meeting tomorrow, he just knew he would be able to think of that perfect plan to get Daniel to finally join him as his ally.

…And also to make him pay for his insolence…

Vlad had finally drifted off while still pressed into the lounge chair when, suddenly, there was a loud bang just outside the front door.

"Meow!"

The man startled awake just as the frightened Maddie hissed and jumped off his lap. As he watched her disappear under a table, he cursed under his breath at yet another interruption in his sleep.

He quickly got out of the chair and headed to the door. He jolted at another loud thud which was even closer to the entrance. Even more perturbed, his eyes narrowed, thinking how he couldn't wait to give the perpetrator a unique jolt of his own.

The man charged up a potent red energy orb with one hand; however, he hid it behind his back to give him the element of surprise in case he needed it. But as he placed his other hand on the doorknob, there was an unexpected and loud knock on the door. Then that was followed by the sound of something sliding against the door, and ended with another thud.

He quickly opened the door and the red orb in his hand extinguished with his shock. Right at his feet, a barely conscious and obviously bleeding _human_ Daniel was struggling to pull himself off the ground.

"V-Vlad….help ...me!" the boy strained to utter before fully collapsing in front of him.

"Daniel?" he gasped but immediately scanned the area around the two of them, knowing someone, or _something_, had to be responsible for the boy's dire condition. But there was nothing. He could see no reason why the boy had ended up here in this state.

But then suddenly, he noticed that the front gate on his lawn seemed to ripple as if the silvery moonlight was reflecting off it. Only that, there was no moon tonight…

Quickly pushed out of his thoughts, he startled a little when a silvery-blue entity just as suddenly appeared right in front of him and the unconscious teen.

The strange entity's humanoid body shimmered unnaturally and blended perfectly with its surroundings, just like a chameleon. Though, if he had to compare it to anything, he would say he was looking at a shiny _mirror_.

However, the older hybrid did not know that he was currently looking at this being's body when it was _stealth mode_, and not its **true** body…. which it had _yet_ to reveal to either hybrid…

Still, Vlad wasn't certain that this being even had a body, even when he could see a hint of faint black outline. But it definitely had a silver _head_. Well, sort of, because it had _no eyes_.

The top of the 'head' was lacking any type of hair, but it did have small, grotesque craters sparsely placed on the crown. There was also no nose or mouth that he could see. But as he looked at this…_creature_, Vlad finally noticed a lone and rather large silvery-purple eye as it slowly leached out of the mirror-like body and oozed upward until it centered itself in the bald orb of a head.

The eye took up most of the space within the head. And its silvery-purple pupil, which was surrounded by pulsating red blood-like vessels, still managed to convey both irritation and threat in its glare, as the entity drew nearer to both hybrids.

The creature said nothing, at first. Instead, it seemingly observed the unconscious and hurt teenager on the ground before looking at the surprised man at the doorway and readily sizing him up in a way that confused Vlad even more….

But in the next moment, the entity's eye narrowed further and then unexpectedly turned red in protest just as a voice, which seemed to echo in the surroundings, hissed, "Step aside. He's all mine. And you would further do well to heed my words: do not make this painful for yourself by resisting my will as he did."

Vlad silently jolted at the demand. He was instantly flooded with a slew of thoughts. It was clear to him that this creature wanted the boy. And by how injured Daniel looked, it was possible it even wanted to kill him! But he wasn't about to let this thing interfere with his own plans concerning Daniel, especially if it would involve the boy's demise.

Keeping his true emotions over this unexpected turn-of-events hidden under fake indifference, the older hybrid arched up one of his eyebrows and casually replied, "Yours, you say? …Hmm…Not tonight."

Vlad immediately charged up a powerful scarlet bolt which connected with the entity's body and forcefully sent it through the front gate and into a tree on the other side of the street.

Vlad then quickly took advantage of the situation, and without a bit of hesitance, scooped up the limp teen. It took him a bit of effort, but the mayor quickly went inside, slamming the door and locking it at the same time.

He instantly changed into his blue-skinned, red-caped alter ego, Vlad Plasmius, and just as instantly duplicated into two. While the original Plasmius still held onto the senseless Danny, the second one phased through the door to meet the hostile creature right outside.

The original Plasmius then put Danny on the nearby couch, before looking down at a device on his wrist and pressing several buttons on it. He soon commanded into it, "Activate ghost shield," and a green ghost-proof dome rapidly surrounded the mayor's home in an instant.

Using the same device on his wrist, Vlad further activated all the spy cameras stealthily hidden on the outside of his house. He knew that whatever they would record would be fed right into his mainframe in his secret lab as well as a nearby viewing screen...

He quickly looked back to the unmoving boy and then grabbed two small nearby table cloths. The billionaire had noticed the boy's bleeding head and chest wounds the instant he had found Danny. And they still did not look pretty…

But he needed to first check on the imminent danger before tending to the boy. Still, he did quickly wrapped one of the cloths around Danny's head and then stuffed the other one under his shirt, hoping that this was enough first aid for the moment. He was anxious to make sure that the being that had attacked the boy would be readily vanquished...

Vlad hurriedly turned on a viewing screen located in a hidden panel in the living room he was in, and watched the interaction outside between his duplicate and the hostile ghost.

* * *

The Plasmius duplicate rematerialized right in front of the one-eyed entity, just as the creature was recovering from his initial attack.

The hybrid's double smugly crossed his arms and flippantly asked the dazed ghost, "So, looks like you're new in town? And it looks like you're lost. However, the city's Tourist Information Center doesn't open until nine in the morning. And that's well after the sun comes out, in case you didn't know. So, it appears you have, say, six hours of a wait."

But then his voice grew colder with his threat as he added, "However, I do not recall inviting you into this town. So, I think it's best if you leave _my_ _territory_ before you find out how I deal with unwanted intruders."

The ghost didn't understand his allusion but he knew that the creature hovering above him was threatening him. He floated upward and growled back with a more thunderous voice, "I can see that you don't know with whom you are dealing! I do not take orders from creatures such as you!"

Plasmius laughed, "Oh, really? So whom do you work for? I'm quite astonished you could land a job looking as you do."

The ghost's silvery–purple eye briefly flared red, but then it quickly moved downward into his silvery body, just before the entity seemed to suddenly vanish, leaving in view the tree he had plowed into.

Plasmius frowned with worry as he scanned around, trying to figure out to where the ghost had gone. He could sense that it was close by; but, somehow, it was keeping its energy dispersed, to the point that the older hybrid's twenty-one year experienced ghost sense couldn't pinpoint this ghost's signature or location. Still, Plasmius' skill wasn't in vain. It was only a matter of pushing past the smoke and mirrors that this creature was using to conceal itself. And if there was one thing the older hybrid was good at it was seeing through deception. He would pinpoint this ghost's signature yet!

However, at that instant, Vlad unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a wrinkle in the tree. And before he could even attempt to make sense of it, let alone hone in on this ghost's signature, one of its branches maliciously reached out to him and then struck out at him like a bullwhip.

Plasmius gasped and barely avoided its attack. But he then quickly returned the affront with a volley of red ectoplasmic energy and the tree shuddered at his blow. But when he blinked again, the tree had stopped moving and there was a large hole in the now defenseless oak...

Vlad frowned in anger. He certainly didn't buy any of this; it was just too odd. He was certain these 'wrinkles' were being caused by this mysterious ghost, but what was it exactly doing?

He pulled back and shifted his gaze quickly to all directions of where the ghost had been. This time, he sharpened his ghost sense and quickly began to search through the dispersed energy for this creature's true location. Wait. It was…

Plasmius suddenly spun around in the direction of the street, now sure where the ghost was. But then, suddenly, the light from the lamppost that was near the same tree as before flickered out, and Vlad immediately looked up at it, only for it to abruptly burst into a huge red fireball. It further morphed into a stream of fire and shot forward at Plasmius' double, readily shaping into a large clawed hand as it took a fiery swipe at him.

Although Plasmius had been taken aback by the strange occurrence, he easily avoided it, but the fire then became like the bullwhip that the tree had made with its branch. The flames lashed at the hybrid, this time making contact with and singeing his cape.

Throwing his cape back behind one of his shoulders, the duplicate growled in response and decided he had had enough of this. He charged his hand and shot back at the lamppost.

But his ray went right through it.

He frowned in irritation and yelled to the lamp, "Who in blazes are you? I am in no mood to waste my time with a pathetic ghost who is so cowardly that he must hide in the shadows!"

The lamppost had a sudden wrinkle in it and the being's barely distinct body and head rematerialized again in front of it. The silvery-purple eye then rejoined its head before the creature's voice angrily echoed, "I am no coward. And though it is really insignificant for you to know my name, I will still tell you, since your small mind has need of it. My name is Iluzisto. And although I prefer to focus on _one_ matter at a time, I **will** _invert_ my order of business, if you continue to interfere with my affair concerning the younger cross-breed…."

Plasmius shot up an eyebrow in surprise. So the creature was working for someone? And just what was his 'order of business'? He made it sound as if he was here with more than one purpose…

Pushing the questions aside for later, the older hybrid wrinkled his face in a scowl as he answered, "I'll have you know that I'm not accustomed to taking orders from anyone. So you will forgive me if I refuse to allow you to do anything that _I_ haven't planned." He quickly followed up with two pink beams from his eyes.

Although he had not come out here to fight with the ghost but to find out who he was, Vlad decided it was time to take the offense. No one threatened him and got away with it!

But to his chagrin, Iluzisto quickly dodged the beams this time and disappeared from sight again. As a result, the nearby lamppost absorbed the rays instead and a loud crack was heard as the lamp shattered.

Plasmius growled at first when he had been tricked again; but then, he quickly regained his wits and floated towards where the ghost had once been.

And as he looked around again, trying to pinpoint the ghost's signature, Vlad uttered, "For your sake, you should just take my advice and leave. Don't make the mistake of believing I will hesitate to cut your after-life short."

"_If only you knew the irony of your words, cross-breed… Perhaps you're not as clever as I was led to believe…"_ the wind seemed to whisper in his ear. But Vlad knew it was not the mere wind.

Suddenly, Plasmius noticed something moving near his feet. He jumped back as three unnaturally huge rattlesnakes arched upward, swaying menacingly as they slowly slithered to encircle him.

The hybrid's double gave the reptiles a smug smile as he quickly floated back a bit and took aim with his eyes, making sure that his pink eye-beams hit each of the snakes squarely between their beady black eyes.

But much to his amazement, the snakes were not affected by the rays at all. Instead, they became more agitated, weaving back and forth, looking for the opportunity to strike.

The duplicate arched up one of his eyebrows in surprise. "Hmm. Very good," he remarked as he shot at them again. This time, he used red rays from his hand and made sure once again to hit them all.

And still, the snakes remained unaffected….

"What in blazes?" Plasmius whispered in disbelief, only to gasp at what happened next.

Swiftly, the three snakes dove at him, pinning him to the ground near the front door of the mayor's mansion.

"_How can this be?"_ the hybrid's double thought in alarm as one set of fangs hovered above his face, dripping venom.

Right then, he heard a hideous laugh echo through the air. And before he could even think of how to react to this unexpected turn-of-events, all three snakes suddenly lunged forward and embedded their seeping fangs into Plasmius' skin.

The double cried in pain, and an instant later, shattered out of existence.

Now it was Iluzisto's turn to be surprised. He quickly rematerialized, and though he still remained in stealth mode, he examined the empty space where Plasmius had been only moments ago.

"What's this...?" he began, but then his tone changed to admiration as he said, "Oh, so he's got a bag full of illusionist's tricks, too? Interesting!" But with an evil smirk, he added. "However, it's not enough to protect him against my own tricks."

Seething with impertinence at this creature's resistance and now even more determined to go after his quarry, Iluzisto immediately fired a red ray from his weapon at the front door of the mayor's mansion, expecting the attack to destroy it. Instead, the ray nearly splayed outward, like fire against a fire-proof shield.

Iluzisto immediately realized that the house had some kind of shield around it. And he also realized that the older cross-breed had been distracting him the entire time to buy himself the time to set it up. That pathetic creature had tricked _him_!

"Oh, so you think you're clever, don't you, freak?" Iluzisto hissed, his body rippling with his irritation. "Well, that is still to be seen! You've just made your fate darker! No one tricks, Iluzisto!"

He fully blended to the background once more and waited for another chance…. They couldn't hide behind that shield forever…

The original Plasmius did not like what he saw during the fight between Iluzisto and his duplicate. He had been observing it all through the security cameras, which automatically fed data into the mainframe.

But needing to know more, he teleported to his lab. Vlad quickly logged into the mainframe, using the computer that networked with it. He pushed a button and the screen split in two. One allowed him to continue to see the fight and the other displayed the analysis of the ongoing data.

His face instantly scrunched up in confusion. "Odd. This data is not clear. Why is the computer having a hard time reading this ghost's signature? …And what's this? An ecto-energy level of _only seven_? How odd for a creature with such craftiness…Wait! What did he just do?" he questioned in surprise when he saw a nearby lamp post blur and then a burst of purple energy, almost looking like fire, shoot at his duplicate from seemingly nowhere.

He looked back to the corresponding data with confusion. What sort of powers did this ghost have? He had never seen a ghost exhibit such a bizarre ability as this one had.

He frowned in further confusion at seeing that as his duplicate attacked the ghost, its energy level had lowered to four. But now it returned to a seven—a _steady_ seven….

"Interesting," he immediately mused. "Though, hardly impressive. After all, I'm an energy level of nine. So, of course, he is no match for me. Actually… he might have some difficultly _even_ with Daniel, since they hold the same energy level. But then… why is the boy so inj…?" The rest of his words died within a gasp when he suddenly remembered the boy. He had forgotten all about him!

He gave the mainframe on last glance before muttering, "Well, it appears my duplicate is handling the situation quite nicely right now. I'll check back as soon as I look to Daniel."

The older hybrid teleported back to the living room and saw that Daniel was still unconscious. He didn't like that at all. The boy had to be pretty hurt!

He turned on the light and proceeded to check Daniel over. His most obvious injuries were, of course, the ones on his head and chest, both which had now bled over the make-shift bandages. And the right arm of his shirt was completely gone, revealing a swollen reddened extremity. But he could also see smaller cuts, bruises and burns littering the teen's body through his torn and singed clothing.

Plasmius removed the make-shift head bandage, and sighed with some relief now that the gash under it had stopped bleeding. But his face quickly shrouded with worry at seeing that the boy had not responded to what he was doing. His injuries indeed had to be very significant, especially with that blow to the head. He feared that it was entirely possible that the boy might have a concussion…or worse.

He started to inspect the boy farther down from the head wound, feeling along the bones. He was about to conclude that the boy hadn't obviously broken any bones; but when he touched the boy's swollen right shoulder, Danny groaned in pain, and the man realized that there was something definitely out of place there. But also encouraged that the boy might be coming around, Vlad looked at Danny's face just as he slowly opened his eyes.

But Danny's vision hadn't fully cleared and all he could see was a blurred double set of red eyes staring down upon him. And thinking it was the mysterious dragons that had attacked him, Danny immediately resisted, and coughed on his slurred words, "Get…away, you…" But he hadn't been able to finish his sentence before he lost consciousness again.

The older hybrid gasped. The boy really was more hurt than he originally thought! He quickly inspected his wounds again, but just before he was going to pull out the makeshift chest bandage to inspect that wound, Plasmius was suddenly aware that his duplicate had been destroyed.

He let out a small gasp and briefly scrunched his eyes as his duplicate's memories were instantly inserted into his brain as it returned into his body in the form of red energy.

"…Iluzisto, is it?" he mumbled with a frown, that memory ringing the most in his mind. But then, his eyebrows creased with confusion as he flipped through his clone's memories and realized that what it remembered was very different than what _he_ had seen on the screen…. How odd. Moving lampposts that spit out fire? Oversized snakes that were untouchable? It was like this 'Iluzisto' could manipulate his surroundings at will…

Or, even distort reality…

His attention suddenly darted in the direction of the front door when he then heard the noise of said ghost's weapon in its failed attempt to breach the ghost shield.

Now concerned again, the billionaire quickly moved to the nearby security screen to investigate. He let out a sigh of relief when he found that the ghost was no longer in sight. He would have to find out more about this _Iluzisto_, but that needed to wait.

Plasmius went back to the parlor and resumed checking the boy over. He inhaled sharply when he saw the boy's chest wound and how it was still bleeding freely. But because Daniel was not in ghost form, the oozing substance was not green ectoplasm but red human blood!

Vlad readily replaced the cloth over the wound and steadied himself as he checked the boy's pulse. It was weak! His mind racing against the creeping panic that the boy was in grave danger, Plasmius suddenly knew what he needed to do.

He teleported to the same room next to the kitchen where he had gotten his special tea. He looked over his arsenal of ghostly plants. Finally, he spied the two specific plants for which he was looking. He quickly began to re-heat the water that was still in his kettle from when he had made his own tea. And as he waited for it to boil, he placed the first plant leaves he had retrieved into a waiting teacup.

Vlad then grabbed the second plant jar off the counter and teleported back to Daniel. He knew that the phragmite river reed was the right choice for the boy, as its properties were quite effective in healing a ghost's wounds.

Plasmius quickly began to go to work opening the large pods and separating the long, slender reeds from their stalk. He used his nearby first aid kit to clean and disinfect the boy's injuries as best he could without irritating them more. And finally, he poured the contents of the pods over Daniel's head and chest wounds, and any other significant wound on the boy's body. Then he laid the leaves over the boy's head and chest. And because of their temporary adhesive property, they stayed in place, acting like bandages.

Satisfied now that this first aid would be effective in controlling any bleeding, the older hybrid quickly returned to the kitchen.

The tea kettle was dutifully singing when he got there. He quickly poured the rolling liquid into the prepared cup and waited a few moments for the tea to brew. Finally, satisfied that its purple hue was deep enough, he picked up the cup. The aroma made him a little dizzy, but with how potent the healing tea's narcotic property was, it was to be expected. So, he instantly straightened his arm and kept the cup at an arm's length away as he flew back to where Daniel was.

He set the teacup down by the couch where Danny lay and then grabbing the boy, shook him firmly. But Danny didn't stir.

Getting a little nervous over his poor response, Plasmius shook him more firmly, swatting the boy's face as he insisted, "Daniel, wake up! I need you to wake up!"

This time, the older ghost's efforts paid off and Danny began to groan back into consciousness. Plasmius quickly retrieved the hot tea and brought it to the boy's lips.

Danny shrank back from it at first, instinctively distrusting the smell it gave off. But he didn't have the strength to fully resist the older ghost's insistent efforts to make him drink, and finally Plasmius got the boy to start to imbibe the medicine.

But it proved difficult to get the tea into his young foe. The boy could hardly drink and he coughed a lot as he did. Finally, after Plasmius helped the boy to drink about half the cup of tea, the affects took fully over and Danny could not drink anymore. And as Vlad had expected, the teen's head fell back as he totally blacked out.

Plasmius immediately scooped the teen up, made them both intangible, and flew upward to one of his guest rooms. He lay the boy down on the bed and after turning on the light, retrieved an extra blanket from a nearby closet. As he covered Daniel with the blanket, he sighed in satisfaction. He knew that the tea would heal any internal injuries and the river reed would heal any external ones. All he had to do now was wait for Daniel to recover.

The older ghost turned and started to leave the room. But as his hand touched the light switch, he turned and looked back at the unconscious boy. "Sleep tight, little badger. For tomorrow you have quite a bit of explaining to do."

He turned off the light and shut the door. And finally turning human, he then walked back to his own room, deciding he would try to go back to sleep himself.

* * *

Danny was suddenly in the midst of fighting the unseen enemy again. But all too use to such a thing, he quickly counter-attacked with two ice beams from his eyes. But the entity rebounded with two large red beams which engaged his ice beams and shoved them back into his eyes.

The boy groaned in pain as he felt the rays gouge at his eyes and burn from the fire they had thrust upon them. He fell to his knees, gripping at the melted remnants of his eyes now oozing out of the hollow sockets …

Danny woke with a gasp, but then relaxed when he realized that the only thing attacking his eyes were the two beams of daylight that had penetrated the window shades and were flashing right into them….It was just a bad dream.

He reached up to his forehead and sighed in relief. But the emotion was cut short when he then felt an odd bandage underneath his fingers. He immediately pulled it off and dropped it somewhere, still too dazed to think about it. However, as he turned on his back, he winced at the pain that shot throughout his head and body, and as a result, he realized that not _all_ _of it_ had been a bad dream after all.

Still out of it, he looked upward at the strange, intricately decorated ceiling. But when he spied the fancy light that was in the center of it, he gasped again, this time his mind waking up enough to realize something was very off.

Where was he?

He shot up on his elbows and groaned in pain again. Still, he steeled himself and scanned the room that clearly was not his own. His head jolted when he spied someone spying back at him.

It was his arch enemy!

And because his mind was still not fully alert, the teen didn't readily remember what had happened very early that morning. Danny instantly freaked out; and although he had yet to fully recover, he still managed to jump out of bed, only to end up stumbling to the floor when he became entangled in the blanket. He yelled in pain as he fell.

Feeling his head spin horribly, he slowly pulled himself off the floor; and trying to ignore his pain as he did, he managed to growl to Vlad, "What are **you **doing here?" Then the boy remembered that this was not **his **room and he added, "I mean, **why** am I here?"

However, as soon as he forcefully questioned the man, he unconsciously held his head again as it began to spin and throb at the same time. Then, suddenly, he gasped in embarrassment when the leaves under his shirt oozed out from under it and sloppily plopped to the floor. It seemed the adhesive property of the leaves had finally worn off…

Still, he managed to will his transformation rings and turned into his alter ego. Though, not without another dizzy spell.

Vlad, meanwhile, just smirked with amusement at the boy's reaction. Did the boy realize how ludicrous it had been?

He chuckled, "My, Daniel, I never wanted to see how you were when you first woke up, and I must say that after seeing it right now, I could have definitely lived the rest of my life not knowing."

The ghost boy fisted his hands in an angry stance and growled. But in the next instant, his memory started to come into focus and his eyes widened with a different emotion. Danny slowly let his arms fall to his sides as he reverted back to his human form. He then softly uttered, "Oh, yeah. Now I remember what happened last night…"

Vlad briefly raised an eyebrow at the boy's quick change in demeanor; but hearing the teen's whisper, he knew the boy finally remembered and he answered, "Yes, well, you did force your visit upon me, dear boy. I'm more hospitable when my guests are invited. But that said, let's let bygones be bygones, hmm?"

The billionaire stood from the chair he had been sitting on as he added, "Seeing that you're already up, I think it's time for breakfast…" But glancing at the clock, he quickly corrected himself, "Or rather, brunch."

The boy winced in pain again and remarked, "No, thanks. And if you don't mind…."

"Oh, but I insist, Daniel," Vlad firmly interrupted him. "You wouldn't want me to think that your _father_ has utterly failed in instilling good manners in you by refusing your host, now do you? … Not that it would be of any surprise to me if he truly has not."

Danny was too focused on his continuing pain to react to Vlad's jab at his father. By the look on the man's face, however, the teen knew that his enemy was not offering, but was demanding him to stay.

But what was Vlad's intention in this? He doubted the man's purpose for wanting him to stay was to simply sabotage his food. If the guy wanted to get rid of him, he would have turned him over to that creature or not helped him at all last night. Yet there he was insisting that he eat. Danny didn't get it. And he also didn't get how he was essentially healed. Except for the continuing headache and the fact that he felt he had gotten run over by a truck, he was a lot better than he should have been. After all, he had been beaten pretty badly last night; he knew that much at least!

And needing to know the answer, he frowned at Vlad and asked, "What exactly happened after I, uh, passed out? I mean, how am I…?"

But the boy trailed off when he saw a twinkle in Vlad's eyes that pretty much said, 'Guess, dear boy.'

However, Danny just couldn't fathom how he was essentially healed… There was no way that his ghost powers could have done it so quickly, if at all, with how hurt he had been last night! So, then, how was he….

Danny's eyes widened slightly with surprise, and the man smirked in amusement. He could tell that the boy now knew.

"Did you cure me?" Danny asked, now more confused than ever.

"Does it surprise you?" the man retorted smugly.

"Uh, yeah!" he blurted out. "I mean…why? And, _how_?"

Vlad grinned widely. "Why?" he repeated. "Tsk. I thought you would have realized by now that you are no good to me dead, Daniel. And, as to _how_… Ghost plants, dear boy. Remarkable things, really. It never ceases to amaze me how well they do a ghost body good."

Danny rolled his eyes and unconsciously rubbed his slightly throbbing right shoulder. Maybe he should be a little grateful to the man for saving him from that creature and healing him. But he couldn't help but feel wary towards Vlad's sudden… _generosity_. Still…

The boy and the man looked at each other in silence for a moment before Vlad finally turned away and pushed an intercom button on the table near the chair he had been sitting in.

"Yes, Mr. Masters?" the voice asked.

"Two for brunch, George," the man casually replied.

"It'll be ready when you arrive, sir," George replied.

"Thank you," Vlad said. He turned to Danny and added, "Shall we head down to the brunch nook, then?"

He started for the door before the boy could answer him.

Danny sighed in irritation and also headed for the door. But because he was originally closer to it, he reached it at the same time as Vlad.

"After you," the teen dryly said, barely hiding his disdain while he motioned for the older hybrid to go first. "Don't want to make you think I don't have any manners, now do I?"

"Of course not, Daniel," Vlad smirked back as he entered the doorway first…

* * *

When they arrived, Danny stopped at the doorway of the dining room. He was actually amazed that the table had already been set and various foods had also been set out.

However, when his ghost sense went off, he instantly noticed a tall and muscular twenty-something-year old butler standing at a corner of the table. Oh. That explained it. Vlad employed ghost servants.

"Derek," the older hybrid called, moving away from the teen and walking closer to the butler.

The human-looking ghost only fleetingly locked eyes with Danny before turning his full attention to his employer. The teen could only look with uncertainty as the two exchanged brief words, but in a volume too low for the boy to hear.

And just as sudden as Danny had noticed the ghost butler, he vanished from the room.

The teen frowned, not sure how to feel about the notion of 'ghost servants'. But the scent of the mouth-watering food close by instantly got his full attention. And as he looked the food over, Danny suddenly realized how hungry he was. Still, he wasn't about to let on that he was.

But the teen didn't notice that Vlad had his eyes on him and had noticed the way he had looked at the food. Of course, it didn't surprise the man. Vlad knew that the boy just had to be famished.

However, deciding to go easy on the teenager for now, he casually said, "Come now, Daniel. Don't be so formal. Help yourself, and sit down…I can assure you the food won't attack you," he added, seeing the boy's wariness.

Vlad didn't wait for the teen to respond and immediately led the way. He fixed his own sandwich and served himself other side dishes before sitting down in one of the chairs. He quietly began to eat without so much as looking back up at the boy.

Danny still hesitated, but his growling stomach finally won out and he quickly prepared his own brunch and sat down, eating as silently as Vlad. The tension and oddity the teen felt at eating with his arch-enemy almost made him want to run out of the room. Almost.

After several minutes, though, they finally satisfied their hunger. Or, at least, enough for Vlad to at last say, "So, Daniel, is there anything you wish to tell me?"

And catching the hint, the boy tensed; but then, he feigned ignorance as he shook his head and mumbled in between the food in his mouth, "Not really."

"Oh, really?" Vlad answered, his eyes narrowing slightly in irritation. "Then, let me help you along. Tell me what happened that brought you so abruptly to my door."

This time, Danny didn't answer him, purposely stuffing his mouth to prevent just that.

But Vlad immediately saw through the boy's ruse and said more firmly, "That was **not** a request, boy! You involved me in this whether you like it or not! So you **will** tell me what happened!"

Danny scowled as he swallowed the last bit of food. He hated it when the man got demanding. "You didn't have to get involved! I was doing all right on my own!"

Vlad's voice became louder with his growing irritation. "Oh? And I suppose that it was your plan all along to get all beaten up as you did and collapse right in front of my door? Forgive me if I didn't see how _clever_ your strategy was!"

Danny shot up from his chair, knocking it over as he did. He yelled, "I didn't plan to have that fight right in front of your house! That _thing_…ambushed…me….. And I-I…."

But he didn't finish his sentence. He instantly knew that he had not fully recovered from his fight when his head had begun to spin wildly after his violent movement off the seat. He tried to fight it off; but in the end, his body wouldn't cooperate. With a quiet moan, he lost consciousness again and crashed to the floor.

Vlad gasped at the sight and immediately ran to the boy's side.

"Daniel!" he yelled as he pulled the boy up to a sitting position on the floor.

Danny groaned but came to almost immediately afterward. He yelped when his eyes opened and met Vlad's own. He instinctively pulled away from his enemy.

"Look, Daniel," the man began as he stood up and let the boy struggle to get up on his own. He righted the chair and backed away as the boy pulled himself into the chair. But his tone wasn't gentle. It was firm and direct as he continued, "I could care less about your ridiculous ghost fights. But when you bring a ghost with such bizarre powers to my door, you can be sure that's going to change."

"And just so you know, I saw and _fought_ that ghost!" Vlad continued. "He has very unusual powers, something I have never seen before. And I suspect you haven't as well. _So_, given the circumstances, and the fact that you just said he ambushed you, it would have been very difficult for you to have beaten him—if, at all. That said, you can stop pretending like you had everything under control because I don't buy it. Now, how about saving us both further hassles, and simply tell me what happened?"

Danny sat in silence, trying to stop his spinning head. But when Vlad told him the news, his mind cleared with the shock.

"All right. I'll tell you," he finally muttered. "I'm not exactly sure when this ghost showed up since I had finally gotten to sleep in my room before all this began. I had been up part of the night fighting other ghosts, so I was really tired. But then this one came, and I wasn't even sure it was a ghost at first!"

"What do you mean?" Vlad asked.

"Well," Danny began, and then told him what had happened….

_Danny was exhausted! As he phased into his room and changed back to his human form, he groaned with his fatigue. He wished that his father would hurry up and fix the Fenton Portal. The door wouldn't close all the way and that small crack in it was making him work 'overtime' in catching any ghost for too many days already. _

_He looked at the clock and groaned. One o'clock in the morning. Again! He hurriedly brushed his teeth and didn't even stop to change his clothes. He plopped on his bed, spread eagle. But after a few minutes, he felt uncomfortably hot. He argued with himself, trying to convince himself to get up and open the window. _

_Finally, he won his own argument and pulled himself out of bed. He quickly threw the window opened and went right back to bed. After a while, he wondered why he had even done that. There was hardly any breeze. Still, he lay there, trying not to think about it; and, thankfully, that helped in the end. He felt the weight of his exhaustion melt away as sleep finally grabbed a hold of him. _

_No more than an hour-and-a-half had passed when his frosty breath 'ghost sense' eked out of his mouth. But he was so deep in sleep, he hadn't noticed. A few moments later, he suddenly shivered as his ghost sense triggered more forcefully. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. His blurry vision barely registered the 'two-thirty' that the clock dutifully reported to him. Once more, his ghost sense went off; and this time, he jolted awake._

"_Not again…" he mumbled irritably as he changed to his ghostly form. "If that's the Box Ghost one more time, I swear…." _

_But his ghost sense once again screamed for his attention. He soared upward and quickly searched throughout his room. But there was nothing there. He quickly flew to his window. _

_He searched the moonless sky but saw nothing but the muggy haze that still covered the stars. But as he continued to look at that haze, he noticed that it moved awkwardly. Like a ripple in a pond. _

_But he dismissed it, chocking it up to his fatigue. However, just as he was about to go back to bed, he noticed an odd movement in that same area. _

_But he noticed too late. _

_The teen wasn't even able to gasp when a large red ectoplasmic beam suddenly came charging at him; and before he could react still, it made firm contact and propelled him into the wall opposite of his window. The impact shook the wall and the force that had riveted Danny's body bore a large dent into the wall._

_The boy groaned, momentarily stunned, as he slid down the wall and fell to the floor._

"_Ouch!" he said as he placed his hand on his forehead. "But I better get out of here before Jazz hears all of this. I don't want her getting hurt! At least Mom and Dad aren't here to get in the way, either!"_

_He flew upward and toward the window. But suddenly, another red beam struck at him and hurled him into his dresser. It immediately broke under him. _

"_Alright! That's enough!" he yelled as he pulled himself upward._

_This time, a third beam came at him, but he was able to avoid it and it slammed into his bed, utterly destroying it._

"_Now you're going to get it, uhm, whoever you are!" he vowed as he streaked out of the window. _

_He searched all around in the night sky, but grunted in frustration. Where was that ghost? His 'ghost sense' reacted again and he jerked around in a circle, slowing every few degrees, to search for the ghost. _

_Suddenly, he felt a breeze around him and then another red bolt charged at him. This time, however he didn't move quickly enough and the blast burned into his right shoulder._

"_Arrghh!" he screamed in both pain and defiance. But ignoring the intense pain searing through his right shoulder, he shot a green ectoplasmic ray wildly at the general direction of where he guessed the red beam had come. But nothing came from his attempt and he continued to search desperately in the moonless night…. _

Danny ended the story with telling Vlad about the dragons and the eerie voice. And that he had never seen his attacker or detected him after he had left his home, though he did feel a weird sick feeling in his stomach the whole time.

Vlad had silently been listening to him the entire time, but even when the boy finished, he remained quiet.

Danny waited, since he could almost see the wheels in the man's head turning.

Finally, Vlad arched an eyebrow and asked, "You said Maddie and Jack aren't home… Where did they go?"

Danny frowned. Why did that even matter? Still the teen answered, but the suspicious look on his face remained as he did. "They left for a ghost convention for a few days, why?"

Vlad smirked. "Curiosity," he answered teasingly.

Danny glared, but decided he didn't have time for his enemy's games and just continued.

"You said you saw the ghost… What did it—uhm, he—look like?"

Vlad proceeded to tell the boy about the ghost's physical description, as well as a few other things. But in the end, he left out how he had concluded the ghost held the ability to distort reality, and that its energy level had lowered when his duplicate had hit him with an energy blast…

"So he said his name is Iluzisto?" Danny said with a quizzical look.

Vlad simply nodded.

"Man, where do these ghosts come up with these names?" Danny commented dryly.

Vlad shrugged, uncaringly. "I think the more important question is: how are we going to deal with this creature?"

"_**We?**_" the boy quizzed, not catching his drift. But then he frowned, realizing Vlad had grown an interest towards the ghost. And that was not good.

Danny glared at Vlad, silently telling him he was not going to allow him to take advantage of this situation. And his next remark stressed the fact. "_**I'm**_ not going to do anything about it until I get over this first bout. Then, I'm going to find out all I can about him so I'll be ready if he decides to come after me again. Of course, I'm hoping that it was just a one time thing and he was just out looking to kick _Danny Phantom's_ butt just so he can brag to everyone in the Ghost Zone that he did. That's what most of the ghosts that attack me are after anyways." He rolled his eyes with his last words.

The boy didn't wait for a response from Vlad, and rose from the chair but unexpectedly lost his balance again. However, he caught himself right away and added, "Now you know everything. So if you don't mind, I need to get home." He felt the dizziness—and that same headache—come on again and he tried to steel himself. Was he really so hurt that he still didn't have the strength to stay on his feet?

Seeing the boy's strength quickly slipping, Vlad stood and replied, "Actually, I do mind. You are not in any condition to go anywhere at this point, Daniel. You probably need another dose of the ghost medicine. So, I insist that you stay….."

But Danny didn't hear the rest of what Vlad had to say. His dizziness had interfered with his hearing and before he knew it, he saw blackness again.

With a sigh, Vlad turned back into Plasmius and retrieved the boy again off the floor. And securing the senseless boy in his arms, he quickly soared upward to the same guest room as before all the while thinking about what Daniel had told him. He found it odd how the boy mentioned his ghost sense stopped working when he had been fighting the ghost…

Somehow, Vlad had a gut feeling Iluzisto somehow caused this… But how? And more importantly, why was this ghost after Daniel? Now that the boy had told him about his fight with Iluzisto, Vlad could conclude the ghost's intention was not to kill the boy, but to simply capture him? But why did the ghost use such drastic force, and actually did almost kill the boy?

He smirked as he immediately answered his own question. Of course. Daniel would never have gone 'quietly'. And just by his own brief fight with the ghost, Vlad could further tell Iluzisto was very ill-tempered. So, it wouldn't surprise him if the ghost simply got carried away.

But none of that answered for what _purpose_ this ghost wanted to take the boy!

He looked thoughtfully at the unconscious teenager as he placed him down on the bed. But then a wicked little thought slowly began to unravel within his mind and the man's eyes brightened with malice, while his lips curved upward and met that same emotion.

Perhaps this situation could play to his advantage after all…

Still focused on the unsuspecting boy, his eyes slightly narrowed with evil as he thought,_ "Sorry to tear down your hopes, my boy, but this ghost is not just out to 'kick your butt'. In fact, I would be willing to bet all my money that he will be coming back for you. That much is certain. And that's when I will be taking advantage of this whole thing…" _

His smirk widened as he suddenly reached down and raked back the boy's tussled hair and whispered into his ear, "Iluzisto simply doesn't know the right way to get at you, but I can make sure that he does… If need be…_"_

It was going to be very easy. All he had to do was make Iluzisto _think_ he could have Daniel, and meanwhile, convince the boy that the only way to escape the ghost was to ask for his aid again. Only, _this time_, since Vlad knew that he could _easily _handle a 'level seven' ghost, Vlad would keep Iluzisto from taking the teen, _only_ if Daniel agreed to join him!

Of course, being that the teenager was so infernally stubborn, the older hybrid didn't expect his young rival to agree right away. But Vlad was sure all he had to do was let Iluzisto 'persuade' Daniel until he did take his offer! Yes… this was indeed going to play to his advantage!

He chuckled in satisfaction again as he moved his hand down and placed the blanket over Daniel like before. As he left the boy, he smugly thought, _"It's so nice when new puppets show up for my use. And Iluzisto will be no different."_

* * *

**Truephan here: Well, there ya go! We can always depend on Vlad twisting things to his advantage, right? *scratches head* He really is an enigma, huh? Oh, well, at least he's very entertaining. In any case, you will probably find out sooner or later, but I need to warn you… Ms. Hyde really thrives off of your reviews, so she better hear from you…or else…*Ooh, I meant that in very nice way, dearies…*pulls out hatpin*..Uh, if you get my point, meh-heh…And, oh, now, looks like pearlie girl has something to say…or is it her wickedly handsome and diabolical Vlad muse? Oooh, just my type! *cackles wickedly*…uh, pearl dearie?...**

***Vlad muse glares* Don't think you can butter me up with your silly words of praise—**_**even**_** if they are true. And let's got something clear, **_**Ms. Hyde**_**. No one talks to the readers in such a way except for me. They are **_**my**_** pawns. Mine! Now, stay out of my way or you'll know why I am the most feared muse in all existence!**

***Pearl rolls eyes* Seriously, you two need to give it a rest. *looks at readers* You all have no idea how hard it is to work with him, sometimes, especially when Truephan's own muse is around. Ugh. Okay, enough silliness! Heh-heh! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Believe me, things are going to get worse before they better! *winks***

**See you all at the Pearl chat room later today! Ta, dear readers! **


	3. Chapter 3: Treacherous Capture

**Pearl: Hello, everyone! Time for another chapter of Sid! I hope you all like it. Heh. It's enough to say that Vlad muse and Ms. Hyde actually agreed on this one…. *chuckles nervously***

**Truephan here: *gulps* I totally agree with pearl, gang. And you should have seen **_**before**_** they had agreed. *shivers at the memory* Let's just say that we hope you have a strong stomach...or a very weird sense of humor. In either case, hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom, though our muses act like they do…**

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* * *

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**Chapter 3: Treacherous Capture**

* * *

A few hours later, Danny was still in his forced slumber. But Vlad knew it was to be expected, considering how injured the boy had been from his fight.

"_If one could call it that,"_ Vlad thought dryly, sure that the boy had stood no chance against _Iluzisto_. The child really got himself into the worse pickles at times. But then again, that's what came with his quaint need to use his powers 'for good'. Foolish boy.

The billionaire smirked as he typed in something on his mainframe, before uttering, "Maddie dear, could you scan the premises for any ectoplasmic entities?"

A holographic image of Maddie Fenton instantly appeared beside the man, and squeaked with delight. "Right away, my handsome muffin," she said, before moving over to another part of the lab and then began pressing several switches on a computer system herself.

Vlad placed his hands behind his back, and with a smile, headed over to 'his Maddie', silently watching her work.

In spite of now living in Amity Park, the older half-ghost still had his lab and all his other equipment that he had in his Wisconsin home. Only that here he just kept them well-hidden. But he also had things that he didn't have at his previous residence. And his surveillance system was one of those things.

With it, the mayor could look, or rather, spy on everything and everyone in Amity Park. Nothing was safe from Vlad's eyes, especially the Fentons' residence which was what he spent most of his time watching.

However, at the moment, he was using it to survey his own home and its surroundings. He was sure Iluzisto was still somewhere around. And if he was after Daniel, he wouldn't go too far from the boy's location.

"Oh, Dumpling, I found an ectoplasmic entity with a level seven reading on the ecto-scale," 'Maddie' informed him.

Vlad grinned in delight. "Ah, there you are…and still not a threat, I see."

The man quickly walked over to a glass case and opened the small door on it. A hiss sounded and a whoosh of cold air left the square container. He carefully picked up one of the several metallic bugs inside, all looking somewhat like his Plasmius form. And then, he lifted it up to his eye level, before releasing a small charge of energy from his other hand at it.

The little robot instantly jumped to life and his wings began to flutter quickly now that it was charged with ghost energy. Its red little eyes lifted towards its creator, and it chirped as it waited for its instructions.

"Track down the level seven entity outside. Keep it in your line of sight, but don't let it see you. Await further instructions."

The small 'bug' chirped a little louder, before quickly flying off Vlad's hand and phasing through the roof of his lab.

"Uh-oh!" the Maddie hologram suddenly exclaimed.

"What is it?" Vlad asked with a frown as he walked back to the screen at which she was looking.

"Well, it looks like your soon-to-be-son is ready to leave, or rather, _leaving_," she corrected herself with a small giggle.

Vlad smirked as he watched on the screen the image of Danny Fenton cautiously making his way towards the front entrance.

"Without saying 'good-bye' to dear Uncle Vlad? No, we can't have that." He looked at the female hologram and commanded, "Maddie, turn on the human shield, but keep the ghost shield up. I'll let you know when I want you to lower one… or both," he added evilly before exiting his lab.

However, as he made it down a corridor, he ran into his ghostly butler and quickly remembered there was something he had to tell his servant.

"Derek?" he called.

The butler bowed slightly before asking, "Yes, sir?"

"I wish for you and the others to return to my castle in Wisconsin as soon as possible. I will call for you all when I wish for your return," Vlad calmly ordered.

Derek blinked in surprise. But knowing better than to question his employer's orders, especially when such an order usually meant something was about to happen, the ghost butler nodded and replied, "As you wish, Mr. Masters. I will inform the others."

"Good, and report back to me when everyone else is gone and you are about to leave," Vlad casually answered before walking off and continuing to where he was going….

* * *

Danny groaned softly as he sat up in bed. His whole body was so sore, but at least his mind wasn't as blurry as when he first woke. He pretty much remembered everything that happened…

With another pained moan, he finally noticed he was wearing a pair of pajamas. Where were his shirt and jeans?

"Oh, duh, Vlad," he mumbled. Okay, so his mind was a bit groggy still. He had not noticed until now that the fruit loop had switched him out of his dirt-and-blood-covered clothing. Though, it made sense. The guy had probably done it while he had been using those icky ghost plants to heal his exterior injuries…

"At least those nasty wounds are completely healed now… Not that the fact makes me feel any better…Everything still hurts!" He rubbed his sore head for a moment before he added, "Ugh… so, let's see if I remember this right: First, some freaky ghost attacks me way before any normal person would be up. Then, my arch-enemy saves me from him and heals me. Now, I'm sitting in one of the fruit loop's rooms being nurtured back to health by him, while he's also probably trying to think of a way to take advantage of all this… Yup, that sounds like my life: weird and—Whoa!" he suddenly exclaimed as he finally noticed the time on the hanging clock.

He jumped to his feet only to suffer from a dizzy spell and trip on himself. He gasped in pain when his head further protested from the sudden movement and fall.

"Nice one, Fenton," he chided himself in a pained and annoyed voice as he slowly stood back up.

He looked back at the clock and groaned. "Oh, man, Jazz is going to kill me!" He suddenly started looking around. "Darn it! What did Plasmius do with my clothes? And I need a phone!" he added, realizing he should call his sister before she freaked more than she probably was by now.

He quickly scanned his room and grinned at finding his clothing clean and nicely folded on a nearby chair. He quickly rifled through them for his phone. He then groaned with his sudden memory. Duh! Iluzisto—that was that ghost's name, right? Well, whatever his name was had attacked him so abruptly that he didn't even have time to grab his cell phone off his dresser!

"Stupid ghost," he murmured under his breath, before he brightened at his next idea.

"Hey, I'm sure _Unkie Vlad_ won't mind if I borrow his phone," he said with an uneasy smile as he put on his pants and then shirt, all the while making sure not to cause unnecessary stress to his newly healed head and chest. But when finished, he rubbed the back of his neck and added, "Let's hope he's still feeling _charitable._"

Danny still felt uneasy with the fact that Plasmius had actually helped him. It just made no sense. But then again, he never thought _he_ would ever plea for the man's help. Had he really been that shaken up by that ghost? Uh, yes! Still, as grateful as he was that his arch-enemy had helped him out, he knew better than to push his luck any further. It was unwise to remain in the lion's den for long.

But he feared leaving the man's house—as crazy and ironic as _that_ sounded. What if that ghost was still out there waiting for him? Sure, he was feeling a whole lot better, but not to the point where he felt up to another round with that 'Iluzisto' dude. He really needed his sister and friends' help with this one.

Danny sighed, before giving the clock that read five o'clock in the evening another glance.

"Crud! I still can't believe it's _that_ late! Jazz's must be going nuts!" he repeated, remembering again why he had jumped out of bed so quickly. "But as much as I want to leave right now, I better play it safe. I better hurry up and call her to come pick me up. I just hope that ghost is long gone and I won't have to worry about it again."

He rubbed his neck nervously again, having a sick hunch that he _would _have to confront Iluzisto again. But knowing there was nothing he could do about that now, he shook aside his dread and treaded across the room towards the door. Once he called his sister, he was sure he would feel a lot better. He could even have her bring some ghost weapons just in case that ghost was out there. And then when they got home, he could put up the ghost shield and call Sam and Tucker. He was certain that as soon as they were together, they could figure this all out. And by then, he knew he would be completely recovered from this last fight.

However, as he walked down the eerily quiet hall, his dread returned, but for a different reason. Even if Vlad had helped him, the guy was still his most dangerous enemy. And his mind couldn't help but go on high alert every time he was anywhere near the man. It was instinct by now.

He looked around the hallway for anything that resembled a phone, but so far, he had had no luck. So, he started to check the rooms...

"Uh…let's see…Another tacky bedroom…. More bedrooms….A really big boring library, but at least it's not a bedroom…. A really ugly office with no phone… Ooo! A garage with _really_ cool cars! Too bad I can't drive..."

He walked downstairs, continuing his search for a phone. "Man, does this guy hate phones or something? I feel like I'm searching for the Holy Grail, or um, something as impossibly hard to find."

He finally halted in the middle of a living room and let out a weary sigh. He couldn't find a phone anywhere in this place.

"Okay, so calling Jazz is no longer an option… I guess I have no choice but to just leave on my own." He rubbed his aching head for a moment, before walking out of the living room.

He headed towards the large house's entrance, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as he continued towards it.

He suddenly paused and looked back with indecision. "Should I let Vlad know that I'm leaving? ...Where the heck is he anyway?" he added, annoyed, his nervousness making him irritable.

"Hey, cheese head!" he called as loud as his aching ribs would allow. But all he heard was the sound of his own echo. The teen shifted uncomfortably, beginning to wonder if Vlad was even home anymore. The thought of being alone in the man's creepy house somehow was more unnerving than having the billionaire there. Then again, didn't the guy have ghost servants…? So, where were they?

"Listen, I'm going home now, Vlad!" he called out again, but then paused to see if he heard anything.

He did not.

"Well, okay… Uh, thanks for the slimy ghost plants and the, uh, food! It was very good! Uh, the food, that is! The plants were…Uh, never mind! See ya whenever you try another of your kill-my-dad-wed-my-mom schemes or some lonely-cat-guy world domination plot!"

Danny stayed quiet for a moment, but at not getting any response, he shrugged and headed to the door. However, just as he reached it, he suddenly hesitated. Maybe he should 'go ghost'. But he was not sure if he could do it right now. But knowing there was only one why to find out, he concentrated on his powers. And albeit it took him longer than usual, he was relieved when he was at least strong enough to slowly turn into Phantom.

Now a bit surer of himself, he grabbed the door handle and turned it; but when he tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge.

"Hey! What gives?" he mumbled, pulling harder on the door without moving it an inch. It was like there was a boulder keeping it closed…

"Need some assistance?"

Danny yelped in alarm at hearing Plasmius' voice right next to him. And in his surprise, he stumbled back, releasing the door handle.

Plasmius chuckled as he turned visible, his gloved hand still resting on the knob and thus preventing the boy from opening the door.

"Ah, Daniel. You never cease to amuse me, my boy," he said, crossing his arms and smiling.

Danny glared in response, "Yeah, well, you never cease to _annoy_ me," he snapped back.

Vlad just shrugged amusedly. But then he tilted his head, and feigning ignorance, asked. "What were you trying to do, hmm?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "What did it look like? I gotta go home, Plasmius. Jazz is probably way worried by now, and I need to let her see me before she does something crazy."

Vlad leaned up against the door, and the teen frowned in disapproval. "Ah, yes, your over-protective sister… Why don't you just simply call her?" he asked causally, inspecting one of his gloved hands.

Danny crossed his arms in front of him, "Uh, maybe because I don't have my cell phone with me. And you obviously don't believe in them."

Vlad laughed. "What do you mean, my boy? There's one right in the next room. Didn't you see it?"

The teen glanced over at a small tea room, realizing he hadn't checked in there. But still, he wasn't in the mood to call Jazz anymore. He now just wanted to leave.

Vlad continued. "I have several of them, but…" He reached into his jumpsuit somehow and pulled out a small cell phone. "You can use my personal one if you'd prefer."

Danny looked at the man's extended hand, before looking back up at him. "I, uh… Thanks, but I better just go, so, um, if you could… move…"

But he didn't move and just smiled, unnerving the boy even more.

"Look, Vlad, I appreciate your help, but—"

"Iluzisto is still out there," the man interrupted, raising an eyebrow at the teen.

Danny fell into a fear-induced silence.

Vlad finally moved away from the door and wrapped his arm around the Ghost Boy. "But you need not worry about him with your Uncle Vlad around, hmm? Son?"

With the ring of that 'son' title in his ear, Danny snapped out of his shock, and quickly moved out of the man's hold. "Okay, what do you want, Plasmius?" he growled suspiciously.

"What makes you think I want anything?" he retorted innocently.

Danny glared with his answer, before turning away and pulling open the door.

"Later," he said.

But before he could step out, Vlad spoke up. "You can't leave, Daniel," he said calmly.

The teenager looked back at him with a clever smirk. "Why? 'Cause of the ghost shield?" He turned human, before stepping out.

Vlad turned human himself and moved toward the door, watching as the boy walked down the steps and down his front pathway. But Danny didn't even get to the street before he collided with the human shield.

The man smirked as the teen cried out in pain and quickly cradled his aching head.

With a calm sigh and his hands behind his back, he stepped out himself and headed towards the boy. "As I said, Daniel. You _can't_ leave."

Danny spun around, his hands fisting at his side. "What are you trying to do, Plasmius? Let me go!" he demanded.

Vlad smiled as he reached the boy. "Quiet, Daniel, you'll get the neighbors' attention. Why don't you come back inside? I want to talk you for a moment."

"No!" Danny shouted. "And I suggest you drop these stupid shields before I make your neighbors believe _the_ _mayor_ is harassing a kid!"

Vlad's calm demeanor faltered somewhat, and he said in a deep sobriety. "No need for threats, Daniel. I'm simply trying to keep you from doing something foolish. As I said, that ghost is still waiting for you right outside these shields. And if you haven't noticed, you are still too weak to put up even one of your mediocre fights. Also, you are in an open neighborhood in broad daylight, so unless you want to expose yourself, you cannot turn into Danny Phantom to even try to defend yourself. Now, be a good and _grateful_ boy and come inside. I said I _just_ want to speak with you. I'll let you call Jasmine, and then I'll drive you home myself. Sound good?" Vlad asked, momentarily narrowing his eyes at the teen.

Still glaring at the man in defiance, Danny pushed passed him as he stomped back inside the large house.

Vlad calmly walked after the teen, but upon reaching the doorway, he halted and looked back out into the street. He frowned for a moment as he surveyed the area. Because of his years of experience, the older hybrid had no problem with detecting that strange ghost's energy signature, even with the shields in between them… But there was just something _odd_ about his feel, something the man's advanced instruments weren't picking up. And although he was sure of what he felt, Vlad had no idea what it meant…

"_Perhaps it is unwise to risk giving this ghost entry…"_ he thought, suddenly feeling nervous. But almost instantly, he snapped out of it. He smirked in a challenging matter in the direction of the street, before finally entering his home.

Vlad closed the door behind him, finding the boy nowhere in sight. But the man knew exactly where he was, and calmly headed in that direction.

As he guessed, the boy was quickly punching numbers into the phone in the tea room. But before it could ring more than once, Vlad pressed the hang-up button.

"Hey!" Danny protested, before shoving Vlad's hand off the phone. "You said I could call Jazz!"

"Yes, after we chat," Vlad answered, not reacting to the boy's glare.

"Look," Danny said, clearly exasperated and more nervous than he let on. "It's gonna take Jazz at least fifteen minutes to get here, so I'll call her now and—Ahh!" he suddenly cried out when Vlad sent a small energy ray at the phone, destroying it completely except for the talking piece remaining in Danny's hand.

"I said _after_," the older-half ghost said, staring at teen with a calm but intense look.

Danny just stared at the talking piece still clutched in his bare hand. That zap sure smarted a bit. But then he dropped the broken phone piece to the ground, before looking up at his enemy with a serious face. "What do you want?"

Vlad suddenly smiled. "To chat… about…us." He placed a hand on the boy's back, coaxing him to move towards a small lounge chair. "You know, this whole rivalry and such nonsense."

Danny was so confused, he didn't even protest when the man pushed him down on the chair. "Huh?"

"Yes, I was thinking this morning," Vlad began, walking off to a speaker on a wall, "And I realized we didn't quite get off on the right foot—Would you like some tea?"

Danny frowned. "Uh, no… And if you think keeping me here is going to fix that, then I think _you_ should think harder."

Vlad smirked, before pressing a button on a speaker box, and saying. "George, are you still there?"

"Yes, sir. Everyone has left except for Derek and I. Did you need something before we take off?"

"Yes. Could you ask Derek to bring in two teas to the front entrance coffee lounge?"

Danny's eyebrows instantly drew together. Did he hear right? Were the guy's servants… leaving? But to where? And more importantly…. Why?

But before the teen could ask what was going on, Vlad turned to him again, and the teen's heart skipped a beat in apprehension.

"Do you know why I saved you from that ghost?" he asked, staring down at Danny with his hands calmly resting against his back.

"Uh…" Danny shifted on the small chair, momentarily looking to the room's exit. He couldn't figure out where the man was going with this, but he feared it might turn ugly real fast… Still, he forced himself not to run out of the room, and gripping the chair's armrests a bit too tightly, he grinned nervously at the man and replied, "Because…. You actually do have a heart?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow before turning to a nearby chair and pulling it forward. He sat down in front of the boy, before answering him with sobriety, "Obviously, or you would be dead now, wouldn't you?"

Danny couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt from those words. The teen sighed. "I already said thanks," he answered, returning the man's look.

"I don't care about your gratitude, Daniel," he answered. "If I helped you, it is only because of the fact that I do not wish for your demise, dear child. Haven't you realized that by now?" The man suddenly gave Danny a dark look as he added, "After all, if I wanted you dead, you would have been from the first day we met."

Danny stared wide-eyed at the man.

But then Vlad continued in a lighter tone. "All I ever wanted, Daniel, was to help you. I could teach you quite a bit, you know. Or, at least, more than Jack ever could…"

He leaned closer to the teen, and before he could respond, the man added, "I could provide you with anything you could ever want. With my power, I could even rid Amity Park of the ghosts, if you wish it. Your family would be safe. Your town would be safe. And you…" He smiled at the boy. "You would have the perfect, normal life any child your age desires to have… And all you would need to do in return is…_stay_," he finished in a whisper, but the intensity in his blue eyes was indescribable.

Once again, Danny just stared at him with large eyes and the room suddenly took on a tense, deep silence.

But then abruptly, the teenager burst into a fit of laughter. "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Dude! Whoa!" he leaned forward, reflexively wrapping his arms around his still sore ribs that had, of course, moved with his giggles.

Vlad just leaned back in his chair, calmly listening to the boy as he continued.

"You, like, totally had me! I didn't even see that one coming! Hah-ha-ha! Man! Vlad, seriously, you are, like, the loopiest—hah-ha!—person I've met! B-But I gotta give ya credit! That one—heh! ha-ha!—had to be the best 'join me' speech yet!"

Danny continued to laugh heartedly for a moment more, before calming down enough to smirk in amusement and add, "Sorry, Cheese head, but no matter how you word it, my answer isn't going to change. So, now that we've had our 'chat'—" Danny let out a small chuckle. "—Think I could borrow that phone, or better yet, _leave_?"

Vlad didn't answer. He just clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth before briefly looking towards the room's exit. But then, he abruptly glared back at the teenager with bright red eyes, and startled Danny.

"You think this is game, you little rat?" he growled. "You don't seem to understand your position, so allow me to elaborate."

Vlad abruptly stood and leaned forward, slamming one of his hands against the chair's headrest, right next to Danny's head, while his other hand gripped one of the chair's armrests. Now the teen was physically trapped and could only press back against his seat as the angry man continued.

"It is obvious Iluzisto is here to capture you. Why? I really do not care. But, I do care for the fact that it allows me to place you in a compromised position. It's that simple."

Danny gasped when Vlad quickly let go of the armrest, though he kept his other hand firmly against the chair's headrest. And with his now free hand, the man pulled out the Plasmius Maximus from his suit and charged it.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Danny exclaimed, moving his face to the side as the man brought the device inches from it. The human teen knew that he was trapped in this chair he was in and still too weak to move away or turn intangible _fast enough _even in his human form to avoid his arch-enemy from short-circuiting his powers.

"You are either with me, or you are against me!" Vlad hissed darkly, still keeping the ghost weapon just barely away from his face. "I have tolerated your defiance for a year now, and I am at the end of my patience with you! If I can't be your father then I'll make sure Jack can't be, either! I'll let that ghost take you away! And I'll make sure he keeps you there until you see things my way!"

"You're crazy!" Danny shouted angrily, trying to find a way to escape. But the man was holding the Plasmius Maximus so close, the man would shock him with it before he could even turn into Phantom, let alone do anything else.

"**I know what I want! **And I want you at my side, Daniel! Why do you think I spent countless months trying to clone you? Why do you think I remain in this wash-down town? Make your choice! You either join me, or you will be joining that ghost in the Ghost Zone! I'll drop the shields, and when he's inside, I'll put them back up so you will have no escape. And to seal the deal, I'll short-circuit your powers, so you can't even kick as he takes you away! How's _**that**_ for a '_join me'_ speech?"

Danny instantly stopped squirming and looked right into the man's eyes. "Fine," the teen said calmly, before he gave the man the most defiant glare he could muster. "I rather join _him_!"

Enraged, Vlad grabbed the teen by his shirt and threw him across the room. "You fool!" he screamed, changing into Plasmius and lunging for the boy who had slammed into a coffee table.

Danny had no time to recover, his previous injuries putting him in a worse disadvantage. But at seeing the Plasmius Maximus coming near him, he found the strength to get up and dodge it. He quickly changed into Phantom and fired a blast at Vlad before flying out of the room.

But Vlad quickly avoided the attack before growling and following right after the boy.

Neither noticed the ghost butler just coming into the coffee room as they left it.

Derek blinked at the tussled room, but he then shrugged, placed the tray with the two cups of tea on another, not-destroyed table, and finally left the room. George was waiting for him at their employer's ghost portal for them to head back to the Wisconsin castle. And judging by the sound of fighting coming from somewhere in the house, Derek was more than certain it was time for them to leave…

Meanwhile, Danny was struggling with coming up with a quick plan to get away. But with a ghost and human shield up, he knew that he was fighting a lost battle. Still, he wasn't about to let his arch-enemy ship him off into the Ghost Zone.

Once Plasmius felt he was finally near enough to the boy, he jabbed the ghost weapon forward. But once again, Danny managed to dodge it. Vlad immediately counterattacked with an ecto-blast, which effectively hit the boy in the chest.

Danny cried out as he fell to the ground. And before he could recover, he felt a hand wrap around his throat and lift him off the ground.

"Last chance, Daniel," Plasmius growled darkly.

"N-Never!" he gasped out; and in response, Vlad squeezed his throat to the point he saw his vision start to blur.

"Maddie! Lower the ghost and human shields! Now!"

The hologram quickly appeared, and winked at the older half-ghost as she said, "Done!"

Vlad lifted up the Plasmius Maximus once more as Danny weakly struggled against his hold. "I think a few years locked up heaven-knows-where will make you change your mind."

Danny struggled more fiercely, knowing that without his ghost powers he would stand no chance against Iluzisto. But his attempts to escape were in vain, and he soon found the device closing in. He shut his eyes, waiting for the shocking pain to come.

But before Plasmius could use the ghost device on the young hybrid, a wicked laugh resonated throughout his home.

"_Uh-oh,"_ was all Danny could think.

* * *

If there was one thing Iluzisto had learned, it was how to be patient. How could he not be after a few centuries of imprisonment? After still being a prisoner to those he could destroy with a wave of a hand? Yes, he had learned the art of waiting. And he still waited for his revenge, for his freedom, and for his chance to unleash his power once more on all existence! But for now… he couldn't have planned things better. This would be easier in the end than he thought. For now, he was waiting for his… _prey_ to make a move….

Foolish creatures. He knew that they would have to leave their confines eventually. Now that the older one had joined the younger in resisting his plans and _really _riled him up in the process, that older one's fate was sealed as tightly as the younger's. It would be only a relatively short time before he would deal with them both.

Iluzisto smiled wickedly as he stood in front of the ghost shield, blending perfectly into it without actually touching it. His stealth power was the best arsenal in his collection for surprise attacks. And those were also something in which he prided himself.

But his stealth ability was just one of the tricks he could use to… _trick_ his prey. He was the _master_ of illusions. And if deception had a name it would be _Iluzisto_. However, what made his illusions the perfect snares were their ability to become more than a mere illusion. Once his prey _believed_ them true, they _became_ _true_… Or at least, in their minds. And when they fell for his tricks… it was all over.

But then again, once _Iluzisto_ was after his quarry there was _no _escape.

The ghost's blended eye suddenly flashed its true silvery purple color as his thoughts filled him with excitement. He didn't know why, but out of all the captures he had made in all his existence, this one just seemed so much more significant. Perhaps it was because it had been decades since his prey had put up a decent struggle as the young one had…Or, perhaps, it was because in all his experience he had never been tricked so easily by anyone. But the older one had managed it. Perhaps his interest in this capture was because he was feeling something he never felt before:

Curiosity.

Whatever the reason, it was driving his want for these two interesting creatures. It wasn't just an order he was fulfilling for others anymore, but his own desire.

A sudden movement behind him interrupted Iluzisto from his thoughts. In an instant, his eye left the front of his head and traveled to the back of it. He opened his silvery-purple eye and quickly narrowed in on what had startled him.

"_A little earthly bug,"_ he thought, watching the insect resting on a tree before it scattered to hide in its leaves. _"Although… I never knew they…" _

Whatever he was thinking was forgotten as he suddenly heard the house's door open. Immediately, he looked towards it, and his eye almost glowed brighter with glee as he watched his young quarry walk out, while the older one stayed at the front door. Yes, his excitement was making it difficult not to move, but doing even the smallest movements, even in stealth mode, could compromise his position, since it often caused visible blurs or ripples through his body. And after fighting the both creatures in front of him, Iluzisto now knew the two were more observant than he had believed, especially the older one…

But what neither of them knew was that he already knew more about _them_ than they knew of him. As much as Iluzisto enjoyed improvising from time to time, he also believed in being fully prepared. And he was more than equipped with knowledge of these… _crossbreeds_. So, even if they were quite resourceful, and had temporarily—and foolishly—succeeded in delaying him a bit, Iluzisto was certain he still had the upper hand. He would _indubitably_ get what he came for….

But his thoughts of sure triumph were momentarily fogged when he realized with a mental frown that the young one might sense him. And since this strange shield in front of him neutralized his power, he had no means of distorting the boy's 'ghost sense' like he had in his previous attempt to capture the child.

But the thought suddenly made him angry and he glared down at his transparent wrists for some reason. If it wasn't for…_his restraints_, this creature wouldn't be able to sense him _at all_. After all, he wasn't some filthy _ghost_. He was much more than something so… _primitive_….

Iluzisto looked back at his quarry. Perhaps… the shield also blocked the boy's sensing ability…

He soon realized it to be true when the boy came inches from him as he slammed into the shield, and then fell to the ground in pain. His ghost sense _didn't_ work past the shield. Good.

Iluzisto then watched as the older crossbreed walked towards the other, and quickly wondered if that other crossbreed had a sensing ability, too. If so, he would have to distort it when the time came, as he had done with the younger one.

The ghost's gaze locked onto the two lively creatures as they argued with one another. He found it ironic how they couldn't stand each other, and yet, his employers had cautioned him of their being highly dangerous when together—dangerous because his employers believed the crossbreeds to be at their most powerful and most destructive when brought together…

It was truly ironic.

"_And hopefully as beneficial as I have imagined…," _Iluzisto thought with evil intent.

The ghost watched as the young one headed back into the house. He still looked weakened, but it was clear he was not weakened enough anymore. The crossbreed had to be even weaker if he was to capture him, otherwise it would be impossible.

"_And this is where __**this**__ comes to use," _he thought, squeezing the weapon in his hands. But then he froze at seeing the older cross-breed staring straight at him. "_Impossible! There is no way he can possibly see me!"_

But the challenging smile the man sent him said otherwise.

Iluzisto narrowed his eye once his prey had vanished into the house. "So, he thinks he is a match for my power, does he? Well, I'll soon prove to him why I am one of the most feared spirits in all existence!"

Iluzisto completely dropped his stealth mode for the first time, not caring if anyone now saw him in broad daylight and charged the weapon in his hands. It resembled a staff with white glowing spirals on the top that pulsed with energy, and in the middle was a large familiar-looking orb. But beyond the orb and the glowing spirals rested a black crystal at the top of the staff. But this crystal was oddly shaped. It was round at the bottom but pulled itself into fine jagged tip that stretched upwards until it finally ended in a long, thin needle. If it could be compared to anything, it would have to be the deadly sword of a swordfish…

He quickly pointed the staff to the ghost shield, but just before he could activate it, he heard an odd sound behind him. His eye whirled around just as he saw that odd insect heading his way. How irritating! Instinctively, he flicked his wrist and a small violet beam jutted forth from his staff. It hit its mark right away and what turned out to be Vlad's spy bug ricocheted right off the impact and spun out of control.

Iluzisto turned back to his main concern. He raised his staff again and once more, the glowing spiral rings fired out purple ecto-energy. But upon hitting the shield, the attack disintegrated into nothing.

"What is this strange magic?" he hissed, annoyed, not understanding how it was possible for anything to resist a hit from the weapon in his hands without succumbing to it. Clearly Iluzisto had never encountered a ghost shield.

Deciding to try another tactic, he moved the staff forward, but this time he allowed the needle-tip of the crystal to pierce the shield. To his fortune, it successfully did. But he then readily removed it, leaving behind a tiny black puncture in the barrier.

He watched with a triumphant grin as the tiny puncture began to expand, slowly turning the green shield black, before the shield began to liquefy and evaporate into a black mist, while leaving a slowly growing hole in its wake.

But before the hole could become big enough for the ghost to walk through, the shield suddenly vanished.

Iluzisto's eye widened in true surprise. _He _did not do that! But then, the lone eye narrowed in suspicion. And he quickly looked around, his eye literally turning 360 degrees as it scanned. This had to be another trick! It was too easy!

But then his sensitive hearing caught noises of struggles from within and he chuckled evilly. "Powerful' together? Not so much as _foolish_…"

In an instant, he melted into his surroundings and moved forward in stealth mode again. He soon phased into the large home, his excitement rising from how simple they were making this for him.

Iluzisto soon caught sight of the two crossbreeds fighting with each other. And the best part was they were both in ghost form. This was indeed too easy.

He quickly flew closer this time blending with the actual air, which to his prey would feel no more than a small gust of wind. He needed to get their attention, so to deal his best card: illusion.

He let out a loud evil laugh, making sure to disperse it through the house so his prey could not pinpoint his exact location unless he gave it to them.

Immediately, they both froze.

Danny gasped as his ghost sense went off, but still made no move. Vlad, on the other hand, quickly pushed past his surprise, and smirked in the direction he sensed the ghost…

"Just in time, my good ghost!" Plasmius said with a chuckle. "You want the boy? He's yours!"

Danny cried out in surprise as he was suddenly flung across the room before falling and tumbling on the tiled floor of the foyer.

Still hidden, Iluzisto looked down as the boy landed a foot from where he stood. He watched as the child's ghost sense went off once more before looking back up at the man. He could not see the older cross-breed show any visible hint of being able to sense him. But by now, it was obvious he could.

Deciding to let himself be seen for a moment, Iluzisto surrendered his stealth mode, though not completely. After all, he did not want to give away his _true_ appearance just yet. But as he did, he immediately began to distort both half-ghosts' sensing ability.

Danny's eyes widened as he stared for the first time at the ghost that had attacked him, or, at least, the mirror-like appearance of its stealth mode. But he quickly pushed his fear and astoundment aside, and jumped to his feet in a fighting stance.

"Whoa! You definitely fall under the 'Yikes' list."

Iluzisto just tilted his head slightly, whether from amusement or confusion, it was hard to know. And then as if the boy wasn't even there, he looked away from him and to Plasmius.

"You say the young cross-breed is mine? You will not defend him any longer?" he asked the man.

Vlad smiled, floating closer to the ghost. "That's right. Take him. And to make things simple for you…" He turned his head upward and called out, "Maddie, reactivate the human and ghost shields."

Maddie suddenly appeared, startling Iluzisto. But he quickly calmed and just gazed curiously at the hologram.

"Shields on, Love! No ghost or humans can get in or out!" she said with a giggle before vanishing.

Iluzisto finally moved forward, but not in a threatening manner.

Still, Danny quickly lit his hands with green energy, but all of the sudden, the energy seemed to vanish from his hands! He gasped in shock just as the creepy ghost moved passed him.

Vlad frowned at seeing the ghost paying no mind to Danny, and instead now seemed focused on him. Apprehension began to creep slowly into him. But he hid it.

"If you did not notice, you just passed right by the boy you came for," Vlad said with a raised eyebrow.

Iluzisto paused, momentarily looking back at Danny, who looked very confused as he continued to stare at his hands. But then the creature looked back at Vlad again.

"Yes," he finally spoke. "I have come for him…But you have failed all this time to realize one very crucial detail: I have also come for you…. Vlad Plasmius."

Vlad's eyes widened, but before he could even get pass his shock, let alone react, the ghost fired an electric charge from the weapon in his hand right at him. The older hybrid cried in pain as he was sent crashing through a wall. The blast was so unexpectedly strong it left Plasmius in a daze on the ground.

Danny just blinked at what had unfolded. "Man…" he finally said, pushing past his disbelief. "Talk about turning the tables."

The teen looked around, knowing this was his chance to find a way out. There was no way he could fight this ghost as weak as he was. But then he frowned as he watched Iluzisto slowly walk towards his arch-enemy. The ghost had managed to practically take him out with one blow!

He stepped away, knowing he should use Vlad's misfortune to get out before the ghost came after him. But it felt wrong. Despite everything, the man _had_ saved him…

Danny growled with frustration and indecision. But at hearing the ghost fire his weapon at Vlad again, he decided.

"Sometimes being the 'good guy' reeks," he mumbled with a helpless sigh before jumping into the air and flying towards Iluzisto.

Vlad, who was now panting in pain and trying to recover from the second hit, quickly looked up through blurry eyes at the ghost towering over him. But he froze with dread when he saw the sharp tip of what looked like a crystal pointed towards him.

"Bid 'farewell' to your home, Vlad Plasmius, for this is the last time you will ever see it," the ghost said calmly.

"What is it that…. you…want?" Vlad managed to hiss out in between his labored breathing as he slowly stood with the support of the wall. Whatever that weapon was, it was meant to take down someone quickly. And Vlad soon realized just how quickly when he found himself unable to hold his ghost form any longer.

Now he was in trouble.

But to his surprise, the ghost halted in his tracks, and his eye narrowed in irritation. "No, I need you—"

"Hey! Uh… Ugly!" Danny shouted, distracting Iluzisto from whatever he was about to say. "Kicking the fruit loop's butt is my job!" The teen quickly sent a blast towards the ghost, but Iluzisto simply stepped aside and avoided the beam.

"I recommend you save whatever strength you have to help _yourself_, Cross-breed. But then again, you stand no chance against me," Iluzisto said darkly.

Then suddenly, a red blast hit the ghost, knocking him into a wall.

"But I do! And you're not taking me anywhere without a fight!" Vlad growled, a smoking red hand at his side, before he quickly switched into Plasmius again.

Iluzisto instantly recovered, and before either half-ghost could stop him, he vanished.

Plasmius quickly lit his hands with energy, Danny following suit.

"Nice going, Plasmius, you just trapped us with a super strong ghost who now wants to haul us _both_ into the Ghost Zone," the teen growled, annoyed as he looked around. But underneath, he was nervous because his ghost sense wasn't triggering and he had that funny feeling in his stomach again.

"Shut it, you little rat! If you would have just said 'Yes' to my offer we wouldn't be having this problem!" Vlad spat back, glaring at his surroundings.

"Okay, that was a really lame comeback. But whatever, Plasmius! How 'bout we first worry about mirror dude and then we can continue with _our_ fight? Do you have a thermos in this place?"

"Of course I have a thermos!" he angrily shouted back, but the truth was that he, too, was now nervous because all of the thermoses were down in his lab.

"_Now I am certain I will enjoy taking you both…"_ the wind seemed to whisper.

Vlad quickly spun around and fired an ecto-blast at where he thought he sensed the ghost, but then suddenly, his ghost sense vanished and a strange feeling in his stomach replaced it. This was not good.

"Curses!" Vlad hissed, no longer looking composed, and instead, staring around blindly. "He just did something to my ghost sense!"

"What?" Danny asked, surprised. "You have a ghost sense? How did—"

"Be quiet!" Plasmius snapped, looking more and more perturb.

"Take down the shields, Plasmius!" the teen yelled back to his arch-enemy.

And knowing it was now necessary, Vlad quickly called out, "Maddie, deactivate the shields!"

But just as the hologram appeared to confirm the man's order, she suddenly fizzled and then unexpectedly vanished.

"What was that?" Vlad asked, not understanding what had just happened.

"How should I know?" Danny replied, staring around. "She's _your_ creepy hologram!"

"_What's wrong, crossbreeds? Do you not like being trapped in with me_?" Iluzisto's voice echoed teasingly all around them.

Vlad's hands fisted, realizing the ghost had done something to keep him from lowering the shields—or, so he _believed_.

"No matter! We stand a better chance if we stay in one place," Vlad tried to reason more to himself than to the boy. "I know my home and if he tries anything, I have all sorts of ways to neutralize him!"

"Yeah, and that worked out great for you just now, huh?" Danny said sarcastically, hearing his comment.

"Could you save your half-witted remarks for a later time?" Vlad snapped as he gathered more energy in his hands and continued to search for Iluzisto.

"Fine! I have better things to do than to argue with you, Plasmius! I'm finding a way outta here myself!"

"No!" Vlad shouted as Danny took to the air. "Don't separate! It's what he wants!"

But Danny paid no mind, and flew across the foyer towards the closest window, determined to get out of his arch-enemies house by any means necessary.

But the teen never even made it to the window.

Danny gasped as a wall of violet fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blocking his path. He quickly backed away, but then, other walls appeared at his sides. And as he tried to retreat, he suddenly found himself trapped in a squared-box prison made of the burning purple flames.

The teen quickly summoned his ice powers in hopes of snuffing out the fire that felt like it was getting hotter by the second. And were the walls now getting closer, too?

Danny narrowed his eyes and fired beams of ice at the flames. Only to his surprise, they just went right through…

"_Like the dragons…"_ the teen thought, confused and scared.

Rapidly changing tactics, Danny turned intangible and flew through the flames, only to have them reach out to him and wrap their fiery fingers around his leg. The boy yelled out in alarm, not understanding how he was captured when intangible. But he had little time to ponder the issue since he was suddenly screaming in pain when it felt like his leg was being barbequed.

Danny futilely fired ice rays at the fire. But then at seeing the flaming 'hand' was still holding on, he fired at his own leg, covering it in a protective ice case to keep it from being burned anymore. Instantly, the hand let go and Danny fell to the floor.

But before the teen could recover, he saw a ripple at the corner of his eye, and then a ray of electricity came at him. The boy let out a loud cry as the attack hit him in the abdomen and he was sent into a wall.

Immediately, the teen changed human again. And when he did, the walls of fire instantly vanished.

Danny grasped his injured stomach as he slowly picked himself up. But for the moment, he was too weak to change back and counter-attack.

"Come on, little freak. Change back so we can play…" he heard the ghost whisper to him.

Danny breathed heavily as he searched blindly for the ghost. But he then shouted, "What do you want? I haven't done anything to you, so why are you after me?"

Iluzisto chuckled. "It is not me to whom you have done something…. As for what I want… I already told you, cross-breed. It is time to surrender…. I'll wait for you."

And suddenly the voice was gone.

Meanwhile, Vlad was having his own troubles right across the room. He was being attacked by those blasted snakes again! But now, they had been joined by large black scorpions!

Vlad fired attacks at the hissing creatures snapping at his feet, but every time he did, they divided.

"_They're not real!"_ he shouted in his head. "Ahh! But they _feel _real!" he cried out as one of the scorpions lunged at him, grabbed onto his left pant leg and drove its large stinger into his flesh.

The older half-ghost tried to grab and pull the creature off but his hands only grasped air. And to make matters worse, three snakes took the opportunity to attach themselves somewhere on Vlad's body, and again, the man yelled in pain.

But he then suddenly began to feel his leg, as well as the other parts of his body into which the snakes had their fangs attached, numb, and the sickness in his stomach only intensified.

"It's not possible!" he grunted out as he fell to his knees as the snakes and scorpions' toxins began to work on his body. "They are not real!"

…So how was it that they felt so real?

And suddenly, it hit him. His own _mind_ made them real.

Despite the pain of the venom, and more stingers jabbing into his skin and fangs biting down on him, Vlad wrenched his eyes closed and stopped struggling. He forced his mind to clear of what he believed real. And when he did, the snakes and scorpions vanished and so did their effects.

Vlad snapped his eyes open, only to find Iluzisto in front of him, his mirror-like body in plain sight.

"You learn fast… But it won't save you."

The ghost sent an electric bolt from the staff at Vlad, but the man was ready. And instantly, he vanished in a cloud of pink smoke.

Plasmius quickly reappeared behind the ghost, and attempted to shoot him in a surprise attack.

But the ghost's silvery purple eye abruptly appeared behind the ghost's head and saw it coming. He dodged to the side, before narrowing his eye at the older half-ghost.

Vlad glared at him, but then suddenly, smirked. "You like illusions? Here's one of my own." In a flash of light, Vlad made three duplicates, startling Iluzisto.

The ghost's eye looked quickly among all four Plasmiuses in front of him, clearly not knowing which one was the true one. Only then, Iluzisto's eye seemed to smile evilly at his prey.

"Very good. A perfect illusion indeed… Mind if I steal it?"

Vlad gasped as he and his duplicates were suddenly surrounded by several Iluzistos. And before Vlad could react, he found all four of his selves restrained, green binds tying their arms behind their backs and an Iluzisto copy restraining each of them from behind.

All four Plasmius glared at the other Iluzisto copies in front of them and growled out, "Unhand me! You don't know with whom you are dealing!"

The Iluzisto copies said nothing as they looked from one Plasmius to the other.

"It's time I take a more personal approach," Iluzisto commented mostly to himself. And instantly, the original Iluzisto appeared, holding the real staff. He walked up to the first Plasmius and touched his shoulder, and uttered, "Fake," before he quickly fired a purple bolt at the duplicate, forcing it out of existence.

Vlad's brave and angry bravado instantly fell. And he began to struggle fiercely against his binds and the ghost's duplicates behind him. He even tried to use his electric powers to destroy his restraints, as well as his eye beams to attack the Iluzisto duplicates; but nothing worked! All his efforts would just go through the clones or be rendered ineffective! So, ultimately, the man could do nothing as he watched Iluzisto quickly finish off his duplicates.

All the while, Danny had finally recovered from the hit enough to notice what was going on. But all Danny saw was Vlad and three of his duplicates on their knees in front of Iluzisto as he began to snuff out the man's clones. Danny saw no binds or the Iluzisto duplicates because they were only real in _Vlad's_ mind.

But the teen didn't know that, so he didn't know what to make of the scene in front of him.

"Why is he just standing, er, kneeling there?" Danny mumbled out. He quickly changed back into his ghostly alter ego. But the instant he did, the ghost, who had just destroyed the last Vlad duplicate and was now in front of the real one, froze in his actions. And immediately, Iluzisto's eye pivoted to Danny's direction.

Danny never knew an eye could smile, but this ghost's eye somehow was. And it was a smile of pure wickedness.

"Yes… just how I want you," Iluzisto said, and suddenly Danny found a duplicate standing right in front of him.

Danny immediately reacted and fired two ecto-blasts at the ghost. But it went right through him.

"No!" the boy cried out as the duplicate grabbed him by the neck and pulled his arms behind him. Once the boy was within his control, Iluzisto's duplicate brought him to the true Iluzisto, standing beside a still restrained Plasmius.

"Daniel! It's an illusion! That creature holding you is not real!" Vlad shouted, his struggles returning at seeing the young hybrid. But Vlad knew breaking through these illusions was no easy task. After all, he _knew_ the restraints around his own hands were only in his mind, but he just could not get his mind to break from the spell!

"Danny Phantom… Vlad Plasmius… I have my orders, but your ridiculous resistance has forced me to fulfill them in a more extreme manner. There is no other choice in the matter now. Therefore, struggling any longer is futile. You are just delaying the inevitable."

The real Iluzisto turned to look at Vlad, and added, "If you surrender, I will make this next part as quick as possible. It will be painful, I assure you… But it can be quick if you simply accept your fate."

"I told you, you are not taking me anywhere without a fight," Vlad spat back.

Iluzisto chuckled. "We are past the fight…And you lost."

Plasmius yelped when the ghost abruptly grabbed his right shoulder and lifted him to his feet by it.

"Let go!" Vlad demanded, though the fear in his voice ruined the effect.

But when Iluzisto only drew closer, the man panicked and tried to teleport to escape him; but to his dismay, all he ended up causing was a show of red smoke. He was _still_ in the ghost's hold and had not gone anywhere!

Iluzisto chuckled as he watched his older prey try to teleport two more times, but like the first, he easily blocked his efforts. "Hmm…I see you must still be further weakened," the ghost whispered hungrily, ignoring the red smoke around them as a result of Plasmius' efforts to escape.

And before Vlad could even understand his words, he felt something suddenly begin to leave his body and he gasped in alarm.

"What… are… you… doing?" he wheezed out, unaware of the red energy exiting his body and entering the ghost's own glowing purple one. But he was aware of the effects. And before he could even try to stop it somehow, he felt too weak to do anything but hold onto his ghost form.

At seeing this, Danny struggled even harder to escape the Iluzisto duplicate's hold.

"Let go of me!" he screamed in desperation, his fear only mounting with the sinking feeling that he was definitely next.

Iluzisto abruptly let go of Vlad, and the man fell down on his hands and knees, his breathing both shaky and heavy.

But fearing he was going to fully collapse at any moment, the older hybrid sat back and closed his eyes. But even when he managed to open them again, he looked severely dazed, and his red eyes were dull and half-closed. The only good news for Plasmius was that now that his mind could not focus, the restraints and the duplicate keeping him from defending himself had vanished. But what the ghost had done to him was effective enough.

He had no strength to fight any longer.

The evil ghost calmly brought forward his staff before kneeling beside Plasmius. The ghost stared at the man for a moment in silence contemplation before whispering, "Ready?"

All Vlad could do was stare at the ghost with absolute fear. And then all he knew was pain.

In one swift movement Iluzisto grabbed the older hybrid by the neck and then plunged the sharp end of his staff into his chest.

"NOOOOOO!" Danny cried out in horror at seeing the ghost run the other half-ghost through with his staff.

Vlad let out a choked cry as the ghost removed the sword-like crystal from his chest just as quickly as he had plunged it in. The wound, although it was bleeding heavily was not as large as it was deep. But the wound itself wasn't the main problem, but the black liquid that had been inserted into his body. And the effects of it were instant.

Plasmius collapsed fully on the ground as he began to disintegrate before Danny and Iluzisto's very eyes. And while the ghost seemed to be glad about it, Danny was even more horror-stricken.

Iluzisto turned his attention to the younger cross-breed, while the older one lay unmoving, and continued to dissolve into a black mist.

"Same question goes to you, cross-breed. Give up and I'll make it quick."

"What did you do to him? You said you were only going to capture him!" Danny shouted back, finally getting past his stunned silence.

Enemy or not, Vlad was still a human being. And just because he disliked the man didn't mean he wanted to see him get wasted!

Ignoring the boy's second objection, the ghost replied, "Don't worry. You're about to find out in a moment. Fortunately for _you_, you have been weakened enough…"

He swiftly raised his staff towards the boy's chest, just as his duplicate spun the teen around and held him in place.

"No! NO!" Danny yelled in a panic as the needle-thin tip came towards him. Of course, he knew the ghost would run more than the needle through him if he didn't get out of this quickly.

Danny quickly summoned ice beams from his eyes, and fired them out at Iluzisto. But the ghost evaded them with a growl of annoyance before continuing forward.

"Stop! Don't!" the teen continued, but it did nothing to stop the ghost.

"It's a shame… So young…," Iluzisto mumbled, sounding slightly sympathetic. And then, he raised the staff so as to make his next action one slick movement.

Danny's eyes widened in fear as all he could focus on was the ectoplasm, _Vlad's blood_, still dripping from the weapon. And that it would soon have his own.

"NO!" the boy screamed as the weapon was plunged forward. But his fear triggered his most powerful arsenal: the Ghostly Wail.

Iluzisto cried in shock as he was sent flying back by the ectoplasmic waves, the force of the hit also making the ghost lose his concentration. And instantly, his illusions vanished.

Danny's sudden drop to the ground cut off his Ghostly Wail, and as he fell to his hands and knees, panting with fear and fatigue, he lost his ghost form.

Still, he looked up through blurry eyes, in hopes of finding the ghost unconscious somewhere. But he had no such luck. The ghost was nowhere in sight.

The teen got shakily to his feet as he looked nervously for Iluzisto. No time! He had to get out of here—now! He willed his transformation rings and barely turned into his ghost form.

Except that, the ghost got to him before Danny could even move.

Danny screamed in pain as a hand grabbed his hair from behind, before pulling him close to the body it belonged to.

"I said… you were not… escaping…" Iluzisto growled in the boy's ear.

And instantly, he raised his deadly weapon and stabbed the young half-ghost in the chest.

Danny's mouth opened in a silent yell as he felt for the first time what being run through was like. But when the weapon was pulled out of him, he knew it was more painful than when it entered.

Tears sprang to his eyes as Iluzisto suddenly let him go and he collapsed onto the ground, his hand clutching his bleeding chest, not realizing that a black liquid had been inserted into him and that it was now slowly dissolving him.

Danny desperately tried to take in oxygen, but he was quickly losing his ability to do so. And he could feel his energy core go into shock, as if not knowing what to do to fix what the ghost had done to him.

He somehow managed to lift his head, and vaguely saw the ghost, who now looked slightly weakened as it walked back to where Vlad had been. But now, only a sphere of glowing black mist remained in the man's spot.

The teen watched as the ghost brought the staff above the floating mist, before it was sucked inside the black crystal whose long jagged end with which he had been just stabbed was still stained with his ectoplasm.

Danny felt his mind slowly nub, right before his vision blackened. He felt weightless, cold, lifeless… And strangely enough the last thought that passed through his mind before he lost awareness was how ironic it felt to have his life end beside his arch-enemy.

Iluzisto calmly watched as the last of the ghost boy reduced down to what all ghosts were: ecto-energy. And as he did with the older cross-breed, Iluzisto brought his staff above the younger one's dissolved form and quickly sucked it inside the black crystal.

It was only until then that he surrendered his stealth mode completely and his true form was revealed. He raised his staff up and evilly stared into the glowing crystal, though his silvery-purple eye on his green head slightly reflected off the dark gem.

"Another job done," he said smugly just as his cloaked figured changed from silver to a black hue. "It definitely was more arduous than I had anticipated. Nevertheless, they were certainly no match for me, and I, therefore, have the final proof of their failure and my success."

Iluzisto raised his staff forward into the air and a flash of light dispersed from it, leaving in its wake a ghost portal.

"It's time to return."

Silently and swiftly, the ghost flew into it, and the portal instantly vanished after him, leaving the mayor's mansion empty.

Only the destroyed pieces of furniture and the stains of ectoplasm could foretell of what had just occurred.

* * *

**Um, just a quick note for me while you are all either glaring at us or too shock to react right now. I am just about done with DoaS, so you can expect it fairly soon. Sorry it has taken me longer than I said. But it's been hard to get back into the swing of that story after such a long time. That's my fault, of course. But it serves me as a lesson to not ignore DoaS like this again. Heh! Okay, ta for now. And, of course, your reviews are welcomed. Just make sure to keep em' clean, 'cause my muse—and I'm sure Ms. Hyde, too—doesn't take kindly to threats! They might do something more evil in the next chapter! Epp!**

**Heh-heh, pearlie, I just might do something more evil in the next chapter just because I want to! In fact, I don't mind the threats in the least—they just give me the perfect excuse for revenge on the fools that do it! So, bring them on! *cackles wickedly* Uh, uh, truephan here, gang. Don't listen to her, OK? You KNOW how she is, so please don't encourage her. I mean, I have to live with her, you know, and it's hard enough keeping her in check without your riling her up! So, for peace's sake, have fun with the reviews, but kindly so! OK? *gulps***


	4. Chapter 4: Diversion

**A/N: Hello there, again! Truephan here! I can see that you are ready for more, then, and I'm glad to have you back! I hope you will enjoy this next chapter, of course. And I hope you're keeping tabs on which author was the main author for each chapter because there isn't a good reason for it at all! But in case you're keeping tally, know that I was responsible for the first two chapters, and…well, pearl, you want to tell them who was the main author of chapter three?**

**Pearl: Sure! It was my muse and I! Yes, you can blame us for that evil chapter. As for this one… well, you'll find out later. *winks* Enjoy!**

* * *

**Seeing is **_**disbelieving**_**—Chapter 4: Diversion**

* * *

Jazz woke earlier than she would have liked. But as her mind slowly came out of the dream world, she focused on what day it was. That's right. It was Teacher's Planning Day. Still, she couldn't understand why she kept hearing "need to do my term paper, need to do my term paper" sung to the tune of that new CD she had just gotten. She had forgotten that she had fallen asleep while listening to it and her CD player had been on all night. Her eyes flipped open; and when she turned to her side to check the time, her head was jerked back by her headphones.

"Arrghh!" she yelled, quickly sitting up and clawing at the wire that had been connected to the headphones to her CD player as if she had been caught in a cobweb and was now madly wiping away the silken spider threads that had encased her. She was not awake enough to realize that those 'silken spider threads' turned out to be the wires of her headphones and that the wires had become entangled during the normal course of her movements at night.

When she finally did realized what she had done—torn up her CD player, that is— she groaned, "Oh, yeah, that's right! I fell asleep with them on!" She glanced at the clock. It was just past eight. She added with a yawn, "I also forgot how late I stayed up reading that novel. I'm exhausted! I guess I can spare to catch a bit more sleep… just this once…"

She rolled to her back again and closed her eyes. But just when she was about to slip into dreamland, a very familiar melody resurfaced in her head. She instantly groaned again when she further remembered that what it was singing to her was true. She _did_ have a term paper to do! And it was due a month from now in her 'Personality Theory' class; and naturally, she didn't want to get behind...

But she was still tired and began to argue with herself. Did she really have to finish this lame assignment _today_? Wait. What was she thinking? _Of course_ she did! If she didn't, then that would push all her other projects back, and she was no procrastinator!

She sighed. It shouldn't be that hard. After all, she knew the subject way more than her teacher, and she had already done all the background research she would use in proving her theory. And she had already gotten the required interview, uh, sort of. Still, what she had done so far didn't satisfy her. In fact, she was a little stuck on it. And if she didn't get unstuck soon, all her projects would get stuck in a backlog sooner than she wanted them to.

She got out of bed and stretched her mind as well as her body…Thank goodness that the paper's directions had allowed her to pick as many people as she wanted to interview! She wanted only one, of course, so that that part of the project could be completed in one swoop. But, it hadn't worked out that way due to, well, circumstances. So, she had used, uh, more than a few people to get the information she needed. Still, she wanted the paper to be perfect and, after all, those answers were 'interesting'.

She pushed her hair fully out of her face before rubbing her eyes a bit. Maybe she should re-do the whole thing...? NO! She had already spent a lot of time on it! She would _make _all those answers work so that the term paper would be perfect. Uh, she hoped. She stretched, and then cringed as she headed to the bathroom. She really couldn't decide if it was going to be as 'interesting' as she had planned…

Wakening fully after her morning regimens did not help matters much. Jazz was still undecided. Darn it! She would just review the notes and just get started with it after breakfast. She quickly got dressed and brushed her hair. She went over to her desk, snatched up all the loose leaf papers from her interviews, and grabbed her laptop.

As she headed toward the stairs, she glanced briefly at her brother's closed door. She smiled. Of course he wouldn't be up this soon. That would be against all the teenagers' 'secret rules' _not_ to rejoin the world from their dead sleep until at least the afternoon; or in Danny's case, at least not until eleven.

She finally made it to the kitchen and placed all the things she needed for her paper down on the counter. Now would be a great time to have Mom here. That way, breakfast would've already been done! And it would have been decent. It was the only meal her mom made that was unburnt or could actually be distinguishable from the mysterious ghost stuff that her mom somehow thought she needed to be put in the refrigerator. Yech! But, of course, her mom and dad were at that ghost-hunters' convention. Good thing they were, too. They needed some tools to fix the Ghost Portal's door. It still did not close tight all the way. And that meant that Danny had been awfully busy in the past few days catching even more ghosts than normal. He had to be beat! She stopped at thinking of him. It was time she started breakfast for the both of them.

As she headed toward the fridge, she thought of what would be good to make. She smiled. She knew what would please her brother.

She said out loud with a slight, but happy, sigh, "Well, bacon, eggs and pancakes seem to be elected. Time to get it over with."

She opened the refrigerator door and ignoring the pinkish glowing stuff-in-a-jar, reached for everything she needed. About fifteen minutes later, the meal was ready.

Just as she had turned over the last pancake, she glanced at the clock. It was just after nine. She smirked. She hadn't needed to start breakfast for Danny this early after all. Oh, well, it would be ready when he finally got up. And since breakfast was his favorite meal, she was sure he would eat it no matter what time he got up.

She fixed his plate and placed it into the microwave for later. Then she fixed a plate of her own and sat down. As she took a bite of her eggs, her mind drifted back to her term paper. She had to decide if her 'interviews' would work or not. She ate more quickly, determined to find out.

After her last bite, she momentarily put her tea aside, and quickly cleaned up. Once through, she laid her papers out and set-up her laptop on the clean kitchen table. Finally, she settled into her chair after retrieving and re-warming her tea in the microwave. Of course, she returned Danny's prepared plate back in it when she had finished, .

She double-checked the instructions of the assignment. She sighed and then muttered, "Okay, then, I guess that it's fine to use more than one person for the paper after all, even if it were by accident. Darn it! Why couldn't it have gone better than it did?"

Jazz looked at the first set of notes and just before she was going to type up the response to the first two questions, she thought about what had happened when she had tried to get answers from the other people she was supposed to interview. It seemed that whenever she had tried, everything _else_ interfered with her getting some sort of decent response from them. Like, for instance, there was that snag with her father. How he had gotten the Fenton Assault—oh darn, the _RV!_—into that tree was one thing, but how he had gotten it out was quite another! But his answer to her questions was intermixed with grunts and mutterings about everything but what she was asking him.

She sighed.

Then, there was her mom, always the scientific, inquisitive one! And, man, she didn't think her mom would ever stop with her own questions about the project!

And since she hadn't been able to get a hold of Danny, she had even tried to get Sam and Tucker to interview. But those didn't go too well, either!

"It's not like I made up those lame questions—that was the assignment!" she muttered, rolling her eyes at her memories.

Still, it didn't help that Sam went off on one of her 'crusader' tirades with that simple question about animals; and, really, Tucker was just as hopeless, too. She had spent more time trying to get him to pull himself from his PDA enough to just get his attention, much less answer _any_ sort of question.

Jazz looked over her disjointed notes before taking a sip from her tea. It was cold, and she frowned in disgust. She looked over what she had written so far. Okay, maybe she should be thankful that at least all of her questions had been answered…even if they weren't complete and it took four different people to do so. Well, really five. She almost didn't get her last two questions answered with all of that craziness! And for a moment, she even had thought she would not get all the material she needed to finish the paper!

Luckily, she had gotten them answered, and she sighed in relief when she picked up her notes which contained those last two questions. She was so glad that she had managed to get a hold of Danny after all. And she had definitely been fortunate because she just managed to do that the day before yesterday! And the best thing about it all was that he had nailed the answer to one of those questions, just as she predicted he would—well, right after she reminded him that he couldn't use any of his ghost powers, that is.

But he also got the last question right, even though she had thought it had been the most challenging one. She stopped a moment with the realization. Her little brother was finally getting those brain cells she knew he had to kick in! She felt a twinge of pride as she remembered how it all came about….

"_Danny! I'm so glad you're home!" Jazz excitedly said as he had finished phasing through the wall into the living room where they both were in now. But her face fell a little when she saw how beat he looked, and she perched the book she had been reading on the couch arm. Of course, her brother's condition didn't surprise her. After all, he had been on 'overtime' with ghost hunting for quite a few days._

_But then, in spite of his fatigue, he noticed the change in her expression and asked, "What's wrong, Jazz? You look upset."_

"_Oh, it's nothing, little brother," she said, trying to brush off her disappointment. She had suddenly changed her mind when she saw that he was obviously too tired to even think about the questions. That would mean that she would have to wait to get this paper done! But, really, she didn't mind—that much. She still had plenty of time to compile all her data._

"_Come on, Jazz," her brother replied, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You were all excited to see me when I first saw you and suddenly you're not? What gives?"_

_Jazz smiled. He noticed! _

"_Well, I wanted to ask you to help me with something, but I just thought that you might be too tired after all! See, I really need to finish getting all my notes for this term paper I have due in my 'Personality Theory' class. I have to ask someone a total of seven questions, but I only have five of those done."_

_Danny frowned in bewilderment. "I don't get it, Jazz. If you got five of them answered, why didn't you just get the remaining two answered by the same person who replied to the first five?" _

"_Well, it's a very long story. And I tried, but, somehow, I couldn't get just one person to answer all of them at one time. So, I ended up with four different people! And now I just have only two questions to go, and since I finally was able to see you, and I have the questions right here….But then, you looked so tired, so I changed my mind, and…."_

"_Okay, I'll take a stab at them," he said, not realizing in his fatigue that he had interrupted her. "That way you can be finished and I can get some rest!" _

_Jazz smiled as he floated over to her and changed back into his human form. And then he sat down and unconsciously started to nod off._

_But she hadn't noticed that because she had reached into her backpack that was sitting on the floor next to the couch on which they were now sitting just as he did. But when she sat back up, her elbow hit the book she had been reading, and it fell to the floor with a very loud thud. The noise jolted Danny awake by the time she had sat fully upright again._

_She soon began to read him her first question about how to repair a rubber raft in the middle of the ocean. And as she heard his response and further wrote it down, she sighed in relief. His answer was really very well thought out_—_well, after he got the message that he __**couldn't**__ use his ghost powers_.

"_Okay, Danny, that was a great answer! Now about the last question," she began again, not realizing how widely she had been smiling. She was almost done! "Ready?"_

_He nodded, trying not to drift off again. _

"_Okay. 'If someone accused you of doing something you didn't do, __**but**__ had proof that you did it, how would you prove your innocence?'" _

"_Man, that's a tough one," he muttered, trying to shake his encroaching desire to doze completely off. _

_Jazz could tell he was now regretting volunteering. It discouraged her a bit and she was about to tell him that it was okay if he couldn't answer it. But before she could say anything, he suddenly blurted out a protest. _

"_Uh, but that can't be right! I mean, __**they**__ couldn't be right! You said I didn't do it, so how can they be right to accuse me?"_

_Jazz smiled when her brother paused in thought. It really touched her to see he really wanted to help her and so was giving this question some serious thought._

"_Wait. But you said they had 'proof', didn't you?" Danny spoke up again, and when his sister nodded, his frown deepened. "But that makes no sense. How can they have proof if I didn't do it? Unless…. it's not 'real' proof? I mean, if I didn't do it, it __**can't**__ be real proof! So, yeah. Their proof __**has**__ to be fake! Now, this makes sense. And the answer would be a lot easier. If their proof is fake, then to prove my innocence, I would have to prove that the proof is not solid—or prove that they lied or did something else that was suspicious_—_and they would __**have**__ to drop the whole thing." _

_Jazz blinked in amazement. That was an outstanding answer!_

_In turn, her brother blinked in bewilderment. "Well, how was that? Did that answer the question for you?"_

"_Yes!" she inadvertently yelled. She was both amazed at his answers and delighted in getting all her interviews done. _

_Her brother jumped at her enthusiastic—and unexpected—response._

"_Sorry," she said with a cringe. "And thank you, little brother! I really appreciate it that you stayed up just for me." _

_She reached down to place her papers into her backpack. When she sat up, she turned to say something else to Danny. But she didn't have the chance. _

_He was fast asleep….. _

Jazz smiled, as she continued to type up her preliminary report. That was nice of Danny to do that for her before he fell asleep. Sleep! She glanced up at the clock and saw that it was nearly eleven. Suddenly, she brightened at her next thought. She glanced over her notes just before musing, "Hey, Danny's answers were so awesome, maybe I can get him to elaborate on the other questions! That would be great, 'cause, one, I really want to get this project over with. I mean, did my teacher honestly think _a month_ was long enough to get this done?" She then glanced over the answers to the other questions and reflexively cringed,"And, two, _anything_ would be better than what I finally got!"

She picked up her teacup and headed to the microwave. She warmed up her brother's plate of food and thought, "He should be getting up by now! And I just know he'll be excited about this all!"

She ran upstairs and lightly rapped on her brother's door. There was no answer. She knocked with more enthusiasm this time. Still, there was no answer.

"Danny? Are you awake?" she asked through the door.

But it remained mute.

She bit her lower lip. Maybe he was in the bathroom? Well, then, he wouldn't see that she had 'barged in' on him. She turned the knob...

And in the next instant, she gasped. The room was in shambles and there was a large dent in the wall right next to her!

And just as Danny had predicted when he had wanted to leave Vlad's home, panic instantly seized his sister and she began to freak out.

"What happened? Danny! Danny, where are you?" she yelled as she quickly darted to check the bathroom. But he, of course, wasn't there.

The girl could feel her heartbeat and breathing increasing. Obviously, something was terribly wrong. _"I didn't hear anything last night! No! Oh, if only I hadn't fallen asleep with that CD playing!"_ she chided herself as she reinspected her brother's bed. "_And why didn't I check on him when I got up?_ _I might have been able to help him!"_

Pausing, she rubbed off some of the strange ashes off the bed post and twirled them between her fingers. She immediately frowned in confusionas she watched the ashes not turn to the usual powder, but turn to a gummy-like substance._ "And these look like ectoplasmic marks, but none I've seen before."_

She then noticed that the window was wide open and she hurried to it. She quickly scanned the area but saw nothing but the stilted, hot day which still encompassed the city.

"_And why didn't the ghost alarms go off?"_ she asked herself firmly, trying to get a hold on her stampeding thoughts. Her rational side then kicked in. _"Because the fight __**started**__ here but didn't __**end**__ here! Whoever that ghost was that attacked Danny lured him outside!" _

She turned her gaze back into the room and after seeing the large dent in the wall just across from her, she immediately decided, "I better call Sam and Tucker!"

* * *

Sam and Tucker practically flew to Fenton Works. Once they met Jazz at the front door, the trio wasted no time. They dashed upstairs to Danny's room and reinspected the area once more.

Sam frowned heavily as she looked at the ectoplasmic remnants which still scarred Danny's bed. "I have a feeling Danny got attacked by some ghost we haven't seen before, Jazz. I've never seen marks like this before."

"I agree with you, Sam, I've never seen those kinds of marks before, either; but those marks were definitely caused by ectoplasmic energy," Jazz replied.

"And my PDA is reading that whatever ghost left these ectoplasmic markings is some serious dude!" the only male voice among them added. "I'd say the ghost that was here had to be at least a nine on the ecto-scale."

"What?" both of the girls cried in unison. The two girls knew that a ghost that powerful was a very serious threat to Danny, since he was still only a level seven. So, naturally, Sam and Jazz were even more concerned for him…

"Well, it's just my guess," Tucker said with a nervous smile, realizing he should not have said that to the two girls when they were already freaking as it was. "I mean, I hope not. But I'm going to have to do some research to be sure since—"

"Then could you please hurry up, Tucker?" Sam suddenly interrupted. She couldn't shake the bad feeling she had in all of this. Then she caught herself when she saw the frown on her friend's face. "Uhm, I'm sorry, Tucker. I didn't mean to cut you off like that! It's just that I have a very bad feeling about this."

"And I do, too, but we need to stick together and _think_ this through," Jazz said, her face creasing with more worry by the moment. "Wait a minute! Duh! I didn't try to call him on his cell phone!"

She dashed to her room and grabbed her own cell phone, and began to 'speed dial' her brother. Just as she re-entered Danny's room, all three friends looked anxiously at each other as they waited for Jazz's phone to complete the connection.

Suddenly, they all jerked their heads and then sighed in disappointment and worry. Danny's phone was merrily answering Jazz's—nestled within the top drawer of his bureau. Tucker pulled it out and promptly disconnected its link to Jazz's phone.

"He didn't even take his cell phone!"Jazz said with a grim face.

"But Danny never leaves without his cell phone!" Sam added worriedly.

"This ghost must have really caught him by surprise," Tucker muttered, now looking as troubled as the girls.

There was a short foreboding silence between the three teens.

But then Jazz, clearly trying to stay calm, said, "Let's check the rest of the house. Maybe we can find a clue or something to where Danny went…"

Sam and Tucker needed no more persuasion and they all scoured the house, looking for any other clues. Not finding any, they reconvened in the kitchen.

"Did you find anything?" Jazz hurriedly asked the younger teens.

"No!' they both said in turn.

At first, they stood in silence again, not knowing what to do.

Finally, Sam said, "What about outside? Maybe there's something there."

Jazz and Tucker nodded in agreement and they immediately set off on foot. With Fenton Works as the center point, they slowly made a circle around the neighborhood, expanding the circle like the outward bands of a spiral as their search continued.

After searching for over two non-productive hours, they ended up near the park.

"Where the heck is Danny?" Sam suddenly cried out. "We haven't found a single clue or trace of him! What if we're heading in the wrong direction?"

Seeing that his goth friend had finally cracked with mega-worry, Tucker spoke up. "Sam, relax, okay? I'm sure Danny is somewhere around. He's probably busy fighting other ghosts. You know things have been pretty heated lately thanks to the Fenton Portal being kinda messed up."

Of course, Tucker had a hard time buying his words himself. He was very worried about his friend by now. So much, in fact, that he was actually ignoring his grumbling stomach! But he knew something was up with his male friend. It just wasn't like him to vanish like this. He would have at least called.

And Sam knew this, too.

But before she could voice this, Jazz spoke up. "Let's just keep looking, you two. We're all worried about Danny. And about us going the wrong way, Sam, well, there's no way for us to really know for sure. But we can always sweep around and double-back if we don't find anything right away," Jazz responded, trying to sound encouraging.

"Why don't we just split up? That way we can cover more territory more quickly!" Sam still pressed on, her voice getting more desperate with the sudden feeling of dread she felt creeping up her spine. She wanted to find Danny _now._

"Fine, but let's get going already. We are wasting enough time arguing as it is," Jazz answered, slightly exasperated, though mostly with the situation in general. But then calming down a bit, she added, "Let's meet up at the park near here when we're done. But if either of you find _anything_ before then, make sure to call me immediately, okay? I'll do the same."

Danny's friends nodded and the three soon split, each one taking a different route.

As they covered their own agreed-upon paths, Tucker and Sam unconsciously scanned the scenery they past by, hoping unrealistically that some clue would jump at them as they walked by.

But as all three continued to search for Danny or any clues of his whereabouts, they came up with nothing. And more than an hour later, they met up at the park empty-handed.

Even so, they continued to search, together this time. In spite of the fact that they were internally panicking by now, they tried to not look too conspicuous as they randomly and hurriedly combed the area and beyond. But after a couple of more frustrating and agonizing hours, they had turned up absolutely nothing. And all three were sweltering from the heat of the day.

"Well, maybe we should retrace our steps back to my house. And when we get there, I think we should take my car this time so we can cover more ground," Jazz suggested.

"Or maybe Danny was able to get back by now?" Sam also suggested, hopeful.

"Only one way to find out," Tucker said, weakly smiling at the possibility.

They all didn't need any more prodding and trod back toward Fenton Works. Every once in a while, one of them couldn't help but to pause to examine an odd sight in hopes that it could turn out to be a possible clue. But ultimately, they found nothing.

Finally, they got to Jazz and Danny's home and went in. The three wasted no time and looked around, going as far as calling out the Ghost Boy's name again. But it became quite obvious that Danny was not there as they had hoped. They all then knew that they had no choice but to take Jazz's car after all. But since they were feeling drained after their hours of searching in the hot sun, they further agreed to take a quick breather.

So, while Tucker went to get them all something to drink, Jazz and Sam plopped down on the couch in defeat. They barely registered it when Tucker returned. But when he slipped a drink in their hands and they felt the coldness of it, they finally noticed and smiled weakly in appreciation. Tucker, in turn, also acknowledged their thanks with a weak smile, and sat down next to Sam with his own drink.

All three sat in silence, quickly sliding the liquid down each of their throats. None of them had realized or admitted how parched they all were. And hungry. But the girls were too nervous to keep anything besides a drink in their stomachs. Tucker, however… His hunger finally got to him. And so, he was munching on a bag of chips. But that didn't mean he wasn't thinking of his friend.

Sitting the cups down on the floor momentarily, all three lay their heads back against the couch, exhausted.

"Where's my little brother, you guys?" Jazz said, giving them both a worried look. Her fear had finally caught up with her.

They just stared at her, lost for words. Tucker glanced at the clock and was even more alarmed by how late it was. "Man! It's six o'clock! We have been looking for Danny all day!" he exclaimed. But then he cringed when he realized his outburst only made the two girl teens even more panicked than they already were.

In her alarm, Jazz had a fleeting desire to call her parents and tell them Danny was missing. But she quickly suppressed the urge as her logical side reminded her that her parents' presence would only complicate things. Telling them was a last resort.

Suddenly, Sam jumped to her feet, startling both Jazz and Tucker.

"Sam?" Tucker questioned as he watched his friend frantically looking around the living room.

"Where is it, Jazz?" Sam asked impatiently, tossing a sofa pillow to the side and giving the respective couch a cavity search.

"Where's what?" Jazz asked, confused.

"The remote!" she shouted.

"Huh? You want to watch TV while Danny is missing?" Tucker asked.

"Yes! I mean, No! I mean, I do because if this ghost is as strong as you say, Tucker, then he had to have caused some damaged somewhere outside while Danny fought him or her! There has to be something on the news about it! It's the clue we need!" she exclaimed.

Jazz had jumped to her feet before the other girl had finished, realizing her point. She quickly went to a green box labeled 'Fenton TV Remote' on the entertainment system and pulled out the remote from it.

She turned on the TV, and frantically clicked through the channels. It didn't even take her fifteen seconds to find what they were looking for:

"**Hello, Amity Park. This is Tiffany Snow. And we have breaking news…."**

Jazz gasped as she saw the television images of all the emergency vehicles and police surrounding the mayor's home. Vlad's home. Then, she listened intensely:

"**Police are at a loss as to why the neighbors called them to investigate all the commotion that may or may not have happened at the Mayor Master's home…"**

The trio exchanged quick glances before turning back to the tube…

"**Police won't speculate at this point as to why the front rooms of the mayor's house are in shambles, but not a trace of the mayor can be found! Staff at the mayor's office report that Mayor Masters had no out-of-town plans and had actually cancelled all of his meetings for an undisclosed reason. They had assumed that, like many times before, he had other work to which to attend…" **

The teens kept their eyes glued as more of the news unfolded…

"**Neighbors insisted that the noise was deafening, having escalated until just a little after five-thirty this evening. They called the police immediately, but by the time help arrived, they could not account for Mayor Master's whereabouts…" **

This time, all three of the friends instinctively looked wide-eyed at each other. They each had the exact same thought and blurted out in unison, "Plasmius!"

But before they could react any more, the newscaster's voice raised a notch louder in excitement…..

"**This is just in, ladies and gentlemen. Police have neither confirmed or deny it yet, but there seems to be a report that ecto-blood has been found inside of the Mayor's home…!"**

The three teens gasped.

"Do you think…?" Tucker squeamishly began.

"Don't even think about it!" Sam said with dread. But then she growled, "Why didn't we think about Vlad before?" But she was really chiding herself more than her friends.

"Hey, Sam, at least we found out, and that's all that's really important," Tucker replied, trying to sound encouraging.

"Well, let's just get over there. Just let me get my keys," Jazz quickly said before she darted out of the room.

Sam and Tucker then darted out of Fenton Works and waited for Jazz by her car. She was there in a blink of an eye, and they sped toward the Mayor's mansion.

But they couldn't get too close. The police had already blocked the area off and was refusing any traffic in the vicinity.

Jazz immediately swung the car into the nearest makeshift parking space, rivaling her father in efficient but reckless driving as Tucker and Sam unconsciously dug their nails into the back of their respective seats.

"Let's go!" she cried as soon as the car had jolted to a stop and put into 'park'.

All three piled out and headed right toward Vlad's mansion.

But again, they were thwarted in their efforts. The police had put up barricades for onlookers in the front yard, and the street immediately in front of it. They all saw the familiar yellow 'police' tape extend a little further across the street to the building.

But as they looked around the chaos, the goth girl sighed and muttered mostly to herself, "Well, at least those jerks-in-white are not here. They are such a pain when they get involve…"

"Hey! Look over there!" Tucker suddenly said, pointing at an object a short distance away. "The lamp post has been zapped!"

"And so has that big oak tree!" Sam also pointed out when she looked in that same direction and caught sight of the damaged tree. Something awful had happened, and she was now sure it had something to do with Danny!

"We need to get closer!" Sam quickly insisted, looking around for a way through.

"But how can we get any closer? The police aren't letting anyone through!" Jazz lamented.

Sam finally noticed that the police had not cornered off the home next to Vlad's house or his _side _yard. Her eyes followed her potential trail. Thank goodness that this was Vlad's other, much smaller mansion in Amity Park. The one he went to on occasion to show his constituents on the other side of town that he also 'connected' with them. The front yard was not as expansive in width or length. And the only man-made fence was in the front of the yard.

"C'mon!" she insisted as she led the way.

Jazz and Tucker, though bewildered about her actions, didn't question her, and quickly followed her as she skirted between the bushes that lined the border of the two properties. Finally, they got close enough to see what was happening at the front entrance in the near distance. But it looked like the police were just darting in and out of the front door. And when they went in, they usually carried in some sort of high-tech equipment; and when they came out, they were empty-handed.

"Now what are we going to do?" Tucker whined.

"I don't know! Let me think!" Sam said with an irritated tone.

But she wasn't upset with him. She was upset, of course, with the situation.

Just then, a large television station van pulled up and parked itself right on the grass a few feet away to the bushes the three friends were behind. It was definitely closer to the house.

"Now we can't see a thing!" Tucker lamented.

"Yeah," Jazz agreed with a smile as she was hit with a sudden idea. "And neither will _they_ when we're behind it! Let's go!"

All three needed no more discussion and slinked toward the van. They successfully crouched beside it and were so close to the house's front door, they could hear what one of the policemen was saying to another…

"I don't know, Captain! But something ghostly is definitely involved! There are strange markings all over the place! You know our expertise in these sorts of things is limited, but I can still tell that some of the markings are definitely ghost related. What's odd, however, is that some of those scorch marks don't look like the typical ones left behind by ghosts. The differences, Captain, are quite noticeable… They were caused by a type of energy I've never seen before! And that can only mean we are dealing with an unknown ghost!"

The Captain nodded grimly and then replied, "In that case, we are going to need a full containment of the area. We need everyone, including the news crews moved out as soon as possible. For the safety of the public we have to treat the foreign residues inside that house as possible dangerous ecto-contaminants."

The officer then added with a gulp, "Do, you think, then, we should call in the Guys-in-White?"

The trio gagged their gasps, now certain that everything would go from bad to worse. But they also were shocked to hear that there were also strange scorch marks inside Vlad's home. But were they the same ones as in Danny's room? Of course, they couldn't be certain without the real evidence in front of them, but they had a hunch that they were right.

"NO!" came the Captain's definitive remark. "We can handle this! Those government people always try to make us look like fools! If there is something worth reporting to them, we will be the ones to dictate the investigation, not them! Keep analyzing your data and report back to me if you get any conclusions."

"Yes sir," the officer replied.

"Oh, and Smith?" the Captain added.

"Yes, sir?"

"Good job! And tell Johnson to send a few men over to the Mayor's _other_ mansion and his office. Maybe, somehow, he wasn't here when this unknown ghost ran amok in his home and he's simply safe in bed or in his office."

"Yes, sir!" came the reply.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker looked at each other. They hadn't thought that Vlad might be at his other mansion. And it was odd that he was missing to begin with!

"That doesn't make sense!" Sam finally whispered, though it was difficult for her to hide the distress in her voice. "Is some ghost really behind this, or is this one of Vlad's schemes? But why would he trash his own home? Why would he also be missing?'

"Don't forget the other 'strange-energy-markings. I can't figure out any explanation for all the 'ghostly stuff' that policeman was referring to!" Tucker added. "You know, it's still possible Vlad's at his other mansion, but with all the weirdness going on around here, I would guess that this _is_ the place for us to be."

"But what does all this with Vlad have to do with Danny? And _where is my brother?_" Jazz quietly added, sounding as distressed as the goth girl.

But before they could comment on anything else, Tucker hoarsely whispered, "Hey, what's that?" He pointed in the direction of some bushes abutting the front of the house.

The girls looked to where he was pointing, but couldn't see anything.

"Where?" Jazz finally whispered.

"There!" Tucker insisted again.

"C'mon, Tucker, we've been searching for clues all friggin' day, so now you're imagining some!" Jazz commented, still not seeing what he was trying to point out to them.

But Sam had seen it, too, but couldn't make it out. She crawled more toward the front of the house, but stayed hidden behind the van just before she uttered, "I think I see it too, Tucker! Let me see if I can get it!"

The girl quietly crept to the edge of their hiding place and pulled her head around the edge. Her eyes quickly scanned the area. There was currently no one in this area! Without hesitating, she darted toward the object, retrieved it, and hurried back to her friends without so much as looking at it.

When she got back, she squatted right next to them and unrolled the hand clutching the object. They all gasped rather loudly when they saw that it was one of Vlad's spy bugs.

"What's that doing out here?" Tucker blurted out.

But before the girls could answer, a harsh voice yelled, "What are you kids doing here?"

The three of them jumped and Sam squished her hand around the device again.

"Uh, spying?" Jazz truthfully, but innocently, replied.

"Don't you know that it's against the law to trespass upon a police investigation site? Get out of here before I call your parents!" the angry policeman said.

"Yes, sir!" all three replied in unison and quickly obeyed him.

They didn't stop running until they had gotten to Jazz's car. They stopped and tried to catch their breaths.

"Darn it!" Sam finally said dropping her shoulders in disappointment and frowning down at the little spying device in her hand, "We didn't get anything more! I really wanted to get a closer look at those scorch marks on the lamppost and tree to see if they left the same residue as in Danny's room!"

"That's alright, Sam," Tucker said, trying to sound encouraging. "I have a strong feeling that that little bug wasn't just out there for any reason."

"Yeah, Sam," Jazz agreed, "let's get back to my house and see if Tucker can hack, I mean, 'work his magic' on that device with his PDA."

Tucker grinned at the prospect, which even drew a smile of encouragement from Sam.

* * *

"Okay, ladies, I think this will do it," Tucker remarked as he pushed the last button that he thought would do the trick. He—and his little machine, of course—were right, and the small mechanical bug's wings unfolded. A 3-D projection thrust upward, revealing to the trio what they hoped would shed some light into this confusing mess.

At first, the tiny video didn't reveal anything significant. It just surveyed the area around the front fence, the street, and the trees across the street.

Suddenly, the video became jumbled and jumpy, as if it were being misfed through a projector.

"What's wrong with it?" Sam asked when it seemed to continue to 'wrinkle' and 'blur'…

"I don't know," Tucker said, frowning. He immediately began punching a few more buttons. "It's digital, not actual film; so it shouldn't do that." But then, he smiled in satisfaction as the image cleared after he had adjusted the controls.

"Hey, look there's a ghost shield up," Tucker remarked, surprised when he noticed the pale-green dome surrounding the mayor's castle. "Uh, since when does Vlad keep a ghost shield up without any reason?"

"I don't think he does, Tucker," Sam replied with a frown, though she honestly couldn't fandom why he had a ghost shield erected when nothing seemed out of place.

The trio continued to watch the video, sometimes muttering under their breaths when the screen continued to blur or jump every once in a while.

But then, nothing else seemed to be happening. There was nothing but the front of the house and the lawn on the screen for several minutes as the video progressed.

"Is it still working, Tucker?" Jazz asked. "I mean, I don't even hear anything, like birds or anything."

Tucker stopped the video and picked up the spy bug. He turned it over and over again, frowning more as he inspected it.

"What are you doing?" Sam finally asked, bewildered, but also knowing that Tucker wouldn't be doing that without a reason.

Still examining the bug, he calmly replied, "I'm looking for a microphone. But it doesn't seem to have any. Just a simple camera eye….See?" He pointed it out to the girls and they nodded.

He pushed a few buttons on his PDA again and the video resumed. It seemed to go on and on with the same scenery. Still, they continued to watch.

"Well, at least we can see the front door," Tucker finally said, trying to sound encouraging.

Sam was about to make a dry remark back, when she all of a sudden gasped, "Something's happening!"

Now, all three snapped to attention and studied what came next.

They continued to watch the tape and they all sighed in disappointment at the site of the small flock of birds that flitted by, followed by a slight shift and blur in the same scenery as before.

But then, once more, nothing was changing in the footage as time dragged on. All that the friends saw was the front lawn and the front of the house.

Tucker finally blurted out, "Is that all? I mean, why would this spy bug be out there if Plasmius didn't have a reason for it? It hasn't filmed a thing!"

But what the kids didn't know was that the bug had been filming Iluzisto that whole time. But because the ghost had been in stealth mode, the spy cam only captured the _blurring_ and _wrinkling_ of his movements…

"Also, where's Plasmius?" Tucker continued, "And what about Danny? Does this have anything to do with him?"

At first, the girls shrugged, not having an answer. But then, Sam said, "Hold on. Remember that the police found ghost evidence _inside_ the house."

"So what's the bug doing outside if the blood was found on the inside?" Jazz begged the question.

"Well, let's look at the rest of the video just in case it _does_ have something important on it, okay?" Sam finally said. But she then asked Tucker, "Is there a way to speed the video up a bit?"

"Yeah, hold on," Tucker replied and he obliged her by pushing a button.

But even with the digital film moving faster, it still seemed like forever to the trio as they continued to watch the sped up digital images, keeping their eyes peeled for anything that might pop up.

Then, just before Tucker was about to comment that this whole thing was a bust, Jazz yelled, "The door's opening!"

He jumped at her outburst, but was still able to push a button so that the video would move at 'real' time.

But no one was coming out.

They didn't know that it was Danny at the door, pausing enough at the open door to speak with Vlad before leaving...

"What's with that?" Tucker blurted out.

"Shh!" Sam hissed, and then she gasped again. "It's Danny!"

The trio anxiously watched the silent video as their friend and brother came out.

They watched him walk right toward them and then Jazz yelled, "And there's Vlad!"

Tucker scowled. "Don't tell me this is one of Vlad's evil plots again after all? I mean, why would Danny willingly go to his house?"

"And Danny doesn't look happy, either," Sam added with a worried frown as Danny turned to silently talk to Vlad on the video.

Or, _well_," Jazz further commented, biting her lip at how pale her brother looked.

They continued to concentrate on what they were viewing and all three unconsciously jumped when Danny hit an unseen obstacle, then rubbed his head from the unseen blow.

"A human shield, too!" Jazz blurted out. "Vlad took him!"

"And kept him as a prisoner! But why?" Sam added, now growing more and more upset.

Tucker gave her a 'you-know' look and she gingerly added, "I mean, why _this time_?"

Jazz replied with a worried brow, "From the way Danny looks, I don't think it was to play chess."

Danny's friends didn't reply, and just focused on the scene unfolding in the video. It was _very_ obvious from their body language that Danny and Vlad were arguing. But somehow, Vlad had managed to get Danny back into the mansion.

"Why did he go back in?" Sam asked in disbelief.

The other two shrugged. Still, the video continued for several more minutes. But then, the scenery began to shift a little again. And this time, the surroundings began to move.

"Looks like the bug was flying," Tucker observed and then gasped when he saw what happened next. Before he could say anything, the screen went totally black.

"What happened?" Jazz asked, turning to Tucker in chagrin.

"Didn't you see that last part?" he questioned.

"I saw a 'quick' something, but then the screen went blank," Sam replied.

Tucker was already pushing buttons, and the screen lit up again. A moment later, he was speeding it up, past the silent argument between Danny and Vlad, and then he slowed it down. "Okay, let's try this in real slo-mo…"

The three intensely studied the scene as it slowly unfolded. Then they saw it!

The spy bug had obviously gotten closer to the house for some reason and then just as it stopped to hover, what look like a jagged large black needle appeared out of nowhere. Then, the screen flashed a very bright purple before other colors suddenly twisted and turned like a blender. And then, there was jolt before the screen went black.

But, of course, the teens did not know that the screen had done all that and then gone black because Iluzisto had damaged the spy-bug with a bolt of purple energy...

"Wait a minute, Tucker, I saw something at the very end before the screen went all black!" Sam excitedly said.

Jazz shook her head. She hadn't seen a thing, but she knew that Sam was usually right about these kinds of things.

"Okay, let me back it up a bit," Tucker offered.

"And blow-up the screen, too," Jazz said. She was still so upset about what was happening, she hadn't realized that she had said this with a little too much demanding of a tone.

Tucker frowned at her tone. When Jazz noticed that, she apologized with a weak smile, "Sorry, Tucker. I'm still worried, you know. And you know how confident I am in all that magic you and your PDA do!"

He smiled back, pleased with her save and her compliment. He quickly got the video at the point at which he would play it back. He punched a few more buttons and the currently frozen frame enlarged five-fold. "How about this?" he finally asked Jazz.

"I think that's good!" she replied.

"Okay, here goes nothing," he added, just as he pushed the last button.

The trio concentrated on looking at as much detail on the screen as they could. It slowly moved forward, and they saw the same movement of the flight of the spy bug—in slow motion, of course.

Then, it happened.

All three of the teens gasped again when they saw a long, sharp, needle-like black instrument jut out of thin air!

"Okay, let's keep watching," Sam excitedly commanded.

Then the scene began to do that 'tumble' thing, but on the first turn of that 'blender', all three saw it!

Tucker immediately froze the frame and tried to get it more in focus. But no matter what he did, it was still very blurred. But they could see that whatever it was, it was connected to that black needle thing and it had a purplish-silver hue to it.

"W-What is that?" Jazz stammered, unconsciously placing her hand over her mouth with a sudden dread.

"I don't know," Sam began before turning to Tucker, searching for an answer from him.

The boy, in turned, looked at both girls in turn before glancing back at the blob in the image. He swallowed hard, but still managed to say, "Do you think that _that_ thing got to Danny?"'

"I hope not," Jazz managed to choke out her response to his last question even though she couldn't keep her eyes off the blurred image. "But maybe it's nothing. After all, we really can't make out anything."

"But what about that 'needle' thing? That's something. Maybe part of a weapon—a weapon that belongs to whatever ghost caused those scorch marks?" Tucker insisted.

"Whatever it was, it was very near Vlad's house. Actually, it was right next to the human and ghost shield…," Sam piped in. The girl sighed before adding, "I know that we have a lot of weird things happen around here, but even this is really out there for Amity Park…"

"And that still doesn't explain the busted up lamppost and tree," Tucker added.

"Okay, so that thing might have something to do with Danny. But we certainly know that Vlad does, too," Jazz said, uttering out loud what all three had instantly thought.

"But what happened to them? They're not at the mansion anymore!" Tucker reminded them.

The three looked at each other, momentarily at a loss.

Jazz replied, "Well, then, maybe whatever it was got to them for some reason."

"Or maybe this is another of 'the mayor's' plots again, like Tucker mentioned," Sam shot back.

Jazz frowned in thought. "Okay, so, it's possible. But Vlad's missing, too! I mean, unless it's part of his plan to make everyone think something has happened to him and then further destroy his home along with it…But why?" Jazz sighed. "I don't know, Sam, but there's something in all this that just doesn't ring 'fruitloop' to me."

"Okay, so let's say Vlad isn't behind this. And that this 'blur' thing attacked them while Danny—for some odd reason—was at Vlad's. Then what? " Sam countered. "Unless Vlad took down the ghost shield and just sorta phased out of there with Danny? But then where are they now?"

"But what about the ecto-blood? Why was it there?" Tucker reminded them again.

"That might not be Danny's ecto-blood," Jazz immediately replied. Underneath, she didn't want to admit that anyway.

Sam added, "True. It might be Vlad's." She paused, but pressed on, "Or _both_. Or it might even belong to this possible other ghost…But that still doesn't explain why they're missing." She pointed back to the blurred image and insisted, "Maybe that thing got inside and took them to the Ghost Zone?"

"That's _if_ that thing is a 'ghost thing' and not just something that was really nothing that got on the screen," Tucker said, just before he cringed when he saw the girls look at him in total bewilderment. He sheepishly added, "Or something like that."

"Okay, but remember even the police found something weird in all this. So, maybe there really is another ghost involved," Jazz pressed.

"But how are we going to know for sure, Jazz?" Tucker insisted.

The older girl just sighed, knowing the boy was right.

All three sat in silence once more. There were just too many questions left unanswered for them to begin to know what to do next.

But then, Jazz was the first to speak again. "Look, we could sit here all day and ask lots of questions. I think we first need to go try to find Danny. We know there was some kind of fight in Danny's room and out here and _something_ happened at Vlad's, too. Also, that weird and crumbly ectoplasmic residue in Danny's room and apparently at Vlad's home do point to some other kind of ghost being involved—somehow. Plus, Tucker thinks that that other possible ghost might have an energy level of 'nine' and we all know that at least Danny is _not_ at that level."

She suddenly paused, before adding, "Do either of you know what Vlad's energy level is?"

The two younger teens shrugged and shook their heads.

"Okay, we don't know," she concluded. "Still, since we haven't found a trace of Danny around here and we can't exactly get close to any of Vlad's homes with all the police going crazy trying to find him, I think the Ghost Zone would be the most logical place to continue our search, and…."

Tucker interrupted her, "But how are going to find Danny in….?" But then he interrupted himself with his next thought, "Oh, yeah! We can use the Boo-merang to try to find him!"

"Well, let's not waste any more time!" Sam insisted, looking at the clock. It was already past seven.

"I agree, but give me a second," Tucker said.

He darted to the kitchen and promptly returned with three granola bars and three bananas. "Now, I'm ready!"

Now that the girls felt they had some kind of a lead—even if it were a weak one—they admitted that they felt a little hungry. They smiled in appreciation to Tucker, just before they headed downstairs while gulping down their 'dinner' at the same time. They quickly discarded their trash and just before they got into the Specter Speeder, Tucker grabbed the Boo-merang...

A few minutes later, they were soaring through the Fenton Portal and into the Ghost Zone.

Finally, Jazz stopped their spaceship and Tucker opened the hatch enough to throw the Boo-merang out. He darted back inside and went to the tracking screen to watch its trajectory. "Okay, Jazz, let's go!"

She didn't hesitate to obey him and they flew right after the tracking device.

But much to the chagrin of all of them, they had not penetrated the Ghost Zone for much distance or for very long when Tucker, who hadn't taken his eyes off the tracking screen the entire time, said, "Hey, this isn't right! The Boo-merang is headed _back_ to us!"

Jazz stopped the ship and before the girls could comment, they screamed when the windshield of the Specter Speeder was whacked by the Boo-merang's definitive return.

Jazz quickly retracted the windshield and Sam grabbed the Boo-merang before it could float off into the Ghost Zone. She quickly handed it to Tucker, who immediately hooked it up to his PDA.

After a few moments, he said, "I don't get it! There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it! And Danny's signature is definitely still programmed into it." He looked up at the girls with a frown.

They, too, frowned with concern. If Tucker couldn't find anything wrong with it, then why didn't it work?

"I don't like this," Sam finally said.

"Maybe I didn't throw it hard enough?" Tucker sheepishly offered. He also didn't like what this meant, either.

"No. It means that Danny's not here…or anywhere!" Jazz gasped.

"NO!" Sam insisted. "We're just missing some piece to the puzzle, that's all!"

"Hey, wait a minute! Puzzle!" Tucker chimed in with a triumphant smile.

The girls looked at him, bewildered, as he began to enthusiastically pound on his PDA.

"I just knew that….," the boy muttered under his breath before trailing off and concentrating on the screen of his little machine.

The girls watched him in silence as their spacecraft hovered. Every once in a while, his eyes would widen or narrow, depending on what little information he was looking at. All that broke the quiet in the next several minutes was an occasional utter as Tucker talked to himself or the clicking of the buttons of his PDA.

Finally, just before Sam couldn't stand it any longer and was about to say something, Tucker yelled, "YES!"

The girls jumped in response.

"What was that all about, Tucker?" Sam asked, slightly irritated.

"I just knew it!" he replied, still looking down at his small device.

"You already said that!" Jazz uttered.

Still not looking up at the girls, he said, "I know! Just give me one more minute, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply and punched on his PDA again.

A moment later, Tucker looked up and his face was now lined in worry instead of excitement.

"What's wrong, Tucker?" Jazz asked, suddenly getting concerned as well.

He swallowed a little thickly and began with a weak smile, "I know of another lead to help us find Danny…"

"That's great!" Sam said excitedly.

"But you won't like it," he continued.

"What do you mean?" Jazz piped in.

"It would mean that we need to go to Skulker's Island!"

"What?" both Sam and Jazz exclaimed at the same time.

Then all three were also suddenly aware that their heartbeats had increased.

Tucker exchanged glances with each of the girls before saying, "Remember how I told you that I thought that those strange ectoplasmic markings in Danny's room were a 'nine' on the ecto-scale?

Both of his companions nodded.

Well, I just knew I had seen that kind of readings before, so I did the research just now. It was really kinda cool how many programs I had to interface in order to…."

"Tucker!" both of the girls exclaimed at the same time.

"Sorry, ladies, you know…"

"We know!" his friends said again in unison.

He continued, "Anyhow, there is only one ghost we know of that has that reading, but I knew it couldn't possibly be him!"

Jazz interjected, "Who and why not?"

He understood what she meant and replied, "Clockwork. But I don't think he would attack Danny…." and then having a fearful thought, quickly added, "…would he?"

"No, I don't think he would, Tucker. Danny is so sure that he's a friend, even if Clockwork is mysterious about it all. Although, the last time _we_ saw him he was trying to waste Danny… But if Danny trusts him, then I think we should, too," Sam replied.

"Well, I'm glad you think so, Sam, because really I feel that way, too. And that is why I discarded him as a possibility. But then, I looked for any _other_ ghost who could possibly be in that same league and came up with only a few other ghosts. But only **one** of them makes sense right now, considering he works for Vlad…"

"Skulker?" the two female teens guessed again at the same time.

"Bingo!" he confirmed. "I mean, he, himself, is _nowhere_ near a nine on the scale. I believe Skulker is only strong because of his weapons. But some of the discharges of his newer weapons have registered an 'eight-and-a-half' on the ecto-scale. So what's there to say otherwise that he's not developed a weapon that is now a 'nine' on the ecto-scale?"

"But why would he attack Vlad? Skulker's employed by Vlad!" Sam objected.

Tucker replied, "Who says he attacked them? Maybe he was helping them—I mean, Plasmius. Hey, maybe he and Vlad took Danny to his island!"

"Maybe," Sam slowly agreed.

But then Jazz uttered, "But what about that blurred purplish-silver thing we saw on the video?"

"It could have been Skulker," Sam suggested. "Maybe that was the color of that new weapon or something?"

"So, we all know what we need to do, then," Jazz finally said. "We have to."

Even though all three were in total agreement, they inadvertently fell to silence again. They just needed the moment to skew up their courage to get going.

But before they could say anything more, they jolted at hearing a terrifying screech just outside the specter. They had been hovering for so long, waiting and talking with each other, that they hadn't noticed that they had floated to an area which had more floating shelves on them.

When they looked up at what the commotion was about, their eyes widened.

All they saw was a purplish-silver blur of light with a large black needle thing charging at them! They were being attacked!

**

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**

A/N: truephan here again: Hope you liked how this all came out. Of course you didn't think we would leave Team Phantom out of this story, would you? In fact, I don't think that even if we would have wanted to keep them out, they wouldn't have forced their way into it anyhow! You know how they are! Hmmmm…reminds me of two particular muses….In any case, please push that pretty blue button-bubble below anytime your finger gets an itch. It'll feel good! Until next time, then, gang!

**Pearl: Just an announcement for me. My next update will be the long awaited 'Checkmate' chapter. I am going out of town from Wednesday to Monday, so I hope to have it up before I leave. *winks* **

**Well, I, too, of course, look forward to your thoughts on this chapter. Until next time, dear readers!**


	5. Chapter 5: Unforeseen Reality

**truephan here: Time to zig-zag y'all some more in the suspense department! We left Danny and Vlad on the high and dry a couple of chapters ago, and now we're leaving Team Phantom in the same predicament. Evil is such a delicious dessert, isn't it? Especially when served with hot tea… Care to join me? Hope you enjoy!**

**Pearl: Ah, yes, hot tea and badger-shaped cookies! Yum! I also hope you all enjoy this one… heh-heh. See ya at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. Though, Vlad muse swears he does…. Riiight.**

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**Chapter 5: Unforeseen Reality**

* * *

A fog…. Yes, that was the best way to describe what enveloped his mind at the present moment. Everything felt cold and murky, like being at a pier on a bitterly cold and cloudy day just before the dawn.

Maybe… he _was_ at a pier…. It would explain why the moment he opened his eyes, all he saw were churning blurs of gray. But it didn't explain the increasing pain his once numbed body was slowly registering. And it still didn't explain why his mind was in such a haze.

Vlad closed his eyes again, hoping that doing so would withdraw the shadows in his mind and vision. He couldn't really understand, let alone recall, what he had done to wake up feeling so horrible.

He drew in a shaky breath, noticing how difficult the simple action had been. But then, he became aware of the dryness in his mouth, and attempted to swallow. But that, too, felt very difficult. He briefly wondered if he was really in a desert instead of a pier. At least his mouth would agree with that.

Ignoring what felt like sand coating his mouth, he focused on opening his eyes again. But when he managed to get his eyelids to part, he was met with the same hazy surroundings. However, this time, his vision finally seemed to slowly begin to focus.

And as this happened, he became more aware of his body. Or more specifically, what touched his body. He still could feel the cold and murky air nipping exposed areas, like his cheeks and hands, but it was now seeping inside him, making him shiver slightly.

But it didn't end there. There was something firm under his back that only made his aching body protest more. He soon realized that he must be lying on something. But what exactly, he still did not know. Even so, he attempted to push down on it with his hands in order to push himself into a sitting position.

And much to his chagrin, it took him a few moments to manage it.

But the billionaire only leaned forward once he did sit before burying his face deeply into his clammy hands. Why was it taking his mind so long to focus? And what was…?

A groggy moan of pain scratched its way through his vocal cords and passed his dry lips as he suddenly became aware of the agony within his chest. He felt like his very heart was being eaten alive by some kind of flesh-eating bacteria. Hoping to ease the pain, the man reflexively clutched at his chest with one of his hands, his fingernails digging into the fabric covering it.

Ironically, this same intense agony helped his mind to clear. And he was beginning to think…and to recall…

"_Ready?"_

With a startled gasp, Vlad jolted backwards, reflexively and irrationally trying to escape the memory of _that_ chilling voice and the sting of its weapon. But when he had jerked back, the back of his skull slammed into something very hard. And he cried out in more pain.

Now fully awake, he whirled his head towards what had pounded his throbbing head again, and his breath hitched at what he found.

A wall. But not just any wall. It was a solid _glowing_ green wall.

Though his one hand had never released his chest, he reflexively cradled his head with his other hand while his wary eyes scanned his surrounding. He soon realized he was not in his home. In fact, he was nowhere he had ever seen. But the glowing green bars that made up the wall a few feet in front of him could not be mistaken for anything else.

He was in a jail cell.

"Where did he take me?" Vlad whispered with dread, his dry throat not allowing him to talk any louder. Suddenly, he remembered **why** his chest was in such pain. And he quickly looked down at himself.

What he found only filled him with more dread.

He was still in ghost form, and his body was _transparent_—but without his willing it so. And worse, it was barely formed. His entire body was wispy, almost incapable of holding itself together. Slowly, he removed his hand from his chest, and finally looked at the place he had been stabbed.

Vlad looked back down at the small trail of black liquid still slowly sliding down his ghostly skin. It was also slowly evaporating into tiny puffs of black mist. He then dared to touch the black fluid. But when he did, he pulled his hand back. That liquid. It felt like acid! And it must have been what blackened his wound. His eyes widened a bit at his next wild thought. So, Iluzisto must have injected him with this…black poison! But then, he calmed right away. Luckily, however, it seemed to be filtering out of his system. Still, he now suspected what the purpose of the black poison was. It had allowed the ghost to capture him by reducing his ghostly body into mere energy.

Just like a ghost thermos did by using an energy beam.

But Iluzisto's method was nothing short of sadistic. That blasted ghost actually ran him through! And furthermore, he had pierced his very ghost core to inject his poison! What if his ghost side never fully recovered from the injury? A ghost's core was just as delicate as a human's heart!

"I'll destroy him!" Plasmius growled out, only to wince from the pain that shot from his dry vocal cords. He really needed something to drink…

With a sigh, he calmed, knowing he needed to regain his wits if he was to get out of whatever mess he was in now. And he also needed to regain his energy. He currently felt severely weakened. And although he knew that Iluzisto had done something to him to weaken him before he… used that weapon he held, Vlad was sure that the actual black liquid that was injected into him had something to do with his weakened and groggy condition as well.

Lowering his hand from his head, he looked back at his surroundings. He already knew that behind him there was a solid wall and that in front of him there were jail bars, but it was not until now that he noticed the other two walls. To his left, although it was also a solid green wall, there were the normal things that one would find in any cell, which meant that the hard surface he was sitting on was a bed.

He looked down and confirmed that to be true.

But his eyes moved over to his right, and it was what he found that surprised him. There was another… 'room' beside his. Instead of having a wall or bars separating the other room, there was nothing. It was as if the jail cell he was in was made to house _two_ prisoners. Or at least it would explain the extra bed—if you could call the hard thing he sat on a 'bed'.

Still, he needed to do something about his situation and started trying to move off his bed. But when he tried to get to his feet, they shook under him, and he fell to the floor.

Vlad groaned as he lifted himself to his hands and knees. What had that ghost done to him? He couldn't recall the last time he felt this weak! But he couldn't dwell on this now. He needed to think of something and fast.

Having to mostly use his arms, he somehow pulled himself back up on the bed, deciding that it was better to sit on that hard thing than to sit on the harder stone-like floor.

He closed his eyes again, trying to snuff out the whirling sensation that gripped his body with his effort.

"Awake already? I'm impressed."

Vlad's eyes snapped open, and a look of alarm flashed across them when he saw Iluzisto, partly in stealth mode, standing right outside his jail cell.

"Oh? Do I frighten you, crossbreed?" the ghost asked with an evil look, watching how the man's eyes had locked on the staff he was holding. The same staff he had used to harm and capture the older half-ghost.

But Plasmius quickly regained his wits, and glared menacingly at the ghost. "How dare you capture me? Release me at once!" he demanded, but his voice was still not strong enough to deliver the fierceness he wanted. And the fact that he was too weak to stand didn't help, either.

"I do not take orders from anyone, except from my employers, crossbreed. And I only do so because at the present moment I have no other option," Iluzisto informed him calmly as he moved further down the jail cell until he was at the opposite side.

Vlad didn't say anything, feeling wary of the ghost's action. And his fear doubled when he saw Iluzisto pull out a glowing key and begin to open the barred door at the other end of his holding area.

Seeing the ghost leisurely push the door open, Plasmius instinctively rose, ready to defend himself from the creature which was now too close in his mind even though the ghost had entered the end of the unoccupied connected cell. But his weakened condition sent him down on his knees, and his idea of bringing ecto-energy into his hands vanished with his dizzy spell.

"You should conserve your lingering strength, crossbreed," Iluzisto said with amusement when he noticed the man's pitiful attempt to protect himself. "After all, I have a good notion of removing it for myself a bit later," he added evilly.

Plasmius looked at his wispy hands, before looking up at the ghost with a weak glare. "You come near me again, and you will discover why I am feared both in the Ghost Zone and human world."

Iluzisto tilted his head in amusement. "Arrogant, aren't we?"

Vlad just hardened his glare.

"And lively," the ghost added, an evil glint of a smile in his eye.

Plasmius watched the ghost turn his attention back to his staff, and began to do something to it. And despite his weakness and wariness, the older hybrid was still thinking of how to get himself out of his predicament. And the thought of turning human and just walking out had not gone unconsidered. But he needed to see what Iluzisto was up to, and he needed to buy himself a bit of time to let his body regain some strength. Or at least he hoped it would regain its energy. For some reason, he didn't feel like he was recuperating from Iluzisto's attacks as fast as he should.

Vlad was brought out of his thoughts by Iluzisto's calm and inquisitive voice.

"Would you like some company, crossbreed?"

The question caught the man off guard, and for some reason he felt his heart speed up.

"What?" he questioned with slight hesitation in his voice.

The ghost merely shot him a wicked look, before he lowered the staff in his hand towards the empty bed at the other end of the room. Instantly, a black mist began to seep out of the crystal on the staff. It swirled around itself until it shaped into a sphere, hovering just above the bed.

Iluzisto stepped back as the last of the mist exited the crystal. The ghost watched calmly as the sphere slowly began to expand across the bed, shaping itself into something completely different. And with a hint of dark glee in his eye, the ghost slowly looked over at the older hybrid, enjoying how the man's face turned from bafflement to utter horror.

"Daniel!" the man cried in alarm, jumping to his feet. And this time, he managed to stay on them. Vlad had completely forgotten about the boy! But now, everything had come back to him at the sight of him. He stared in dismay at the misty outline of the Ghost Boy when it was more than obvious that Iluzisto had also managed to capture him.

Iluzisto's eye narrowed oddly. How curious. The man almost sounded concerned for the child. But that couldn't be true. The hybrids were enemies. They only despised each other.

Momentarily forgetting all about Iluzisto, Plasmius attempted to get to what he believed was the unconscious Danny, since the boy's wispy form wasn't moving. And he couldn't really make out his facial features to know if his eyes were closed or not anyways.

However, when Vlad attempted to move to the far side of the room, he collided with an invisible force in the middle of the room. The man cried in surprise as he stumbled back, before dropping to his knees.

"It seems I failed to mention that there is a _transparent_ barrier separating your cell from the boy's own," Iluzisto said, amusement in his voice.

"What? Why?" Vlad demanded, slowly getting back to his feet.

Iluzisto shrugged. "Those were my orders. At least, to keep you two separated anyways…_ I_ got to choose how to do it…," he added with a mischievous chuckle.

When the ghost moved closer to Danny's slowly regenerating form, the older half-ghost unexpectedly responded.

"Get away from him, you despicable creature!" Vlad snarled, his fisted hands slamming against the unseen wall that was keeping him from the boy.

At first, the ghost was stunned at the man's outburst, but that quickly melded to anger as he darkly hissed, "Do not think I have forgotten of your trickery against me. You would do wise to watch your tongue or I might have to instill your punishment earlier than what is planned."

"What is your business with us?" Plasmius demanded to know, masking his fear with anger. He didn't know why having the ghost so close to the young hybrid was putting him on the edge. But at the moment, he didn't have time to ponder this.

"All will be answered once the other crossbreed awakens," Iluzisto answered as he knelt beside the boy.

Vlad was too worried to answer. He felt helpless as he watched the ghost raise his staff to Danny's chest, the needle part aimed at his central core. But upon seeing the ghost had the intention of driving that needle into the boy, the man found himself exclaiming, "Stop!"

But Iluzisto ignored him, and inserted the needle into the boy's chest, in the same spot where his wound was.

Danny let out a small whimper with the thrust.

Plasmius lost whatever calm he was holding onto, and impulsively forced energy into his hands. He fired at the invisible barrier. However, his attacks just bounced off the shield and then off the other walls. One ecto-ball dissipated on its own after a few recoils while the other one vanished after striking its master in the shoulder.

Vlad gasped in pain, but that was mostly due to how much firing his energy had drained him. All he could do was lean against the invisible wall, watching through blurry eyes as Iluzisto momentarily turned his attention to him.

"Calm down, crossbreed. You act as if I'm harming _you_. Why?" he asked curiously.

"Get away from the boy, Iluzisto. He's mine," Vlad answered through labored breathing.

Iluzisto chuckled. "Oh, I see now. You merely do not want your enemy to be harmed by anyone but yourself. Well, you need not worry at the moment. I am simply helping the child reform quicker. The venom—yes, it is indeed that," he added at seeing the alarm that flashed in the man's eyes, " — takes a couple of days to clear out of a ghost's body. And since you both are to stand before my employers later today, we can't have your reformation take _that_ long. However, that does not mean your strength will be returning any faster… as you have noticed." The ghost almost looked like he was smiling at him with that grotesque eye before he turned it back to Danny and removed the needle from the teen's chest.

Iluzisto pulled upward from Danny's side and floated back over to the cell door. He looked over to Vlad, who was still staring at Danny, and said calmly, "You should rest, crossbreed…." But he then added evilly, "… while you still can…"

Without another word, he left Danny's cell, locked its door and flew away.

Vlad turned to look at the ghost's retreating form moving down a dark corridor illuminated only by green flaming torches on the walls. But they ended at some point along the corridor, and Iluzisto vanished into the darkness. A darkness that not even the older hybrid's ghostly eyes could penetrate.

With a weary sigh, Vlad's eyes wondered back to Danny, noticing how his body was starting to solidify a bit more rapidly than when he was first removed from the crystal. But the teen's features were still indistinguishable. The man didn't even bother trying to call to the boy, knowing he would not awaken anytime soon.

Vlad looked down at himself, already having realized that Iluzisto must have done the same thing to him as he had the boy just now. And although his form was solid enough to distinguish all his features, the wispy and transparent appearance of his own form had not gotten any better.

Plasmius sat back down on the bed, feeling his body begging him to pass out. But he could not do that. He needed to think about what he was going to do. And even before that, he needed to regain his strength. Still, it was now obvious to him that Iluzisto was under the impression that he would not strengthen any time soon; and that only meant that the ghost was not as sure of what his half-ghost status was capable of doing as he thought. And that fact could work to his favor when it came to escaping from the ghost.

But first things first.

And Vlad began to repair his weak and injured ghost self.

* * *

About a good hour later, Danny finally began to stir. Like Vlad, he, too, woke severely dazed, pained, and weakened.

"Ugh," he groaned, lifting his hands against his forehead. "What happened to me this time?" the boy whispered.

Vlad hitched an eyebrow in wonder when he noticed the boy stirring and then heard him. How odd. It seemed that Daniel was more used to waking up in these conditions than he.

It took the teenager a good ten minutes to recall what had happened, and when he did, his reaction was very similar to Vlad's own…

"Ahh!" the boy cried out as he fell out of the bed face first. But Danny didn't linger on the ground for long and pushed himself to his feet. He staggered backwards in a panic, triggering his instinct to go into a defense mode. But in the end, the teenager was too weak and he fell back onto his bottom.

Danny pressed a hand against his face as he waited for his spinning mind and vision to clear. The boy didn't realize he had his other hand clutched against the injury on his chest.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

The Ghost Boy startled a bit before looking up with difficulty from where he sat on the ground. It took him several blinks to make out the form of his arch-enemy across from him.

"Vlad?" the boy questioned with a scratchy voice.

"Unfortunately," the man answered calmly.

Danny slowly looked around, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. But not coming to any conclusion of his own, he turned back to Vlad. This time, he noticed the billionaire was sitting on a small bed with his back against a green wall facing his direction. He had a single knee raised, and his right arm draped lazily on top of it, while his other leg was stretched across the bed….

And Vlad was in human form.

"Where am I?" Danny asked, cringing at the pain that came with using his voice. And the horrible pain in his chest was making it hard from him to breath.

Vlad inspected his left solid human hand as he answered. "Good question, my boy. But if you would think a bit more, you could answer that on your own. However, since I know that you are unable to do that at the moment, I will tell you that by the looks of our surroundings _we_ are somewhere in the Ghost Zone and being held in some form of prison by—if you recall—the ghost that attacked us at my home."

"Iluzisto!" Danny said with alarm in his still-raspy voice when he finally remembered what had last happened. The teen instantly looked down at himself.

Despite the seriousness of their current situation, Vlad raised an amused eyebrow. If only the boy knew how similar their reactions were after waking. Though, he still wondered if it had taken him as long as the teen to stir…. But the man quickly dismissed the thought when he saw the boy trying to stand.

"I need to get out of here," Danny groggily commented to himself, trying to get back to his feet.

"You're spent, Daniel. You should sit down for a moment," Vlad said soberly.

"Right. Because I'm so going to follow your example and just sit around being some freaky ghost's prisoner," the boy said sarcastically, failing time and time again to get to his feet.

"We have no other choice for the moment," Vlad answered with no further inflation in his voice.

"Would you quit with the 'we' thing? Don't think that just because my head feels like mud, I don't recall how _you_ let Iluzisto in to begin with. So, it's your fault we—_**I**_—am here," the teen tried to growl out, but didn't quite manage it since his throat was still sore.

Vlad momentarily glared at the boy, but decided now wasn't the time to argue with him, especially over such a petty thing.

"Look, Daniel, I'm in no mood to argue with you. Just listen to me for a moment and do as I say," Vlad said, moving off the bed and approaching the transparent wall, stopping at about a foot from it.

"Yeah, right! I'm not doing anything _you_ say!" the boy snapped back, giving up with trying to get to his feet, and instead using what little energy he had to glare at his arch-enemy.

"You will unless you want Iluzisto to find you as pathetic as you are now!" Vlad retorted back, his anger finally showing.

"I rather take my chances with him," Danny whispered weakly. "This is all your fault, Plasmius!"

"_My fault?_" Vlad asked outraged, his anger making him temporarily forget about what they needed to do. "How is it **my** fault when **you** brought that blasted ghost to **my** doorsteps after you decided to crawl to me for help? Or do you not recall pleading to me, '_Vlad, help me?_" he mocked angrily.

Danny didn't know why but the man's words had hurt more than just his pride. But he hid it within his weak glare, but could do nothing to keep it out of his voice. "If you didn't want to help me then you shouldn't have."

Vlad deflated with the boy's words, not having really expected that kind of remark, or the hurt tone of voice. The man stared at him for a moment, before sighing. "Listen to me, Daniel. We can spend our time arguing back and forth about who is to blame for this mess. But in the end, it is not going to get us anywhere. And it is most certainly not getting us out of this place. Now, your ghost half is injured from what Iluzisto did to you—you do recall, yes?"

Danny nodded solemnly, and looked down at his wispy ghost hands.

Then Vlad continued. "Do you know how to repair your ghost half?"

The boy looked up at the man quizzically.

Vlad sighed, "Alright, that's a 'no'." He rubbed his temple for a moment, murmuring to himself, "This would be easier if I could touch him."

But Danny caught his words, and threw an even more confused look at the man. "What would be easier? And why can't you touch me?" But realizing his last question, he quickly added, "Uh, not that I want you near me in either case."

Vlad rolled his eyes as he returned his gaze to the boy. "What I meant is that it would be easier to let you _feel_ how to repair your ghost half than having to _talk_ you through it. But I can't 'touch' you because we are separated."

"What do you…?" Danny trailed off as he saw the man place a hand against something he couldn't see. And if it wasn't for the way a shimmer of light spread across whatever invisible field was there, he would have not known Vlad had placed his hand against anything at all.

"What is that? A shield of some sort?" Danny questioned, for some reason feeling nervous about it. He thought Vlad and he were being held in the same cell. Now, he realized they were in different ones being separated by a transparent wall.

"Obviously," Vlad answered dryly. But he then frowned, and calmly said, "You know the energy rings that change you into your ghost form, correct?" And when he saw the teen nod, the man continued, "Alright, you need to call them forth and let them pass over your ghost form _without_ becoming human. You must 'repair' your ghost half before you make it dormant, understand?"

Danny's eyebrows creased. He hadn't really tried making his rings appear without having them change him back. Or maybe he had and just didn't realize it the times he had… But the boy decided to give it a try, anyways. It wasn't that he trusted Vlad; but at the moment, he was a lesser threat than the ghost that had them trapped here. And his arch-enemy was right. He needed to regain his strength….

Not that he knew _how_ his energy rings would do that. But if he asked, the teen was certain Vlad's response would confuse him more than he already was by this.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and let the white rings pass over him. But they ended up changing him to his human self.

"No!" Vlad said annoyed. "I told you not to change back! You need to regenerate your ghost half _first_. Otherwise, it's going to take you a lot longer to regain your energy!"

"That's what I was trying to do!" Danny said angrily, feeling very self-conscious at the moment. "But how am I supposed to 'fix' myself when I don't even know what that means? And I definitely don't know _how_ to either!"

"I just _told_ you how to do it!" the billionaire snapped back in annoyance.

"Well, then, you didn't do a very good job of it," Danny grumbled back, crossing his hands over his chest, before he winced in pain. Even in human form, he could still feel his ghost side's injuries. Vlad was right.

Vlad looked appalled by his comment. But then he glared back at the teen. "You're right. I shouldn't have even bothered. Figure it out for yourself since I'm sure you'll do a much better job of teaching yourself something you don't know," he said sarcastically, before stomping back over to the bed, sitting on it with crossed hands, and purposely redirecting his gaze towards the cell bars.

Danny's glare fell, and he looked around his room again as a tense silence fell over them. He really didn't want to admit he needed his enemy's help, but he was so weak, he couldn't even stand. He didn't even know how he had managed it when he first woke up.

With a sigh, the boy decided to try again and changed back into his ghost form. But the pain that shot through him with his transformation was horrible, and he screamed.

Vlad's eyes darted over to the teenager, who was clutching his chest; small cries escaped his throat in between his short breaths.

"Daniel," the man called out, as he quickly jumped up and got as close to the teen as the barrier would allow him.

"What… did…he…. do?" Danny managed to get out. He felt like something was ripping his chest apart, ripping his _core_ apart.

"His blasted weapon damaged your central core as it did mine!" Vlad answered angrily.

"B-But you're not—"

"Because _I_ already healed my ghost half."

Danny looked up at him through pained eyes. "Okay, you got my attention," he said, pushing aside his pride for a moment.

The man's eyebrows creased, before he placed a hand on the center of his chest. "Your central core is here, just beside your heart in ghost form. Your energy comes from it. But the injury it sustained has stunned it and that is not allowing your energy to rebuild. That's why you're weak. But you can heal the injury, so that your core will start back up—so to speak." Vlad paused, clearly thinking of his next words. This would definitely be easier if he could touch the boy….

"You're energy rings are simply a sign of your energy core 'turning on', allowing you to morph into, well, a ghost," he continued, sounding thoughtful.

"I always thought they were simply what turned me from a human to a ghost," Danny interrupted with a frown.

"They do, but as I'll explain, not in the way you first thought. And, right now, that's why you aren't able to will them forward without changing," Vlad replied, raising an eyebrow. "You need to push that mindset aside. Those energy rings are the effects of your energy core becoming _fully_ active, and _that_ brings forth your ghost form. The same general idea applies when you turn human; the rings reappear as signals that your core is becoming dormant—or at least for the most part, since you can still access your ghost energy as a human—as you know. But all this is not important for you to understand right now," Vlad quickly dismissed. "You need to push your energy core pass its current shocked state and drive its energy inward on _itself_, so that it will begin working and healing itself…Alright, go ahead and try it again. But this time, do not concentrate on turning human. Instead, think about building your energy and letting it wash over you…."

The man continued to explain in detail what the teen needed to do and concentrate on in order to heal his ghost self. And a few minutes later, Danny's white rings washed through him, but this time they didn't change him human. Instead, they left in their wake a restored Ghost Boy. His clothing was no longer ripped and the injuries on his chest and other smaller ones had vanished.

Danny slowly got to his feet, feeling so much better now that the pain in his chest had dulled to a small throb. But he still felt weak.

Vlad had a small smile on his face. "Good. Now turn back so that your ghost half can become dormant. That will allow it to refuel your energy faster."

Danny did so without a word, and found himself feeling even better in human form. "Wow…. It worked," he said a bit surprised but mostly relieved. The boy suddenly rubbed his neck as he then added, "Uh…. Thanks."

Vlad just smirked slyly; but then, he became serious, and sitting back on the bed again, he looked over at the corridor that could be seen through the glowing bars.

Danny, however, was still looking himself over. Although he felt strong enough to move now, he still felt sore and tired. But he needed to find a way out. Then it hit him. "Hey! We're human! That means we can phase right through this place!"

Vlad rolled his eyes, but decided to let the boy find out for himself.

And he soon did.

"Ouch!" the teen exclaimed holding his nose that had met the very solid glowing green wall. "Wait, this can't be right! I thought humans were 'the ghosts' in the Ghost Zone!"

"Obviously, Daniel, that doesn't apply here. And, really, did you not think that I would have already tried that?" Vlad said in a condescending voice.

Danny just shot him a dirty look.

But the billionaire ignored it, and continued. "It seems this place, or at least, these cells were made just with us in mind. Ghost powers have no affect on the walls, and as you just discovered, it can also hold our human selves within them. The only way we are getting out of here is through the cell doors. And we need the keys for that…. Guess who has those keys," the man finished raising an eyebrow.

Danny frowned, before crossing his arms. "Great," he mumbled.

A silence fell over them; and while Danny occupied himself with trying to peer through the bars and even attempt to push through them, Vlad was more interested in his watch.

The teen soon noticed. "What are you doing?" he asked curiously, walking over to the man, only to collide into the transparent wall. The boy glared at it.

"My watch is not exactly a watch. Or, rather, it is _more_ than a watch. It has a communication device. I had attempted to contact Skulker…" he informed him, a thoughtful expression on his face as he fiddled with the watch.

"And what's he going to do?" Danny asked with slight bite in his tone.

Vlad shot the boy an amused smirk, before returning his gaze to his watch. "Unlike with you, Daniel, Skulker is my close ally—if you recall. But I have given up on getting a hold of him a while ago. The communication system does not work here. In fact, no form of technology seems to work being that nothing on my watch is working, not even the watch _itself_." The man sounded annoyed by that last fact.

Danny looked at him in surprise, before a bewildered look replaced it. "Then why are you, um, messing with it?"

Vlad shrugged, and off-handedly answered, "I'm bored."

The young half-ghost just blinked at him. How the heck could the guy be bored when they were in serious trouble? But then he began to wonder how long the man had been awake. Obviously, for some time now since Vlad had already figured out several things—like how their cores had been damaged by Iluzisto's attack.

Danny finally just rolled his eyes, and murmured, "Fruit loop," before walking back to the jail cell's locked door. How was he going to get out of here? His mind suddenly drifted to his friends and sister. Would they be able to find him? It was going to be hard in the vastness of the Ghost Zone. But he was certain that the boomerang would lead them right to him.

The teenager quickly felt his spirits lift. Yes, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker would be sure to find him!

"_I hope it's soon, though_," Danny thought, looking warily down the dark corridor.

Some time later, the young half-ghost was slumped on his own hard bed, feeling…bored. But at least he was feeling physically better. Vlad had been silent for the longest time now, and Danny couldn't help but wonder why…. Well, aside from he and Vlad not having anything to talk about. And as dull as it was silently sitting in a cell, the teen really couldn't _find_ anything to converse about with his arch-enemy. If the teen wasn't so apprehensive about his latest predicament, he was sure he would be squirming uncomfortably at the silence.

But just because he wasn't talking to Vlad didn't mean Danny didn't glance at him every now and then. And it was why he was currently wondering about Vlad's silence. The man was just staring into space; but every now and then he would slowly look around, clearly studying his surroundings. What could the man be thinking? …Or, planning?

Danny stood back up and walked over to the door once again, not realizing the older hybrid had glanced at him briefly as he did so. The teen tried to peer past the darkness after the corridor, but like his other previous attempts, he could see nothing.

But then, suddenly, an idea hit the boy. And he quickly called ecto-energy into his hand, internally feeling relieved it didn't trigger any kind of weak spell. Slowly, he wedged his hand through two of the green bars until his arm was sticking out of the cell up to his elbow. Without any hesitation, he fired an energy blast down the corridor.

But the second it had left his hand, an eerie gust of air suddenly appeared from nowhere, instantly snuffing his ecto-ball from existence.

"Hmm… good to know that our powers do not work out there, either," Vlad commented dryly.

Danny frowned, but he wasn't looking at Vlad, but down the corridor.

"Daniel," Vlad suddenly called, still sitting on the bed with his back against the wall. And when the teen turned to face him, he asked, "You said you had never seen Iluzisto before yesterday, correct?"

"Yeah," Danny answered, creasing his eyebrows, while still not doing anything to retract his hand back into the cell.

"Do you know of anyone who would be after you?"

Danny threw a dry look at the man.

Vlad then quickly added, "I meant, anyone outside the ordinary. Someone who would hire another ghost to capture you?"

Danny tapped his lips thoughtfully with his other hand, before suddenly looking enlightened. "Oh yeah, I do!"

Vlad's interest sparked. "Who?"

"You," Danny said with a smug grin.

The billionaire quickly glared at the boy. 'This is serious, you little rat!"

"Then stop asking me stupid questions! You know I don't know the ghost, and I don't know why he's after me!" Danny snapped back, his annoyance with the man quickly returning.

"And I don't know what he could possibly want with me, either!" Vlad said to himself with a scowl.

But Danny heard it, and he realized that the man wasn't as calm as he let on.

The teen turned his attention back to what he was doing, having thought of something else. The teen made another ecto-ball, but this time, he encased it in a layer of ice.

Vlad raised an interested eyebrow as he watched Danny squat down and roll the ball down the corridor.

And it actually worked!

"Ha!" Danny said with a wide grin as he watched the corridor light up as his energy-made 'flashlight' rolled down it, soon revealing that the corridor was much longer than what it seemed.

But as it reached the end, and the ball crashed into a wall, shattering the ice. Instantly, a ghostly wind dispelled the lingering energy. However, Vlad and Danny had been able to see enough to discover that there were more cells at the end of the corridor and that the hallway led to another pathway as well.

"We really are in a prison," Danny murmured, his eyebrows drawing in again.

Deciding to try once more, Danny lit his hand with more energy and encased it in a sphere of ice, this time making the ice just a bit thicker so that it was more durable.

But Vlad's voice momentarily distracted the teen. "Iluzisto is working for someone," he told the boy. "—Or by his words, 'someones'."

Surprised by his remark this time, Danny turned his blues eyes back to the older hybrid.

"But I do not know who they could be, or what they could want," Vlad continued. "Whatever it is, it has to be something we _both_ have in common. And the only thing I can think of that you and I share that would make us both targets, is our 'human-ghost hybrid' status."

"So, whoever he's working for are hunters, like Skulker?" Danny asked, looking thoughtful, while absently toying with the ice-sphere in his extended hand.

"I haven't said that," Vlad said with a frown, his focus completely on the teen.

"But you can't completely toss it out," Danny retorted with a raised eyebrow. "And I'm having a hard time believing this guy works for others. He doesn't seem like the type to take orders from anyone."

"Well, I agree with your latter comment," the billionaire answered. "But he indeed is. However, I do not think that these beings for whom he is working are ghosts merely looking for 'unique prey'. Iluzisto was ordered to bring us here for some other reason…"

"Yes, and you both will discover that reason quite soon," Iluzisto's evil voice suddenly said, startling both half-ghosts.

Danny gasped upon finding the evil ghost's still partially distinguishable form right in front of his cell. But he had not pulled his hand back in yet! And with another gasp, he quickly did-or _tried_ to…

"Ah!" the boy cried in fear as the ghost grasped his wrist, the ice-sphere dropping from his hand and shattering on the ground.

Vlad gasped in alarm, jumping to his feet. And seeing the boy about to turn into Phantom, exclaimed, "No, don't morph!"

The older hybrid knew that if Iluzisto saw their ghost forms and saw how they were completely healed, then their possible advantage against this ghost would be no more. Daniel could not morph!

Danny had to fight with all his might to keep himself from 'going ghost', even after hearing the gravity in his arch-enemy's voice. He didn't understand why the man was telling him not to change, but he knew there had to be an important reason for it…

"Let go of me!" the boy demanded, both angry and frightened as he struggled to get his wrist out of Iluzisto's hold. But the ghost was not letting go.

However, Iluzisto wasn't looking at Danny, but at Vlad, somewhat impressed with his quick ability to catch on to things. Or, at least, the spirit suspected that the older crossbreed might be onto something when he told the younger one not to 'morph'.

"You are clever, crossbreed. But I do have ways of persuading you both to return to your other form," he said evilly.

Vlad glared menacingly at the ghost, but said nothing. Still, he was privately confused by the ghost's words. Yes, he had figured out a few things about this creature. After all, he hadn't spent his time in here without thinking about everything that had happened. And it had not taken a lot of pondering for him to realize a few things about this ghost. For one, his main form of attack was making illusions—distorting his victim's mind to make them unable to defend themselves. And two, Vlad had learned before his capture that the ghost's illusions only could harm the victim when he **believed **them to be **true**.

But he still didn't understand why Iluzisto had called him 'clever'. Was it possible that the ghost thought he knew something he didn't? But then, what could that 'something' be?

"And you…." Iluzisto wickedly looked back at the boy he had captured by a hand. "You should know better than to stick your hand in the cookie jar….Or should I say _out_?"

Danny's eyes widened as he watched the ghost produce a blade out of thin air. "W-What are you doing?" he gasped, watching Iluzisto move the blade towards his arm.

"Punishing you," Iluzisto answered simply, his eye curving into the shape of a smile.

"No!" Danny screamed, his struggles returning ten-fold.

"Daniel!" Vlad shouted, not understanding why the boy was freaking out—and why Iluzisto wasn't doing anything yet.

In fact, to the man, Iluzisto was merely looking at the teen while keeping a firm grip on the teen's hand. So why did the boy look like he was about to get hurt…? And more importantly, what was that creature waiting for?

It immediately hit the billionaire why the boy was freaking out. He was making Daniel see some kind of illusion!

But Vlad's eyes widened when he suddenly realized something else. Of course! Iluzisto had just said that he had other means to _persuade_ them to change! And the reason he needed them in ghost form was because his powers, or, at least, his _illusion_ powers only worked on them as ghosts!

However, the man mentally jolted when he recalled the fight at his castle with Iluzisto before his capture. Or, perhaps, this ghost's illusions could only **hurt** them when ghost. Obviously, he could make both ghost and human see them, since the boy was human at the moment and he was seeing something that wasn't there. But…what if the reason Iluzisto wanted them to turn ghost was because it was the only way his illusions could physically harm them? It would explain why the ghost never really tried to use his illusions on him when he changed human at least that one time yesterday…

Vlad wasn't sure, but he was certain this ghost wanted Daniel in ghost form for a reason.

And when he saw the panicked boy on the very of forgetting his warning and changing into Phantom, the man gasped and this time exclaimed with even more urgency, "Daniel! It's not real! Whatever you are seeing is not real!"

But seeing that the teen was freaked out by whatever Iluzisto was showing him, Vlad suddenly looked on the verge of panicking himself. If his suspicions were right and Daniel morphed, then whatever illusion the boy was seeing would become real. And then he _would_ really be harmed.

"Daniel, you must listen to me! Don't change! It's not real!" Vlad continued to shout at him.

"It **looks** real!" Danny cried out as he watched Iluzisto positioning the blade right above his wrist. "Stop! You can't!" he pleaded as the ghost finally raised and position the sharp tool so to bring it down swiftly.

"Don't worry, little freak, most ghost can reform their limbs," Iluzisto said with dark mirth.

"Well, I can't! I'm not just a ghost! Please, let me go!" Danny cried out, his now widened blue eyes filled with nothing but terror.

"Oh, then, that's too bad for you…"

"NOO!" Danny screamed as he watched the blade come down on his hand; and in his panic, he switched into ghost form.

"DANIEL!" Vlad screamed, abruptly switching into Plasmius.

But then, unexpectedly, Iluzisto gasped in surprise. And the illusion vanished right in front of the teen's eyes before he could be harmed.

Iluzisto's shocked look darted between the ghost forms of Vlad and Danny. "You two are at full strength?…. B-But that's impossible! No ghost recovers that quickly!" he exclaimed, astonished.

Danny, who had stumbled back and was now pressed against the far wall, said nothing as he trembled and breathed heavily from fear.

But Plasmius looked severely ticked off. "And that proves you have no idea who you are dealing with…. Allow me to give you a sample…"

Before Iluzisto could react, Vlad slid his fingers through the bars and fired a bolt of pink electricity at him. The attack slammed into the ghost, too condensed to be snuffed out by the blow of the cold wind that had attempted to counter it.

Iluzisto was pushed backwards from the hit, but quickly recovered, and glared furiously at the older half-ghost. "How dare you!" he hissed, his silvery-purple eye flashing darkly as he extended a hand towards Plasmius.

Vlad gasped when he suddenly found himself incased in a dome of fire. And the man screamed in a pain as the fire licked his body.

Danny looked wide-eyed at Vlad, not seeing anything that would have caused the man's violent reaction.

But Iluzisto was eager to throw a similarly intense experience at the younger crossbreed as he aimed his other hand at him.

Suddenly, the boy cried in alarm as he was covered in searing flames. However, he reflexively formed a shield of ice. But it was quickly melting against the inferno around him.

Vlad steeled himself against the pain and forced his mind to ignore his instincts as he concentrated. He really hoped his hunch was right….

The instant the black rings washed over him and returned his body to its human form, he felt the effects of the illusion vanish, although he continued to see the flames. But at least, they were no longer burning him. Now, there was no doubt. Iluzisto's illusions could only **harm** them as ghosts…

Iluzisto saw the older hybrid turn human, and with a growl of anger, dispelled the illusions, leaving both Danny and Vlad panting in a heap on the floor. The ghost stared darkly at the two as they got back to their feet, the younger one quickly taking the older one's cue and turning human.

But then, Iluzisto's anger melted, and the tension in his eye left. With a more relaxed tone ringing in his voice, he said, "I suppose it is my mistake for underestimating you…. But I will see to it that this is the last time…"

With those foreboding words, the ghost turned from them and floated down the corridor.

Vlad grasped one of his burned arms. And although he knew it was not serious and would heal soon since he had sustained them in his ghost form, it still stung badly. He gritted his teeth against the pain, but then suddenly glared at Danny. "You little fool!" he shouted, "I told you not to change!"

Danny, who had not sustained any injuries thanks to his ice powers, looked over at Vlad. The boy was still shaking from the first illusion. He really thought the ghost was going to slice his arm off!

"He had a sharp blade against my hand! What was I suppose to do?" Danny shouted back, more from apprehension than anger.

"What I **told** you to do!" Vlad yelled back, "If you would bother to use that head of yours, you would have realized that his illusions can only harm us as ghosts! You're lucky his shock stopped him, or you _wouldn't_ have an arm right now! And you would have deserved it, too! Thanks to your _**stupidity,**_ he now knows his powers don't affect us for as long as it would a normal ghost!"

"I'm not stupid, you jerk!" Danny snapped back. "How was I supposed to know how his freaky illusions work, anyways? But if I'm stupid, then so are you! You went ghost, too!"

Vlad pointed an accusing finger at the teen. "You were screaming at the top of your lungs! You left me with no choice! But you know what? What you did **was** stupid! In fact, you **are **a blasted dolt! And, _furthermore_, it's _morph, _not 'go ghost'!" he ended with disgust.

"Ugh! Whatever! I'll call it what the heck I feel like calling it! And don't forget we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for **you**!"

Vlad eyes narrowed further and he stomped as close as he could to Danny. "You are extremely lucky we are separated, because if I could reach you, I would break that scrawny neck of yours, you little rat!"

Danny quickly stomped over to the shield. "Not before I'd kick your butt, you bitter, cat-loving jerk!"

In their anger, both hybrids attempted to punch each other, but all their fists did was hit the invisible shield. They both just glared at one another, while ignoring the new pain shooting through their hands.

Vlad was the first to speak. "Do not say a word to me unless you are dying," he whispered angrily.

"How about I not say a word to you _at_ _all_," Danny growled back.

"Fine," Vlad spat back.

"Fine," Danny answered in the same tone.

They gave each other one last hateful look, before turning from one another and going to their respective beds. They both sat down, and crossed their arms, silently cursing the other.

It didn't take long for Danny's glare to fade, and he looked down at his arms, noticing the red scrape on his wrist that was already starting to bruise from how hard he had struggled in Iluzisto's grip. He gently wrapped his other hand around his sore wrist, and sighed softly.

Now the teen desperately wanted to escape. Iluzisto had to be one of the most barbaric ghosts he had met. There was no doubt the spirit got a kick out of scaring… and torturing his victims. And he had succeeded since Danny was now very scared of him.

If the boy only knew that his arch-enemy felt no differently.

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**truephan here: Hey, hope y'all liked being pushed around like we did! If not, we have lots of zagging—or zigging if you like that better—in the future! Now, do your own little dance and don't forget to push that little blue button. A surprise might pop up….or might not, but you'll never know unless you do! Until next time!**

**Pearl: Hmm. Danny almost got his arm cut off. Geez, who comes up with these terrible ways to torture the poor boy? *giggles* Well, thank you all for reading! Let us know what you think! Ta for now!**


	6. Chapter 6: Observed Injustice

**Pearl: Yay! Sid time! And we'll finally answer some of you poor readers' questions! I actually think this is a fun chapter. So, I hope you all like it! See you below! And I leave you with the one and only Truephan to finish our introduction of this next chapter. *drum roll***

***cymbal clashes* Truephan here: Ahem….sure puts the pressure on me! But that's OK. I just eat up all the attention you are forced to give me right this very moment as your eyes glide over these delicious words from my brain to the paper…*pause* Oh, that's right. This is supposed to be fun, not an evil plot to keep you hooked to this story. Wait! It IS an evil plot—but not Pearl's and mine…Our muses put us up to it and my muse just made me say all of this! So, before she forces more evil out of me…ah, too late! Here is Chapter 6. Enjoy—my foolish pretties! ***_**She**_** said that—not me!***

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But the plot is our own—and our muses!**

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**Chapter 6: Observed Injustice.**

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Although it was still early morning of the next day of the hybrids' capture in the Real World, the day and time were irrelevant where they were now. But that didn't make Iluzisto's employers any more patient. And they had now been waiting for some sense of time for him to bring the crossbreeds before them.

But he knew he needed to come up with some sort of explanation for this delay to his employers. After all, he had not expected as much defiance from the hybrids and was even more surprised to find that they had recovered to their full strength again when they shouldn't have been able to do that. And that only meant that he would have to use the weapon he had been temporarily given to regain control over the two creatures. Still, there was that explanation….

Iluzisto calmly walked down a corridor, knowing exactly where he needed to go. But just as he came to his destination, he hesitated to head in when he remembered he was still partially in his stealth mode, which, of course, distorted his form to appear smoky and almost mirror-like.

"_I must not let them see my stealth mode, or they might grow suspicious of my actions,"_ Iluzisto thought, his eye slightly narrowing.

And dropping his stealth mode, and finally revealing his true form for the first time, he entered a small conference room, and found the leaders of those for whom he worked, plus one more _other_ being, waiting inside for him.

"Where are the two half-ghosts?" the leader of the group asked calmly.

"In their cells, High Tribunal," Iluzisto answered respectively. "They have become hostile, so I required a method to restrain them."

"Was the advanced weapon we provided you insufficient?" the leader questioned, unconsciously eyeing the black bracelet-like devices on each of Iluzisto's wrists.

Iluzisto kept his voice steady as he replied, "Not at all. It was more than efficient. It is what I will be using to restrain them now. I just simply wished to have you all know why I am forced to have you wait."

Suddenly, the one speaking to the illusionist grew concerned with his next thought and he quickly added, "You are keeping them in separate quarters as we instructed, correct?"

"Yes, Tribune," Iluzisto began, hiding his amusement at seeing the leader of his employers' apparent skittishness. "Though I see how hostile they are separately, it was wise to require them to be separated. But it has delayed your wait to secure the separation as well."

Calming down a bit with that information, the leader answered, "That's fine. We will wait a bit longer. But do make haste; we still must discuss what is decided here with the rest of the Council."

"Very good. I will do that." Iluzisto turned and exited the room, before floating into another room. As he did, he returned to stealth mode and thought of what he had learned about Vlad and Danny.

"_Those creatures are stronger than I believed. It's almost as if they are capable of restoring their lost energy. Is that possible? Normal ghosts can restore their energy, but very slowly, taking days, weeks even. But the crossbreeds…. They managed it in hours—maybe even __**minutes**__…."_

A dark and excited look came upon Iluzisto's eye, and he looked towards the general direction of those that employed him. "Hmm… perhaps these freaks of nature are just what I need to obtain my own goals, after all… I will have to test how powerful these creatures are. If they have what I need…. my employers are the last thing they will have to worry about."

With an evil chuckle, he grabbed the staff he used to trap the half-ghosts, and walked back to the cells.

* * *

Danny's half-opened eyes looked dully at the cell door in front of him. He was _really_ tired. But he knew he couldn't risk falling asleep with a ghost like Iluzisto around. However, even the hard bed he sat on was starting to look inviting to his exhausted body. And there was one other thing….

He was hungry.

Meanwhile, Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed softly. Iluzisto had mentioned that Danny and he would be meeting with his 'employers' today. But then, why had the ghost just up and left several moments ago? And, although he knew the fact should comfort him, it did not. Iluzisto was sure to return; and this time, he would not come unprepared. And with them being locked in these cells, the boy and he were sitting ducks.

"_Grrr…"_

Vlad slowly turned his head towards the boy, a quizzical look on his face. "What was that?" he questioned.

Danny quickly scowled. "You didn't want me talking to you, _remember_?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, but said nothing and turned his gaze back to the locked cell door. He stayed quiet for a moment before off-handedly saying, "Hopefully, we will not be here long enough for that to be a problem."

"For what to be a problem?" Danny asked, not getting what the man was talking about.

"_Grrr…" _

"_That_," Vlad said dryly.

Danny blushed as he placed a hand against his noisy stomach. "I, uh, haven't eaten anything since… brunch at your house." The teen frowned, realizing neither had the man. He had to be hungry, too.

Vlad just sighed.

The teen rubbed his neck as he tried to think of something to break the silence. "Hey… Vlad?"

"Hmm?" he answered calmly, looking at the boy.

"Do you—?"

"_**BAM!"**_

"Vlad!" Danny cried in surprise when he saw a purple beam come from outside the cell and hit the man squarely in the stomach.

The billionaire doubled over on his bed, trying desperately to take back in the air he had just lost.

Iluzisto partly surrendered his stealth mode, his staff now visible and still smoking from its assault on the man.

"That was for daring to strike me earlier, crossbreed," the ghost said darkly as he narrowed his eye on the older half-ghost, who was too pained to even think of a response. But then, Iluzisto turned his eyes to Danny and added, "As for you…"

The ghost quickly aimed the staff at Danny and fired another beam.

But the boy was ready, and he dove off the bed with a shout of alarm before it could hit him.

Iluzisto scoffed in amusement. The child reminded him of a scared and cornered mouse. But remembering why he was here, he announced, "Crossbreeds, it's time for your audience with my employers."

But Iluzisto's gaze hardened as he aimed his weapon back on Danny, though he further ordered the both of them, "Return to your ghost counterparts if you want to avoid yourselves further punishment."

The teen's eyes nervously darted from Vlad to the ghost, and then back to Vlad. The man was still clutching his stomach, clearly in pain. Unlike his illusions, Iluzisto's staff-like weapon could clearly harm them even in human form...

And that was very bad news.

"Change, crossbreed," Iluzisto ordered the teen once more.

Danny looked back at the ghost fearfully. But then, his resolve hardened and he glared as he firmly answered, "No."

Iluzisto narrowed his eye, and quickly fired another shot. But Danny avoided it once more—narrowly this time. The ghost looked even angrier and immediately stepped forward. He wasted no time to open the boy's cell and enter it.

Danny's eyes widened and he almost went ghost with his sudden panic. But then he forced himself to focus, and he narrowed his eyes at the ghost again.

"I was going to spare you the pain, but in light of your defiance, I am going to have you join the other crossbreed in his pain…"

Danny gasped this time when Iluzisto fired two quick purple blasts at him. But although he managed to block one with an energy beam of his own, he did not manage to do the same for the other. With a cry of pain, the teen grasped at his injured shoulder. But he pushed the pain aside, and ran straight for the open cell door.

Not expecting this, Iluzisto gasped when the boy ran right through him and out of the cell. But Danny didn't keep running, he turned right back around and slammed the door closed on the ghost.

Iluzisto rolled his eye, before firing a blast at the teen from in between the bars. Danny dodged it again, which only forced him to step away from the door. And the ghost didn't hesitate to push it open and step out.

"You amuse me, crossbreed," Iluzisto said with mirth. "But I told you, you are not escaping."

Danny took a fearful step back as he watched the ghost extend a hand towards him, knowing what was to come. And, suddenly, he found himself surrounded by large black scorpions.

The illusion was enough distraction for Iluzisto to get a shot at the boy. The beam hit the teen in his abdomen, sending him to his knees with a choked shout of pain.

Iluzisto floated over to the teen before grasping him by an arm and lifting him to his feet. Without any hesitation, he shoved the needle part of the weapon into Danny's previously injured shoulder and the boy cried out loudly in pain.

"I do not know what this weapon's poison does to humans, but I do not mind making you the first test subject…" Iluzisto said darkly, pushing the needle further in so that the blade part of the weapon began to enter the boy's bleeding soft flesh.

Danny let out an even louder scream, all the while trying fruitlessly to escape the strong ghost's hold. But he could barely hold his feet under him from the horrible pain he felt, especially when the ghost continue to slowly drive his weapon deeper into his arm!

"**Enough!" **

Iluzisto's eye instantly spun around his head and locked on the older hybrid, who was glaring at him with his hands wrapped tightly around two green bars. And by the sound of his hard breathing, the man was still suffering from the blast from Iluzisto's powerful weapon.

"Do as I say, crossbreed, and I will be more forgiving of you," the spirit ordered, pushing the weapon even more into Danny's shoulder for emphasis.

And still, all Danny could do was grit his teeth against the pain; although, he didn't quite manage to keep his painful cries from completely escaping out of his vocal cords.

Vlad stared spitefully at Iluzisto for a moment. He couldn't believe the blasted ghost had shot him with such a hard blast while he was in human form. The man was sure the ghost had just fractured one his ribs from that! Luckily, his ghost half made him a fast healer and his human body could take a bit more damage… otherwise, the ghost could have probably killed him with that blast!

"Don't make me break another of your ribs, crossbreed," Iluzisto suddenly warned when the man hesitated to do as he had commanded.

Vlad's eyes flashed red with the threat, especially when the ghost's comment confirmed that Iluzisto knew full well what he had done. Still, the older hybrid let his black rings spread across him, switching him into Plasmius. He decided to play along with the ghost for now. It was the only way he was going to find out the extent of this situation… and a way out of it.

Iluzisto seemed to smile as he said. "Good." But then he looked back at Danny. "_Your_ turn."

Despite the pain, Danny refused to give in to this ghost. "Forget it, pal!"

"Insolent freak!" Iluzisto hissed, pushing the blade more into the boy's shoulder.

"Daniel, you stubborn brat!" Plasmius shouted at the screaming teen. "Morph!"

"NO!" Danny cried out, before grasping Iluzisto's weapon and sending ice through it.

But it had no effect.

Iluzisto glared. "It seems you need to be broken….into pieces if need be…"

"Do you require assistance?"

Everyone turned to look towards the fourth voice that had suddenly come from the corridor.

"Clockwork?" Danny whispered in disbelief, his eyes widening at the sight of the time ghost approaching them.

Iluzisto looked displeased with the Time Master's presence. "No, I do not require assistance," he answered coolly before turning his eye back to Danny.

Clockwork stopped next to Iluzisto and Danny, and calmly lifted two collar-looking devices up to the other ghost's eye-level. "Who await you are not very patient… So, they asked me to bring you these….. _things_ to assist you."

"I have everything under control. My powers are enough to subdue these creatures!" Iluzisto argued, glaring at Clockwork.

"I can clearly see that," Clockwork said dryly, looking from the surprised Danny to the confused Vlad. But, oddly, the time ghost smirked mysteriously at the man.

And noticing, Vlad frowned deeply, though internally this mysterious and unknown ghost to him was putting him on edge… Who was he? And why did this ghost look at him as if he knew something the man didn't?

Clockwork suddenly seemed to lose interest in the older hybrid and he calmly turned his eyes back to Iluzisto as he casually informed him, "I was told to inform you that these devices fully negate the use of their abilities. _However_, they allow them to remain as ghosts so that they are easier for _you_ to handle."

But when Iluzisto still seemed reluctant to take the collar-like devices, the Time Master raised an eyebrow and added, "It's their orders. Not mine."

"Fine…," Iluzisto answered, annoyed, before accepting one of the collars and looking back at Danny.

The boy quickly pushed aside his surprise when he realized for whom the collar was intended. Instantly, he began to struggle fiercely, ignoring the agony it caused his shoulder. There was no way he was letting that thing be put around his neck!

"Hold still!" Iluzisto demanded, getting ready to fire a blast at the boy at close range, not carrying if it seriously injured him.

But Clockwork suddenly spoke up, stopping the ghost.

"Why don't you take care of the other one? I'll deal with Danny…" the time ghost offered, smiling calmly at Iluzisto.

The ghost momentarily looked reluctant, but then gave in, knowing his employers were waiting. Without warning, he roughly retracted the needle from the Ghost Boy's arm.

Danny cried in pain, but it turned into a grunt when he was thrust into Clockwork, who quickly used a strong hand to steady him before he fell to the floor.

"I-I don't understand," Danny said, looking up at his mentor with confusion. The teen refused to think that Clockwork had anything to do with this. No…. Maybe the ghost was here to help…? He really hoped so.

Clockwork looked soberly at him. "I know," he answered. "But you will understand soon enough. Until then…" The Time Master held up the collar in his hand.

Danny's eyes widened. "C-Clockwork… What? Y-You can't… make me..." But the boy was at a loss for further words. How could his mentor want him to wear that?

"I do what I must, Danny. You should never forget that," the time ghost answered as he unclasped the device and brought it towards the teen's neck.

All the young half-ghost could do was stare at his mentor, like a child would a father who is about to abandon him in a dark alley. Why was Clockwork doing this?

But Danny could not bring himself to resist the Time Master. And he lowered his eyes sadly as the ghost clicked the device around his neck. And although he was still human, the teen immediately felt it suppress his powers...

Meanwhile, Iluzisto was attending to Vlad, who looked shocked at the sight of the device the ghost was approaching him with.

"Do not struggle against me, crossbreed. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to use force to subdue you," Iluzisto warned as he opened Vlad's cell and entered it.

Plasmius slowly tore his eyes from the device in Iluzisto's grip and looked at the ghost himself.

"My employers are waiting…" Iluzisto threateningly aimed the staff at Plasmius, before extending the collar and ordering, "Put it on."

Vlad had been willing to 'submit' to Iluzisto so that he could learn why he had been brought here and who was behind all this. But if it meant having his powers taken away….

"You're not getting that anywhere near me," Vlad growled, bringing bright red electricity to his fingertips, ready to fight with everything he had to if it came down to it.

"Time out."

In an instant, Danny, Vlad, and, surprisingly, even Iluzisto froze in time. Of course, everything else remained unaffected, since time had no influence in this current Realm. Clockwork's powers only worked on places, things, and beings that normally existed _inside_ time…

Apparently, Iluzisto was one of them. And yet, Clockwork knew that Iluzisto was no ghost, but rather, a _spirit_, much like himself and his… employers...

With a tired sigh, Clockwork floated forward, thoughtlessly taking the collar out of Iluzisto's frozen, outstretched hand, all the while ignoring how the bands on the illusionist spirit's wrists were glowing even brighter than normal now that he was under the effects of Clockwork's time powers.

"It seems I will forever be entrusted with the dirty work," he said, annoyed as he clasped the device around the older half-ghost's neck. "Time in."

A gasp from Vlad brought Iluzisto's focus towards the collar around the older half-ghost's neck.

"No… How did you..?" Vlad questioned in disbelief, seeing his energy fade from his hands, although he remained in ghost form. The man's eyes darted over to the Time Master beside Iluzisto, and he quickly seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.

"You…."

"I will not tolerate your interference!" Iluzisto cut the billionaire off, glaring at Clockwork.

"I grew impatient…Time is too precious to waste," Clockwork said with a slight smirk, before turning from the other spirit and exiting the cell.

Iluzisto looked angrily after the Time Master, before turning back to Vlad. "It seems you will need to be broken as well… We'll work on that. But for now…" He then unexpectedly fired a shot at the man's chest.

Vlad stumbled back and grasped his chest at the blow. But before he could recover, he gasped when rope suddenly appeared and wrapped itself around his wrists.

Right after that, Iluzisto yanked him out of the cell with it. The man stumbled forward, unable to do anything as he concentrated on not falling face first.

But quickly recalling he was in ghost form, Vlad switched back, effectively negating Iluzisto's illusion, and he slipped out of the ropes.

Iluzisto seemed furious with this, but instead, aimed his weapon at the human Vlad in silent threat.

Vlad glowered at him for a moment, but knowing that resisting might only get him seriously injured or killed, he obliged and walked forward.

Clockwork looked at Danny who had been silent since he had placed the collar around him, and informed the boy, "Iluzisto will show you where you must go." And before Danny could say anything, he vanished.

The human teen looked at the spot his mentor had been with uncertainty, before looking over at Vlad as he came up alongside him.

However, they didn't get a chance to say anything. At that moment, Iluzisto moved passed them, uttering, "Follow me."

The two hybrids shared a glance, but then with a bit of hesitation, followed after the spirit towards their intended destination.

For a moment, both Danny and Vlad were silent. And while the teen was thinking of what just happened with Clockwork and his still throbbing shoulder, the man's thoughts were more on the collars now on their necks. It didn't make Vlad very comfortable to know his powers had been taken away, especially when he was _graciously_ allowed to keep control of his human and ghost forms. It was more than obvious why Iluzisto needed them as ghosts. But why his employers? Somehow, the older hybrid suspected it was not just to give their _guard dog_ more control over him and the boy….

"Daniel," Vlad suddenly whispered, trying to keep his voice from being heard by Iluzisto.

Luckily, since the creature no longer saw them as a threat without their ghost powers, Iluzisto was hardly paying any attention to them, save to lead them onward.

Seeing the teen look up at him, he continued, "We need to get these—"

"I don't get it," Danny cut him off, his voice also soft, but thoughtful. "This makes no sense. Why is he… _helping_ _him_?"

Vlad frowned deeply, unsure of what the teen was talking about. But realizing the way the boy had worded his question, the man quickly understood, and urgently asked, "Daniel, do you know that ghost that was just here? Who is he?"

Danny suddenly felt at a loss for words, as he unconsciously rubbed his shoulder. It was already feeling better, thanks to his healing abilities. But he knew he had to answer the man, and mumbled, "Yeah… I know him. He's Clockwork, the Master of Time. I, uh… He helped with these things one time…" He cringed when he realized what he said didn't come out as he had wanted and momentarily cast his eyes away from his arch-enemy.

Vlad's eyes widened. "The Master of Time? You mean _the_ _spirit_ that controls all existence? The same one that has the power to will time itself and see across it?

"Yeah, that's him," Danny answered, somewhat surprised by Vlad's shock. And why had he emphasized so much on the word 'spirit'? Wasn't that the same thing as a ghost?

The billionaire frowned deeply and briefly glanced up at Iluzisto as the pieces of this puzzle began to fall into place for the older hybrid. Vlad had had no idea where this creature had taken them, but if the Time Master was here, then it was very likely that they were in the Realm Beyond Time, or sometimes also called, the 'Timeless Realm'. But only _spirits_ lived in this part of the Ghost Zone. So if they were indeed in this realm, then that mean Iluzisto was no ghost…

Iluzisto was a _spirit_. And, of course, that suddenly made him all the more dangerous.

But the fact that he had just been face-to-face with the Master of Time still had Vlad's mind reeling…

"I had always wondered if Time Master's existence was just a myth….," Vlad muttered mostly to himself. But then he scoffed as he added, "Obviously, it's not. And if he's part of this, then this might be more serious than I believed. If the rumors are true, then the Time Master is a very dangerous spirit."

"Clockwork's not dangerous!" Danny exclaimed defensively. But seeing Iluzisto shoot him a sharp look, the teen quickly lowered his tone of voice as he added with as much conviction, "He's good!"

Vlad rolled his eyes. "So much so that he put these _things_ on us," he retorted sarcastically, pointing to the device around his neck.

"Well, I'm sure he has his reasons!" the teen answered, although he seemed a bit unsure this time around.

"Trust him if you want," Vlad said with disgust. "But I am not about leave my fate in the hands of some manipulative spirit who is in cahoots with another _deceitful_ spirit who goes by the name of 'Iluzisto'."

"You don't know that!" Danny exclaimed again, still on the defensive. "Just because Clockwork is here doesn't mean he agrees with all this! He could very well be here to get me out of this place."

Vlad scoffed. "Don't make me laugh, boy. If he indeed has aided you in the past, then you should start accepting that this spirit has betrayed you _this_ time around before you find out in a worse way later."

"And you should just be quiet!" Danny suddenly exploded, pushing the billionaire away from him. "You don't know what you're talking about! You don't know him like I do!"

Vlad narrowed his eyes and was about to say something back to the teen, when Iluzisto's voice interrupted them.

"Do I need to keep you two separated even as we walk down a simple hallway?" he asked, slightly amused but looking seriously at them.

Both hybrids glared at Iluzisto before glaring back at one another. But then they finally turned their gaze forward and did not speak another word after that.

Eventually, they made it to their intended destination. But just when Iluzisto was about to open the door, he paused and looked back at the hybrids. However, he caught his own surprise at seeing that the younger crossbreed's shoulder was nearly healed, though not quite enough to escape even the eyes of his employers. He smirked a bit at his next thought. He could easily fix that…

"Before I let you two meet my employers, I think it is only fair to finally let you see my true form…."

Vlad and Danny quickly frowned in confusion.

And seeing this, Iluzisto chuckled smugly and further explained, "This is my stealth form, crossbreeds. I simply couldn't let you both piece things together until the… _right time_. And, of course, this is the right time. So, then, allow me to introduce my true self…"

The two hybrids took a surprised step back when Iluzisto's mirror-like body seemed to vanish behind thick black smoke. But as quickly as it came, it evaporated away, revealing Iluzisto undistorted, true form.

He wore a purple-and-silver tunic-like attire that ended in a cylinder shape, hiding the spirit's ghostly tail from view. But over his attire, was a long cloak that almost touched the ground and on the top had a collar that stuck up high and around his head. But what was truly odd about his cloak was how it seemed to switch colors, from black to silver; but in a way that one could not tell whether it was really changing colors or simply shimmering black and silver, so there was no way of telling which of the two colors were the cloak's true hue.

But it was the ghost's actual body, and mostly, his head that truly surprised the hybrids. But not because of its oddity, but because of its _familiarity_….

Aside from the fact that Iluzisto's eye was still that same purplish-silver they had seen before, his green 'head' also had ugly black spot-like stains on it. And if the hybrids had looked down at his bony hands, they would have seen those same stains also covering them.

But Iluzisto's overall true appearance was _just like _a group of spirits both Vlad and Danny had encountered in the past…

"Crossbreeds, it's time for you both to meet my employers… Although, I think you now both already know who they are," Iluzisto said with an amused tone in his voice as he turned from the shocked hybrids and finally opened the door.

In spite of the fact that Danny and Vlad indeed had seen the familiarity in Iluzisto and now knew who the spirit's mystery employers were, they still gasped in surprise when they entered the room and saw a group of _Observants_ waiting for them.

But Vlad's shock soon vanished as a lot started making sense in his mind. And he suddenly felt very annoyed by all this. And here he had thought they were in trouble…

Unlike his arch-enemy, Danny's attention didn't stay on the Observants, because he quickly noticed Clockwork standing at a corner of the room, looking like he usually did: indifferent.

But then the teen turned his blue eyes to the large rectangular table in front of him; and sitting behind the table were the Observants. All but one of them was staring at him; and the lone one who wasn't looking at him was busying himself with scribbling on some paper on the table in front of him.

Danny frowned on how odd that seemed; nevertheless, he redirected his gaze to the remaining Observants. The teen had first heard of the ghosts from Clockwork after the occurrence with his evil self. He remembered the Time Master mentioning his working for them. But that had been all, then…

However, he later met them face-to-face when he had returned Vortex to them after defeating the weather ghost. And he remembered how ungrateful they had been, too. Not so much as a 'thanks' from them. They had taken the thermos and left with it.

Since then, Danny had not thought about them again. But why were they here now? And what could they possibly want? Did this have to do with his evil self?

Danny gulped. He hoped not.

And what about Iluzisto? Where did this ghost fit in all this? Clearly, he was one of them—or, an uglier and scary version, anyways. And where did _Clockwork_ fit in all this?

While the young half-ghost had his mind racing with the many questions for which he had no answers, Vlad was looking around the room with mild interest. So, the Observants were the ones behind Daniel's and his capture?

How anti-climatic.

But Vlad had to admit, he was surprised, and maybe even, impressed, that they had sent a spirit like Iluzisto after Daniel and himself. The man held his hands behind him, as he thought, _"Well, they won't have the honor of my presence for long. Now that I know that __**these**__ beings are behind all this, I am no longer interested in playing the 'helpless hostage'…"_

But now Vlad was certain that they were in the Realm Beyond Time. And that he was dealing with _spirits_…

"Danny Phantom. Vlad Plasmius. Please, take a seat," one of the Observants in the center of the table requested as he rose from his chair.

Vlad let a small smirk tug on his lips. "Hmm… you all seem so familiar…. Have we met?"

But instead of the same Observant who had just spoken, the one immediately to the right of him spoke up, though he stayed seated. "We have not forgotten of your criminal act against us, Vlad Plasmius. But that will be discussed in due time."

The billionaire chuckled, "Criminal act? Hardly. I can't help that you all are so easily fooled."

This time, all of the Observants slightly narrowed their eyes at the older hybrid, while Iluzisto watched him calmly. Internally, however, the illusionist spirit had to admit he enjoyed the man's degrading remarks towards his employers. Yes, this one was lively… as was the young one. They would at least be fun to keep around while his employers carried on with their silly plans…

Standing next to him, Danny was looking at Vlad in disbelief. But not because he didn't know what the man was talking about, but rather, because he _did_ know. Really? Was his arch-enemy _this_ nuts? The guy was practically taunting the Observants about how he had tricked them and released Vortex right in front of their faces-er, single…eyes.

"Uh, Vlad? Maybe you should get off your high horse for a moment?" Danny told his arch-enemy under his breath, while glancing around at the unhappy Observants. The teen didn't know much about them. But if they had the capabilities to capture a ghost as powerful as Vortex and employed ghosts as powerful as Iluzisto and Clockwork, then he didn't want them angry at him. Not to mention, he was powerless at the moment.

The same Observant, who all this while had been standing and who now seemed to be the one taking the lead, continued, "If you do not wish to take a seat, I will not force you to do so. But I believe it fair to forewarn you that any misbehavior or interruptions will not be tolerated once we begin this hearing."

Danny frowned at the Observant's warning, but said nothing.

Vlad also frowned, but that was from noticing that the Observant at the Head Observant's _right side_ had calmly placed his hand beside two remotes resting in front of him on the table, which—obviously now—was what controlled the devices around the boy's and his own neck.

But the billionaire soon relaxed and smiled pleasantly. "Very well, you have my attention…"

The Head Observant looked over at Danny, and the teen responded with a meek smile. "You have no argument over here. I'm all ears, dude."

The Head Observant finally sat back down, while Danny and Vlad remained standing.

Just as the Observant began, he looked at those immediately around him, "Observants, I am about to commence the judicial briefing for case number 789: Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom versus All Existence. What say you?"

"Proceed," the Observants all answered.

All the while the lone Observant—who still hadn't even looked up at either hybrid yet—kept scribbling.

Danny looked confused, while Vlad raised an eyebrow. Did they just say _case_? Against _them_?

"As you all know, it was agreed to send Iluzisto to retrieve the two half-ghosts to bring them before us today. He was to inform them of the reason for their detainment and bring them to the High Tribunal penitentiary. Iluzisto, did the offenders resist their capture?" the Head Observant asked, looking at the mentioned spirit.

"Yes, Esteemed Tribune, it is why I was delayed in the Human World. I told them it would be wise to come quietly, and they refused."

"Forgive us for not accepting pain so willingly," Vlad interrupted dryly, crossing his hands. He was starting to get annoyed with this, and they hadn't even gotten to what these beings wanted with them or what 'case' they were talking about.

The Head Observant regarded the older hybrid for a moment, but before he could say anything more, he felt a tug at his sleeve. He turned to the Observant on his right who had been responsible.. They quietly conferred for a brief moment and then the Head Observant turned back to Iluzisto and asked, "Did you tell them that they were being detained for legal matters?"

"Yes," Iluzisto answered calmly.

"What?" Danny exclaimed, finally speaking up. "That is so not true! You didn't tell us _they_ had something to do with this, let alone that I was being _arrested__! _You just _attacked_ me!"

"_Us_," Vlad corrected.

"_**Me**_," Danny growled back, momentarily glaring at his arch-enemy, before looking back at Iluzisto.

"Untrue," Iluzisto answered without so much as looking at Danny.

"Untrue?" Danny repeated angrily. "Dude, I don't even think you know the difference between 'arresting' someone and 'wasting' them! I mean, just look at what he did to my arm just now!" the teen said, pointing at his still throbbing, though nearly healed, shoulder.

But the Observants didn't even flinch at his gesture.

Danny frowned in displeasure. Seriously? They didn't care?

"As I said, his accusations are false," Iluzisto continued to lie calmly. "They knew everything, and they still refused. It was why I was forced to resort to a more serious method of detainment."

"Observants, what say you?" the head one asked the others.

"Guilty," they all answered.

"Guilty? Of what?" Danny demanded, starting to get annoyed by all this.

"Silence, Danny Phantom," the Head Observant demanded back. "You are not to speak out of turn."

Danny sighed in exasperation, but just crossed his arms and did as he was told. He then frowned again when that silly Observant was still writing furiously! What the heck was he doing?

"As has been decided by the leaders of our Council, the charge of resisting arrest will be added to the two half-ghosts other counts," the Head Observant declared.

"Now just one moment," Vlad finally spoke up, a heavy frown on his face. "Who are you all to decide that it is we that are lying and not your bounty hunter over here?"

"I am the leader of all the Observants. And _they_, the leaders of our Council," the Head Observant answered, gesturing to those sitting at the table. "Together, we decide, based on the evidence, what is accepted or denied and what is true or untrue."

"What evidence?" Danny questioned. "You are just going to believe Iluzisto just because he said it?" he protested, pointing at Iluzisto. But then he added in his frustration, "And _why_ am I here?"

"Iluzisto is neutral in this. He has no reason to lie," the spirit answered dismissively. "As for your last question, it will be answered shortly, if you will allow us to proceed…"

Danny and Vlad looked appalled by the Head Observant's comment about Iluzisto. But his latter comment drove them to silence.

The Head Observant continued as the entire room then fell silent. "Is it agreed by the Observants of the Council that I proceed with this briefing?"

"Agreed," they answered, and this time, Vlad and Danny rolled their eyes.

"Danny Phantom. Vlad Plasmius. You both have been detained and brought here today to answer for the criminal acts you have committed against the time stream and existence."

"What?" Danny exclaimed.

"Silence!" The Head Observant demanded sternly. "You are not to speak out. One more misconduct from you, and I will be forced to take more serious actions."

Danny frowned as he saw the Head Observant hand over what looked like some type of control boxes that had been lying on the table to Iluzisto. The teen wasn't sure what they did, or what they were for, but by the way Iluzisto was looking evilly at him, the teen knew it wasn't anything good for him.

"Now," the Observant continued, "It was difficult to decide on whether or not to take action in this matter. Because you both are also _human_, we had to decide if it was our place to deal with your criminal acts ourselves, or to allow the human race to do so. However, since those that enforce the laws in the Human World are not aware of your existence and so cannot possibly act against either of you for the offenses you have committed, then we decided to take over having you both answer for your crimes—and they are very _severe_ crimes."

Danny raised his hand, this time, ignoring how Vlad rolled his eyes at him for doing it. And seeing the Head Observant nod his head at him, the teen spoke, "So, you 'arrested' us because you think we have done something wrong?"

"Correct. And it's more like _several_ things wrong," the spirit answered.

"Okay, then, what _are_ our—I mean, _my _crimes—since I could list a couple for the fruit loop over there myself," the teen said dryly.

Vlad glared at Danny but didn't say anything, since he wanted to hear the Observant's response.

"I was getting to that," the Head Observant answered, this time sounding annoyed. It was now very obvious that the spirit liked order; and having his hearing interrupted by questions and outburst was not pleasing him. "Danny Phantom. Vlad Plasmius. You are both being accused for three major offenses to the Time Stream. The first major offense is your interference with the time stream. Second major offense, endangering all of existence. And, third major offense, altering reality."

"Oh, is _that_ all?" Danny suddenly sarcastically asked.

"Of course not. Each major offense has _several_ counts under them," the Head Observant replied, either ignoring or not noticing the teen's sarcasm. "We will not delve into all of it right now, as all will be revealed at the proper time and protocol will not allow us to elaborate on the details. However, for you to understand the gravity of the situation, we will touch on a few instances."

The Observant paused briefly and seemed to clear wherever his throat was before continuing, "For instance, for the first major offense, you both have interfered with the natural course of the time-line by unauthorized handling of the Infi-map, time traveling, and direct interference with time-line events."

"Oh, you all must be joking," Vlad said, crossing his arms and giving a light chuckle. "The Infi-map? Interference with the time stream? First off, if you should be punishing anyone for the misusage of _that_ map it is that abominable snow freak by the name of Frostbite. _He_ was the one who gave it to Daniel. Secondly—"

"Hey, don't blame Frostbite for that!" Danny shouted angrily. "It wasn't his fault! I accidentally took the map from him!"

Vlad shrugged. "Alright, then, it's _his_ fault," he corrected himself off-handedly, waving a hand in the teen's direction.

"You did _not_ just blame me for that, Plasmius!" Danny growled, his hands fisting at his sides.

"I think I just did," Vlad answered right back in a mocking tone of voice.

"You're so full of it!" Danny shouted furiously. "You're the one who used the map to go all over the freakin' place! You took the…"

"Silence!" the Head Observant exclaimed, standing up.

But the two hybrids continued to argue, as if forgetting about everyone but themselves.

The Head Observant quickly looked at Iluzisto, and said angrily, "This has gone far enough. Iluzisto, control them!"

"Gladly," Iluzisto answered before pressing a button.

"…Well, you shouldn't have been playing with it in the first place," Vlad answered the angry teen. "You could have just—AHH!" the man suddenly cried out as sharp, hot pain shot through his neck and down his body, forcing him down to his knees.

Danny's eyes widened in alarm, but before he could even react to his screaming arch-enemy, the teen joined him.

"AHH!" the boy cried, grabbing a hold of the collar around his neck as he dropped to his knees.

It felt like the shocking pain had lasted for hours, when, in fact, it had only been seconds before it stopped. Danny and Vlad just panted, their hands grasping the collars around their necks.

"I warned you," the Head Observant said seriously.

"No, you warned _him_!" the billionaire shouted, getting to his feet and pointing down at Danny. "Take this off me right now!" he demanded, pulling at the collar around his neck. How dare these _spirit freaks_ treat him like some animal?

"If you conduct yourselves in an orderly manner, then I can assure you that we will not have the need to use any forceful measures," the Head Observant tersely replied.

Vlad had had enough. He narrowed his eyes, and in a flash of light changed into his ghost form. "Your device might suppress my powers, but I am quite capable of destroying a pathetic spirit such as yourself without them! Now, release me at once before I define for you the meaning of _forceful measures!_"

"The only way we will release you is if you're proven innocent of all the crimes of which you are accused, Vlad Plasmius. And I have to say, your hostility is not helping your cause."

"Look, can we all just chill for a second?" Danny said, now standing, the sound of his sudden voice stopping Vlad from lunging at the arrogant Head Observant.

The teen rubbed his neck trying to relieve the ache, only to wince in pain when he realized it obviously hadn't helped. Still, he continued, "I think you guys are missing an important point in all this," he told the Observants. "I'm the _good_ guy, remember? I'm the one that fights evil ghosts, _like_ _Vortex_. So, how can _I_ have committed any crimes?"

"You, Danny Phantom, are more of a menace than _he_ is," the Head Observant said, pointing at Vlad. "Or have you forgotten of the creature Clockwork has locked up in his tower?"

Danny's mouth fell open; but he quickly sobered at the mention of his future evil self. But the mention of 'a creature' did not go unnoticed by Plasmius.

"Creature?" Vlad asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at Danny. "What are they talking about, Daniel?"

Danny ignored his arch-enemy as he answered in a serious voice to the Head Observant, "That was a mistake. I fixed everything."

"No, _Clockwork_ fixed everything. You just altered the timeline. And unfortunately for you both, you have also committed crimes against all existence. _That,_ if you recall, is the _second_ major charge against you both. You two have risked the fate of all ghosts, spirits, and humans alike on more than one count."

"How? That can't be right, I—" Danny began.

But he was quickly silenced by the Head Observant's displeased look, especially when he then added with a bit more bite, "A case in point: let's not forget both of your interference with Vortex, which _also_ endangered all of existence!"

"**What?** But I captured—**Ahh!"** Danny cried out as he was shocked by the collar again because of his forceful outburst.

Still in ghost form, Vlad just tensed at the sight of the pained teen, but remain silent as the Observant continued.

"You, Vlad Plasmius, released Vortex. However, you gravely interfered with the whole affair as well, Danny Phantom."

Once again, Danny was about to object when he was stifled at seeing the Head Observant's angry frown.

With more edge to his voice, the Head Observant huffed, "And finally, and possibly, the _most_ severe count in this category is one that has yet to transpire. But both of you are equally responsible, and will be held accountable for _that_ threat against all existence."

Danny and Vlad looked at the spirit in confusion.

"If I may interrupt," Vlad then quickly said; and seeing the slightly annoyed nod from the Observant, continued, "Are you accusing us of something that has _not even occurred yet?_ And if so, then, I think we have the right to know what it is exactly that we are going to do to cause some 'apocalyptic event' in the world."

"We are charging you against it because the timeline has shown it _will_ occur. However, we will not tell you the detail of this event because it could alter the time stream. _We_ know what the details are and that's all that matters."

"But that's not fair!" Danny intervened, but quickly silenced with a gasp at seeing Iluzisto lift a finger to press the button on the remote controlling his collar.

Plasmius frowned at Iluzisto before he continued, knowing he was allowed to speak still. "The boy is right. You cannot charge someone for crimes that have not been committed yet. It is absurd."

"That is for the High Council to decide. Now, as for your third major crime, which is altering reality, there is only one count for each of you in this category. You, Vlad Plasmius, are accused of conducting unethical experiments, and have therefore altered reality. And as for you, Danny Phantom, you alone altered reality by the unethical and unauthorized use of the Reality Gauntlets."

"Reality Gauntlets?" Vlad asked, surprised, "They exis-AHH!"

Danny couldn't help but smirk a bit when the older hybrid was shocked. "I guess now we're even, Plasmius." But as soon as the words left his lips, the teen was shocked again.

Danny and Vlad groaned as they clutched their necks, while Danny thought, _"Or maybe not. I'm still one ahead." _

The Observant continued as if nothing had happened. "We Observants consider ourselves fair spirits. It is why you will have a chance to plea your case at the High Tribunal. The trial will be divided into three parts, which will go accordingly with your three major accusations. And, finally, a sentencing day. We will appoint you both someone to defend you. But we will also be appointing the prosecutor. If you are found innocent, you will be returned to your world, unharmed. If you are found guilty, you will be condemned for your crimes and will never see your world again."

"What?" Vlad and Danny shouted at the same time, only to get another jolt of pain.

"You two might be familiar with the human moral of 'innocent until proven guilty'? Well, in the Realm of Time, we believe in the moral of, '_Guilty_ until proven innocent.' Therefore, as of now, you will be treated as dangerous criminals and will be addressed as such. Vlad Plasmius, for the duration of this trail, you are 'Prisoner 484' and are to answer to this title when addressed by it in the future. Danny Phantom, you are 'Prisoner 485'. And that will be your title for the duration of your stay here."

The Head Observant only paused briefly to make sure the hybrids understood his words. But taking their lack of responses as their understanding, he continued in the same strict voice, "For the duration of your trail, you will be held at the High Tribunal penitentiary by Prison Head Iluzisto as your warden. You will be provided your needs, but are to report without delay for each trial session. You will be allowed to speak to the one defending your case while you are being held at your cells. However, at the trial, your representative will be the one primarily allowed to speak. Of course, you may talk to him during the trail. But if you want to address the Council, you must first ask for approval _through_ your representative. And you are only allowed to voice your thoughts _if_ it is approved by the Council or me."

Danny and Vlad remained silent as they continued to hear the rules laid out by the Head Observant. While at first they had felt annoyed with the Observants silly accusations, now, they were starting to get worried. These beings were serious about this. And they didn't seem to care for their side of the story. But both hybrids still had a hard time believing that there could really be any case against them. Almost everything they had charged them with either made no sense, or had been _twisted_ somehow.

"Now, before we close this hearing, we will appoint the prosecutor and legal defender for the duration of the trial. To save time, however, we have already decided upon the capable candidates in an earlier meeting."

The Head Observant turned to look at an Observant beside him, the one who had never looked up from his furious writing.

"Spektanto will be the legal defender for you both."

The mentioned spirit finally stopped writing. He put down his pen, stood, and spoke, "I will do my best to aid you, half-ghosts. However, things do not look promising for either of you."

Danny and Vlad stared at their 'lawyer' in disbelief. But then the young hybrid could not keep quiet any longer. "Okay, I don't know how this whole trial thing is suppose to work, but I'm pretty sure you can't have one of the accusing dudes as our lawyer. He'll be totally against us!"

The teen suddenly cringed as he saw Iluzisto about to press the button for his speaking out, but the Head Observant raised a hand stopping him.

Danny sighed in relief.

"As I said, we are fair spirits. Your legal representative will do his best to aid you."

"Yes, even if there is not much I _can_ do," Spektanto intervened.

"Hey! How come _he_ doesn't get shocked for speaking out?" Danny protested, only to be shocked for doing so. He groaned, before saying under his breath, "Because he can. Got it."

"If I may?" Vlad suddenly said, stepping closer, only to pause and tense when Iluzisto's finger lingered above the remote, ready to use it if the older half-ghost got any closer.

"You may," the Head Observant answered.

"Although I do appreciate that you have gone out of your way to provide for us a legal representative," the man stated, his sarcasm barely suppressed. "I much rather call on one whom I trust."

"I'm afraid that is not possible. You are currently in the Realm Beyond Time. Only spirits, which exist outside of time, are permitted to enter this Realm. In other words, no ghost or human is allowed within it—which reminds me, that this is _another_ of your crimes, since the _both_ of you, in the past, have entered the Realm Beyond Time without authorization. The Head Observant briefly looked at another Observant and added to him, "Make note of it for the upcoming trial."

The other Observant nodded and did so, while Danny and Vlad stared at them, appalled. These beings were daft! They were just making up crimes against them!

But before either half-ghost could protest, the Head Observant continued, "Now that you are aware of whom will be defending you, let me present to you the prosecutor. However, he will be allowed to decline the position being that it had not been discussed with him prior to this hearing."

The Head Observant stood, and looked behind him at the Master of Time, who looked occupied with his staff.

"Clockwork?"

The time spirit froze. And as if remembering everything that was going on around him again, he looked up at the Head Observant and calmly answered, "Yes?"

"If you accept, you will be the prosecutor in this trial against the half-ghosts," the Head Observant told him.

"What?" Danny exclaimed. "No! You can't—Ahh!" the boy shouted in pain when he was shocked yet again. But this time, he refused to silence and he stuttered through his pain, "Y-You c-can't d-do that! H-he won't!"

"Silence!" The Head Observant demanded.

Clockwork, currently in his old form, regarded the young hybrid with a serious look, before turning his attention to his employers and questioning them, "And why is it that you believe I should be involved in this trial? You have never involved me in _such_ dealings before."

"We believe that since you know the details of their criminal offenses that you will be the ideal spirit for this job. What say you?" the Head Observant asked.

Danny stared wide-eyed at the Time Master. He was certain Clockwork would not agree to that. After all, they were friends, weren't they? He would never…

"Very well. I will do as you ask," Clockwork intoned as he switched to his adult form, and indifferently looked back at his staff.

"No! Clockwork, you…" Danny reflexively shut his eyes against another painful shock, but ignored it and suddenly rushed over to the Time Master.

"Restrain him!" the Head Observant demanded.

But Danny had already reached his mentor, and gripping at his cloak, said, "Clockwork, why are you doing this? You know me! Everything they are saying is not true. You _know_ that!"

Clockwork creased his eyebrows in sobriety. "I do what I must, Danny. We shall see if you are as innocent as you believe."

At that moment, Iluzisto grabbed the boy by an arm, but he didn't resist as he was pulled away from Clockwork. The boy looked stricken with something between disbelief and betrayal.

Vlad just frowned deeply at seeing how upset the teen was. But he then quickly glared back at the Head Observant and said, "This is completely unjust. Who the blazes do you all think you are? I refuse to be forced into some circus act led by some time-obsessed freaks!"

"Do not insult us, Prisoner 484. Disrespect will not be tolerated," the Head Observant warned severly.

"Then end this foolishness! You are no one to judge my actions! And my name is _Vlad Plasmius_, you fool!" the billionaire shouted, losing his patience, only to receive another jolt of electricity. But he still kept his glare on the Head Observant.

"We are not here to discuss the details of your acts. That will come later. You can speak to your legal defender if you have any objections. And we will then decide if they have any validity."

Plasmius soberly regarded the Head Observant for a moment before uttering, "You are insane. _All_ of you."

The Head Observant ignored the older hybrid's comment and instead said, "You will be called tomorrow for the first part of the trial. So, if no one has any objections—_aside from both of you,"_ he quickly added, regarding Danny and Vlad for a moment. "Then, we will adjourn this hearing."

Seeing no one object, the Observant nodded and regarded Iluzisto, "Prison Head, you are free to take the half-ghosts back to their cells. And remember to keep them _separated_. I will send word to you when to bring them to the High Tribunal for their trail tomorrow."

Iluzisto nodded, and moved towards the two half-ghosts, making sure to keep the remotes with him. And the Observants didn't object to the fact.

"Shall we?" Iluzisto said, smirking at both Danny and Vlad.

Vlad quickly took his human form upon having Iluzisto so close to him, before reluctantly turning to the doorway.

Danny quietly followed, still too disconcerted by Clockwork's acceptance of being the Prosecutor.

As Vlad and he were taken back to their cells, Danny continued to think about his mentor. And his next thought worried him more.

"_Does this mean Clockwork is now my enemy?" _

* * *

**Pearl: Gosh, what kind of evil writers go and put Clockwork against Danny like this? *looks at Truephan and giggles* Ah, I think our muses are starting to rub off on us, my dear Truephan. Well, at least it keeps the readers coming back, eh? I think they like all the evilness… ha-ha! Ahem. Well, I sure hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Um, let us know what you guys think, kay? Also, you should expected CM fairly soon. *winks* Ta for now!**

**Truephan: Yay! CM really? Ahem…focus..OK…Gee, what's got into you, Pearl? I, for one, do **_**not**_** approve of all this evilness and I will swear it off with as much gusto as swearing off chocolate…Uh-oh. I'm doomed! Chocolatety evil anyone? Until next time, then, when I will get you my pretties, and your little dogs, too! *cackles hysterically and tears into a chocolate bar***


	7. Chapter 7: Facing Reality and Unreality

**A/N: Hey, everybody! Truephan here. Are you ready for another chapter of Sid? **

***Well, of course, they're ready, silly dearie, or else they wouldn't have dared to step into my parlor!***

**Now why would you say something to get everyone all upset before the chapter has even begun, Ms. Hyde?**

***Tsk-tsk, dearie! Don't tell me that you want them to think that this is one of those nauseating, fluffy chapters so full of sweetness that I'd get virtual tooth decay from it?***

**Uh, you hardly have any teeth, Ms. Hyde…and the ones you have are, well, craggily!**

***Don't confuse me with the facts or else I'll have to go to the extremes. Remember, I know where you live!***

***truephan gulps* Heh-heh, you're right! So, let's just forget about this whole thing, okay?**

***Even the scary parts?***

**Well, let's let the readers decide about that, okay? In any case, I think they're getting a little impatient to get on with the chapter *whispers an aside to the readers* Please tell her that you're getting a little impatient to get on with the chapter!... Hey, then, you see, Ms. Hyde? Here you go, readers! Enjoy!**

**Vlad muse: *raises eyebrow at Truephan and Ms. Hyde* For a moment I had believe Pearl and I were bad... I suppose I now stand corrected. Humph. And they call **_**me**_** fruitloop…**

**In any case, while I overshadow Pearl and call the nearest asylum for those two above, you all can entertain yourselves with this newest addition that testifies to my greatness!**

***Gets smacked by Pearl* Really, you would think he'd learn. Ah, well. See you all at the bottom! And as Truephan said, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. **

* * *

**Seeing is **_**dis**_**Believing—Chapter 7—Facing Reality and Unreality **

* * *

Jazz, Sam and Tucker all screamed when the purplish-silver blur of light with the black needle thing suddenly covered up the Specter Speeder; and they were just as suddenly in total darkness.

The teens sat stunned at first, not believing what had happened. How was it that at one instant they had been trying to search for Danny with the Fenton Boomerang well into the early hours of the next day after his disappearance and in the next…

…they were somehow engulfed by what they guessed was some kind of large ghost thing?

If they still weren't so shocked, they might have felt relieved that at least they had seen enough of what had just now attacked them to know it _wasn't_ the unknown purplish-silver blur of a creature that they had seen on Plasmius' spy bug, but rather, a purple-and-silver predator ghost, big enough to swallow the speeder whole. But it had come at them so fast that they didn't know what it was _exactly_…

Still, one thing they did know: the force of their capture knocked out the Specter Speeder's control system. And they could now suppose that their aircraft was facing the ghost's end. Indeed, the predator had successfully gotten its prey.

"Uh… did we just get eaten by a ghost?" Tucker gasped out, finally pushing out of his shock.

But before the girls could answer, a robotic voice projected from the console and announced, "**Commencing emergency system back-up now.**"

An instant later, the lights on the console flickered on and then off, before slowly brightening as the power sluggishly surged into it. But the light never got brighter than a diffused flashlight and the three really couldn't see anything clearly.

"Now what are we going to do?" Jazz uttered in fear, trying to restart the ship without success.

"Give me a sec," Tucker answered as he groped in the shadows. His fingers fumbled on the buttons on the dully-lit console, but he found the right button right away all the same. He immediately pushed that button, and the cabin lights came on.

The three teens reflexively squinted their eyes in that relatively bright light as it illuminated them. But not a moment later, the ship rocked violently from side-to-side before jolting forward when the ghost's digestion process started up.

"Tucker, do something…_else_!" Sam demanded as she and her friends shifted uncontrollably in their chairs as the ship continued to jerk. And even though she was thankful for her seatbelt, she was more internally grateful to Jazz for insisting that they all strap themselves securely in before they had taken off.

"O-O-K-Kay!" Tucker yelled, his voice sounding as jerky as the Speeder's movement. With a very chagrinned frown, he pulled out his PDA and began to pound on it.

Almost instantaneously, a slender wired extension immediately popped out his little machine and snaked its way to a ready receptor on the console and plugged itself in. Tucker watched anxiously as the PDA's screen flipped madly as it commanded itself to link up with the Specter Speeder's computer.

Finally, a small square light on the PDA's screen blinked, prodding the boy to give it its next command. Tucker smiled at first with some hope, but then frowned and gasped—along with the girls—when the Speeder was jolted more violently this time.

But that wasn't all!

Purplish-green goo suddenly began to drip and ooze down the glass nose of the Speeder. When the sludge touched the window, it sizzled and the glass began to crack under the acidic assault. And then, the teens were suddenly aware of this smell—a very putrid smell.

"Hurry, Tucker!" Jazz demanded, frantically shifting to the 'reverse' command, again with no results.

"I'm trying!" he insisted, pulling in and then biting on his lower lip as he concentrated and frantically pounded commands on his little machine. After a few moments of this intensity, Tucker smiled in relief, pleased at his final plan.

But before he could execute the command to activate his program, the Speeder shuddered violently as it was pulled forward once more. This time its joints creaked in protest as the acid from the giant ghost's digestion system tore at it.

"Tucker!" Sam yelled.

But now hopeful with his idea, the boy grinned at his two scared companions and said, "Okay, guys, brace yourselves! We're about to give this thing some ecto-heartburn!"

"What do you mean?" Jazz screamed in panic, reflexively holding her nose and coughing on the digestive fumes as they began to infiltrate their cabin.

But right then, an even louder crack erupted on the ship's glass nose.

"I don't care what you mean! Just do whatever your thinking and get us out of here!" Sam exclaimed as she watched the creature's gastric juices begin to rise around them.

He nodded weakly at Sam before uttering with a nervous gulp, "Okay, then, here goes nothing!"

He pushed the last command; and suddenly, an electric energy field formed and surrounded the outside of their ship, and the inside of their cabin was flooded with its brilliance.

The girls gasped in surprise, but then grinned at finally understanding what the teenage boy meant about giving the ghost 'heartburn.'

The purplish-green goo that had been sliding down the glass nose began to evaporate under the electrical charge, but when it did, more of its nauseating fumes eked through the small cracks where it had been.

The teens coughed and tried to fan the stench from their noses.

But an instant later, the ghost finally reacted to the sudden jolt to its system and the Speeder was tossed around within its cavity a lot like an air-filled balloon being batted around under the hands of playmates would.

The trio screamed at the wild, uncertain ride, but they were still held firmly in their seats by their belts. Suddenly, their ship, which was still facing towards the ghost's rear, lurched _forward and more deeply _into the ghost's gullet.

"Tucker! We're going the wrong way!" Jazz yelled out as she continued to hold on for dear life.

But before Tucker could say or do anything else, the ship just as suddenly jerked to a hard stop, and the electric field dissipated.

The teens reflexively looked through the glass nose to see why, and then wished they hadn't. Large, thick purple projections, looking like slimy eels, now oozed out of the eerie and silent shadows right in front of their ship and began to creep toward them.

"I'm going to try again!" Tucker yelled, taking advantage of the seemingly 'calm before the storm'. He increased the power command and the electrical field returned. He held firmly onto his PDA even as it grew hot and smoke began to bellow from it.

At first, the teens thought that maybe that was enough of a jolt to get them out of this mess since they could tell that the ghost had reacted to it. But then, to the teens' chagrin, the large, thick organ projections wrapped themselves around their ship.

And believing the ghost was just going to pull them closer to their doom, the teens screamed in fear when the ship began to shake in protest against the ghost's assault. However, within the next moment, the Speeder was pushed violently _backward_ by the appendages, shooting the ship away from the deeper bowels of the ghost, not unlike a bullet fired out of a gun barrel.

Just a few seconds later, the once total blackness that had surrounded the Specter Speeder moments ago was now purple, green and black again. It was then that the trio realized that Tucker's plan had worked. The ghost had spit them out! They were outside the ghost, gliding to a stop!

The trio gasped when they finally saw the true form of their attacker. All along, they had been inside a purple-and-silver ghost _angler fish!_ And the needle-like thing they had mistaken for what they saw on the Vlad's spy cam was in fact the giant fish's lighted-fishing-pole-like extension it used to lure its prey.

But knowing there was no time to waste, Jazz immediately pushed the 'start' button and smiled in relief when the ship responded. Not only had Tucker's idea worked, but it had jumped started the ship's control system.

As soon as Jazz was finished, Tucker immediately activated a key on his PDA, which dutifully disengaged its connection with the Speeder. The smoke dissipated and the temperature of his little machine finally returned to normal.

And even though she and her friends were still shocked to see where they had been and that they had been able to escape, Jazz followed up with a squeeze of the trigger on the control stick once Tucker was through. A large green ectoplasmic energy beam thrust from out of nose of the Specter Speeder and hit the ghost angler fish squarely.

It howled in pain. And now needing no other convincing that the Specter Speeder was no longer a menu option, the ghost creature twisted a full 180 degrees away from its former entrée and hurriedly soared away.

It was only then that the trio became aware of how rapidly they had been breathing under the stress of their ordeal, and how suddenly nauseated they all felt as well. They sat stunned—yet relieved—once more.

Tucker was the first to gain control of his vocal cords. Looking at the girls, he remarked, "Man, talk about your fish filet biting back!"

The girls cringed at the thought of food and Tucker cringed in apology, "Sorry, ladies. I don't think I'll be having seafood for a while, either!"

None of them wanted to think about it anymore, especially when they could all see the number the ghost fish had done on the speeder. The windows and some parts of the walls were cracked from the stomach acid. And from all the violent jolts, some of the circuitry and other external parts were damaged. But the most noticeable damage was one of the two thrusters, which was bellowing out black smoke. They must have blown it out in their need to escape the ghost.

Still, they needed to know exactly how bad it was. So, without a word, Tucker immediately ran a 'diagnostic' program on the PDA.

After a few minutes, he frowned in worry, and the girls knew the results were bad even before the boy said it.

"Oh, man! Part of the circuitry is fried!" Tucker exclaimed. "The left thruster is barely working. And worse, the speeder is critically low on power since I used so much of it trying to escape from that fish! I don't even think we have enough to get back to Danny's house, let alone make it to Skulker's!"

"What are we going to do?" Jazz asked, troubled.

But Sam further questioned, "Can you fix it, Tucker?"

The boy shook his head. "This goes beyond my area of expertise, Sam. But…"

"What?" both girls urgently asked.

"I'm almost sure the speeder has some kind of back-up power," Tucker replied, typing furiously on his PDA. "It's still going to be damaged, but if we can get the back-up power up and running, it might be enough for us to get to Skulker's and even let us use some of the weapons. But…"

"But, _what_?" Sam and Jazz repeated, this time flustered with the boy's usage of the word.

Tucker jumped a bit in reaction to the emotions he could feel evaporating off of the girls. Still, he kept typing a bit more until he had double-checked his calculations. "It's going to take at least a few hours. And that's not good when we're out in the open," Tucker told them, finally looking from his PDA and staring at the girls with worry.

The trio remained quiet for a few minutes. But then Jazz finally sighed and was the first to speak up.

"I think the best option is to find a place to hide while you can get the back-up power up, Tucker. Do we have enough power to at least make it to the nearest island or shelf?"

Tucker nodded.

Sam frowned, clearly unhappy with their delay. But she also knew they had no other choice.

And seeing everyone was in agreement, even if they didn't voice it, Jazz took the wheel this time while Tucker turned his attention back to his PDA and hooked it back up with the speeder's computer.

They soon made it to the nearest island, and set down the speeder between two large enough boulders, hiding it from any possible hostile eyes.

"Okay, here we go," Tucker muttered after a long moment of silence. "I'm going to switch the speeder to secondary power, but the whole system is going to go down for a few hours, so that it can recharge the battery cells."

The boy paused and looked up at the girls. "Are you guys ready? Uh, I'm about to leave us in the dark…"

Sam and Jazz nodded. And though they were hardly scared of the dark, their current surroundings were not the most comforting, even for the goth girl.

"Yeah, do it," Sam said, while Jazz nodded.

Tucker looked back at his PDA and with a few more commands, he then said, "System shut down in three, two…"

With a dying 'hum', the speeder finished the count for the boy and its motor and lights all went off, leaving the kids in the dark, save for the ominous green glow coming through the windows from their surroundings.

The three looked around, clearly trying to think of what to do for the next few hours. Not even Tucker knew what to do since his PDA was hooked with the speeder, so he couldn't use it for anything but what he was doing right now…

"Uh… we could tell ghost stories?" Tucker suddenly suggested. But when the girls stared back dryly, he blushed and said, "Yeah, maybe not."

But now that it was so quiet and dark, the trio suddenly began to realize how exhausted they were. They had been running around all day, trying to find Danny. And they had barely eaten anything, so they were also running low on energy.

"What time is it, Tucker?" Jazz asked, barely squelching a yawn.

"Four in the morning?" Tucker asked, but he wasn't able to hold back his own yawn.

And as if contagious, Sam suddenly joined him, only to blush.

They didn't want to admit they were tired, especially when they were all so worried about Danny and didn't want to rest until they found him. But their physical bodies were not in agreement with their minds and hearts.

"Look," Jazz said with a sigh. "Maybe we should try to get some rest. We aren't going anywhere for a while anyways."

"Sleep? In this place?" Tucker asked, cringing.

"Yeah. You both know I love all that's dark and gloomy, but even I have second thoughts about closing my eyes in here," Sam added with a frown.

"We're hidden. We'll be fine, you two. Now, seriously. We need to get some rest. The last thing we need is to face Ghost X—I mean, _Skulker_—with murky minds."

The younger kids didn't say anything, but they did yawn again. And this time, Jazz joined them. The three smiled helplessly at one another, before finally getting a bit more comfortable in their seats.

However, as they stared out at the green atmosphere peaking between the boulders hiding them, worried frowns fell on their faces as their thoughts drifted to Danny. And with nothing to do but wait, their fear for their friend and brother clenched at their hearts.

"I hope Danny's okay," Sam suddenly whispered.

"Me, too," Jazz and Tucker replied at the same time.

The trio didn't say anymore after that. And in spite of their worry, the three eventually gave into their exhausted bodies…

Five hours later, when Tucker's PDA started to beep and the speeder's lights came back on, the kids jolted awake.

It only took them a second or two to remember where they were and what they were doing.

Tucker gasped as he jumped out of his seat, slightly disoriented by how quickly he had woken up. But he readily checked his PDA and with a grin, he exclaimed, "Yes!"

The girls jumped in their seats again, still drowsy themselves. But then the two quickly asked, "It's working?"

Tucker replied by commanding the speeder's computer to start up the engines.

The girls grinned at the sound.

As he unhooked his PDA from the speeder's computer, Tucker said, "It looks like the Speeder is down to sixty percent of its power. So, I'm not sure how long it's going to hold out. But I think we can roll with it for now."

"That's good enough for me. So, let's get going again," Jazz replied, taking the wheel again and strapping her seatbelt.

The two younger teens nodded and also fastened theirs.

"And guys?" Jazz added. And when she had their undivided attention, she said, "Let's keep all six eyes open for anything else like that fish, okay?"

The other two nodded again. No argument there.

* * *

Still on the second day of their capture, Danny, in human form, couldn't help but groan as he finally came to…

How long had it been since their 'hearing' with the Observants' High Tribunal? But the boy's muddled mind couldn't be so sure, especially when time seemed to have stopped right after Plasmius and he had been brought back to their cells, since Iluzisto had not hesitated to follow-up the Observants' little hearing with his own brand of 'persuasive' interrogation.

Or, specifically, zapping both hybrids with the electric collars for what seemed for hours as punishment for their misbehavior during the hearing.

Danny cringed again, now sure he had passed out from that. But then, he reflexively rubbed his neck. It was still sore from all that jolting; _and_ his _stomach _still ached from the lack of food—and water. Honestly, the way it was going, his 'execution by painfully-forced silence-with-starvation' would happen _way _before any trial could even begin to treat him unfairly. Of course, by what happened at the hearing, it looked like he would be going through that dumb trial no matter what.

The boy sighed. But then with a sudden thought, he lifted his head up. And ignoring the pain that shot through his neck, he glanced over to where Plasmius was.

Vlad was still there and, like Danny, still in human form. The man was lying on his back with one of his hands draped over his forehead. And by the way his hand lightly clenched and unclenched, he further knew Vlad wasn't unconscious, like he had just been…

Feeling a little satisfied with that, the boy lay his head back down and grinned. So much for Plasmius being a genius! By the fact that he was _still here_, he obviously hadn't figured a way out of this mess yet. Otherwise, Danny was sure that he would not have hesitated to escape and just leave him behind to take all the blame for this whole thing. And although it really shouldn't please Danny, he could couldn't help but think how it served the man right. Maybe this would teach Plasmius that he can't always control everything!

But Danny's smug thought quickly vanished when his empty stomach burned again, reminding him how there was still the issue of needing something to eat and drink...

And as his mind cleared even more, he remembered he had bigger problems than Plasmius' ego. There was that…other issue with…

Clockwork!

Danny groaned again. Maybe he had imagined all that at the hearing? He still couldn't believe it! Clockwork would never…betray him!

But then… why did the Time Master agree to be the prosecutor? They had given him the option to decline and he didn't! Why? He had no answer to that, of course.

Danny bit his lip with the conflicting emotions swirling inside him. But his thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud sound coming from the far side of the hallway directly in front of his cell.

He pulled himself quickly off the bed, groaning and stumbling a little when he did. However, he then just as quickly gritted his teeth and stood up more squarely. This time, he managed to stay strong for a second, that is, until his legs began to shake under him again.

But not wanting to be found on the ground, he made himself walk over to the bars and grabbed them tightly in irritation—and to help support him in his stand. He was determined not to let _them _see him this weak!

Vlad, on the other hand, removed his hand from over his face and rolled his eyes in annoyance at the sight of the nearing guard and some Observant that had been at the briefing. He knew he should wonder what the Observant was doing here, but he still had a blasted headache from Iluzisto torturing him a while ago.

Unlike the boy, who had passed out, he had stayed awake for the duration. Eventually, though, Iluzisto had stopped. Vlad figured the spirit got bored once he was too drained to even scream anymore and Daniel had already passed out.

Pushing away the thoughts and the rising urge for vengeance—-he would _definitely_ think of the latter at another moment—Vlad slowly sat up, but stayed where he was, frowning deeply in irritation as he watched the Observant and guard stop a few feet from his and the boy's cells.

"Hello… prisoners 485 and 484," the Observant said calmly, while the guard just kept quiet.

Vlad and Danny just further narrowed their eyes in response.

But ignoring it, the Observant continued, "You two might remember me from the briefing…"

"Yeah, because your eyeball-of-a-face is so memorable," Danny interrupted sarcastically.

And actually finding the boy's retort quiet amusing, Vlad quickly added with a leer, "Yes, your features just stood right out at us amongst all the other pathetic nitwits sitting beside you."

The Observant quickly narrowed his eye at the half-ghosts when they looked at each other and smirked how each had insulted him.

But then, the Observant suddenly scoffed and forebodingly said, "We'll see how long your quick tongues hold out under Prison Head Iluzisto's care…"

Vlad and Danny frowned again with the obvious threat.

But then the Observant suddenly pulled out a sphere from his cloak as he arrogantly said, "I suppose I will need to give you inferior creatures my name… I'm Okulo. I am the Observants' liaison in this jail. In other words, I am who monitors Iluzisto's work here. And just as I am obligated under law to notify the High Council of your well-being, I am also the one who reports to them of your…misdeeds. So, I highly recommend you start showing me proper respect as well as more cooperation."

Vlad and Danny scoffed at the spirit's words, but didn't say anything.

"Now, I am also responsible for making sure each prisoner is presentable before they stand before the reputable High Council… That is why I am here at the moment…" Okulo informed them as he raised the glowing sphere in his hands and aimed it towards the half-ghosts.

Vlad and Danny instantly tensed. But before they could do anything, a beam of light suddenly engulfed the both of them and they jolted. But then they cried out in pain when they felt like an iron had just touched their foreheads.

But as quick as the light had come, it vanished. And while Danny stumbled backwards, Vlad jolted to his feet, both momentarily blinded by the light while they both gripped at their burning heads.

But because they couldn't see at the moment, neither of the hybrids saw something glowing on his forehead, nor did they see the odd glow then fade back under their skin…

"You will continue to see me from time to time. Until then, I will take my leave," Okulo said, while the hybrids blinked back the spots from their eyes.

With that, the Observant and the guard left, leaving behind the two startled hybrids.

The two breathed heavily for a moment as the odd pain slowly died down to a throbbing headache…

"W-What the heck was that?" Danny questioned, holding a hand to his forehead, while rubbing his eyes one last time with the other and finally regaining his sight again.

Vlad didn't reply right away. Instead, he squeezed his eyes again and gripped at his head. But worried that the Observant had done something to him, he ignored his throbbing head and looked down at himself. But then, he just as quickly turned into Plasmius and inspected himself again.

But he found nothing off with either of his forms.

Vlad's suddenly worried eyes snapped up to look at Danny, and seeing nothing wrong with the boy, either, the man finally answered, "I don't know."

Danny could only stare fearfully back at the man.

But before they could think of the odd occurrence anymore, they heard the hall door in the distance open and they quickly looked out past the cell bars at the sound of muffled voices. And soon, they saw three familiar beings come into view.

Vlad and Danny never took their eyes off of Iluzisto, Clockwork, and their supposed defense lawyer as they moved toward them. But the raven-haired boy was particularly irked by how friendly _Clockwork_ seemed to be with the other two….

On the other hand, Clockwork, Iluzisto, and Spektanto were so busy with their little conversation that none of them had even noticed the boy glaring disapprovingly at all three.

Finally, Clockwork did glance upward once, and his eyes met squarely with Danny's. The spirit noticed the boy's anger; but the boy could only read 'neutrality' within the Time Master's scarlet eyes.

Clockwork could also see how disheveled and drained Danny looked. But then, the Time Master nonchalantly broke away from their gaze and turned his attention back to the defense lawyer.

But Danny's attention chased after Clockwork's and ended up at that Observant. The boy could tell how nervous his 'lawyer' obviously looked.

In fact, Danny didn't know that _that_ was the reason why Iluzisto and Clockwork were even here. The Observant had refused to come here to speak to his two 'clients' unless he was protected from the hybrids. Even assurances by Iluzisto that the two humans were helpless in their restraining devices weren't enough to satisfy the skittish lawyer. And so, the two other spirits had told him that they would accompany him.

Danny twisted back to look at Vlad and finally realized the man was also closely watching their new audience. But Vlad was now standing at that invisible barrier separating him from the boy's cell.

At last, the three spirits stopped in front of Danny's cell door and Iluzisto growled, "Stand back!"

Danny steeled himself and obliged the illusionist ghost, hoping that no one saw that he had lost his balance a little when he had backed away from the door. But he dared not go sit down; so, instead, he locked his knees, determined not to let on to these ghosts how much he wanted to do just that.

However, when Iluzisto and Spektanto entered his cell, the teen frowned in disgust when then, without so much as a second thought, his 'defense lawyer' did help himself to Danny's bed and sat down upon it.

"Comfortable?" the teen questioned dryly.

"No, not really," Spektanto replied off-handedly as he looked through some kind of briefcase he had been holding this whole time. But then glancing up at Iluzisto, he questioned, "What are these prisoners' numbers? I can't recall."

Iluzisto almost seemed to smirk with his eye at the appalled stares Danny and Vlad gave their defense lawyer. But the illusionist calmly raised his staff at the hybrids and the two suddenly gasped when they felt their foreheads suddenly burn again and they reflexively grabbed at them.

"Oh. '485' and '484'," Spektanto muttered and quickly scribbled it down on some papers he had taken out.

Vlad frowned in confusion, not understanding how the spirit suddenly knew their prison numbers. But when he suddenly heard Danny gasp, the man snapped his attention to the boy, only to find the teen staring back at him in horror.

"V-Vlad, there's—there's," the teen stuttered on his words, while pointing at the man's head.

But Vlad knew exactly what Daniel meant because he saw the same thing on the child's forehead.

And they suddenly knew what Okulo had done to them with that odd flash of light.

He had _branded_ their prisoner numbers on their foreheads and they could now see it glowing a ghostly white on each other.

But before the hybrids could get pass their horror and disbelief, Iluzisto focused on Danny and right afterward, his silvery-blue eye glanced at Vlad, before he addressed both of them, "As you know, crossbreeds, this is your defense lawyer, Spektanto. You have five minutes to confer with him!"

The Prison Head then abruptly raised his black staff again and the invisible shield dissolved, allowing Vlad to enter the cell where Spektanto and Danny were.

Without another word, Iluzisto turned to go; but before he left Danny's cell, he smirked to himself. He already anticipated the crossbreeds' response.

"WHAT?" both Danny and Vlad blurted out. But then, they grabbed their foreheads again, and continued in one voice once more, "And what is **this** on my forehead?"

Vlad growled when Iluzisto just chuckled in response, while Danny scowled, not believing they had just been branded like freakin' dairy cattle!

Spektanto startled at the combined outburst and shuddered in fright. After all, he had already seen how hostile his clients were.

Iluzisto merely continued to float out of Danny's cell, locking the door behind him. He and Clockwork then went a little away from the cell and began conversing once more while they waited for Spektanto to finish.

Having finally composed himself as best as he could, the Observant said with precise manners, "I am the Appointed Defender. As you know, my name is Spektanto, which means 'viewer' in your language."

"Well, it sure doesn't mean 'Spectacular' after your little act at our hearing," Vlad growled, irritated at the irrelevancy of what the ghost's name meant. "And what is the meaning of this that we only have five minutes with you when those insignificant buffoons out there may very well give us eternity if you fail?"

"Yeah, and who the heck gave that Okulo guy the right to give me a tattoo? I'm still underage, you know!" Danny snapped, his hands coiling at his sides.

Spektanto snorted, looking at the boy's forehead. "It's normal protocol, Danny Phantom. We need to be able to clearly distinguish each prisoner in some way, after all. And as for your question, Vlad Plasmius, I do not make the rules. I only abide by them; which, I suggest, is my first advice to you _both_. You simply will not help your case if you keep speaking out of turn during the trial!"

"As if you care to help us at all!" Danny spat back. "And, seriously? You Observants are so dense that you can't tell your prisoners apart unless they have a freakin barcode on their foreheads?"

"Of course not, Daniel. They have no sense of individuality," Vlad added in a sneer.

Feeling the anger radiating off his clients, Spektanto squirmed nervously before meekly replying to the two, "At least it's only three numbers. I have seen prisoners with four!"

Danny just stared at his defense lawyer. Was this dude serious? Suddenly, the boy just knew that this Observant was not only a jerk, but the dumbest creature alive. But then scoffing in disgust, he muttered mostly to himself, "I can't deal with all this crud right now."

Vlad raised a surprised eyebrow when the boy suddenly turned towards the cell door.

But although the teen had left in part to avoid punching their defense lawyer, he had also suddenly wanted to hear what Clockwork and Iluzisto were talking about. Hearing their conversation had to be more productive than wasting all of his five minutes with the clown sitting on his bed at the moment.

However, not wanting to let on that he was listening to Clockwork and Iluzisto's chat, the teen turned his back to the jail bars, pretending to use—well, in reality, he _was_ using—them as a support. But his real intention, of course, was to eavesdrop on the two ghosts outside his cell.

Vlad, however, seemed to finally catch onto what the boy was up to, and his surprised look then melded into a strange little smirk that honestly creeped Danny out.

Still, the teen just crossed his arms and frowned quietly back at the older hybrid, though his ears were honed in on Clockwork and Iluzisto.

Meanwhile, having ignored the younger hybrid's retreat all together, Spektanto responded as calmly as he could muster, "Again, I do not make the rules. I only abide by them. I will do what I can to defend you."

"And how exactly do you propose you will do that?" Vlad challenged, turning his attention back to his lawyer.

"Well, I have not fully prepared…" the Observant quietly began.

"WHAT?" Vlad gasped, and Danny momentarily pulled away from his eavesdropping and focused back on the billionaire and Spektanto.

The older hybrid continued, "Are you joshing? I'm about to be forced into a trial that will forever affect my life, and you have the gall to tell me that you're _unprepared_? I demand another lawyer!"

Danny frowned, perturbed as much as Vlad; but he didn't want to miss the other—and possibly—more important conversation. He immediately turned his head a bit to the right to give his ear better range and tuned into the other two ghosts right away…

"I see that the half-ghosts look a little…atypical," the younger form of Clockwork said, no emotion coloring his voice at all. "Are you making sure that you're not only limiting, but that you're also attending, to their…needs?"

"I know my orders, Clockwork. They will get their nourishment when—forgive me—the time comes," Iluzisto replied with a touch of sarcasm.

"No offence taken," the old Clockwork casually said.

"In any case," Iluzisto readily continued, "what I do or do not do for the crossbreeds isn't your business. If you want it to be, then perhaps you should switch jobs with Okulo."

"I'm not interested," Clockwork answered dismissively. "And I am aware that it is not my business. I just want to make sure that the half-ghosts will be fully ready when I present my case to the High Council."

"And what does one thing have to do with another? What concern of it is yours what their condition is?" the Prison Head asked in suspicion. "You are the _prosecutor_. Their physical condition will not impede your part in this trial in any way."

The adult Clockwork raised a very tiny corner of his mouth and coolly replied, "As I said, their condition is of no concern to me. I simply have a job to do and want to do it with the proper results. If the half-ghosts are too weak to even speak, how am I going to carry out any future interrogations with them? I will be unable to win this trial if the High Council nulls my accusations because they find there are… irregularities." Clockwork hitched an eyebrow as he then questioned, "Besides, I am sure you would not want a mistrial because the two half-ghosts were in no condition all along to understand the proceedings, would you?"

"Surely, I would not," Iluzisto said with even more sarcasm. "But I am beginning to think that you seem a little too eager to please the Observants this time when we both know that you have your own history of doing quite the opposite. I don't buy that you have _willingly_ agreed to play prosecutor in their little trial just because you suddenly want to be a _good_ employee—which is why I am suspicious of your motive behind your seeming unconcern about the well-being of the crossbreeds."

"You are free to think as you like," the old form of Clockwork insisted, unceremoniously waving his time staff. "Like I said, I have a job to do and I have my own standards on how well it should be done. But, perhaps, _you_ would do wise to keep in mind how adamant _our_ employers are about order and propriety. I don't care how well you do _your_ job, but they might… "

"Very well," the Prison Head said, still suspicious of the Time Master. "I will attend to their…'needs'."

Momentarily closing his blue eyes, Danny smiled in relief. Maybe Clockwork wasn't against him!

The young Clockwork then replied in a steady voice, "Then, I am glad we understand each other on this issue. Besides, I would not want you to waste time…"

"What are you talking about, Clockwork?" his companion challenged, his silvery-blue pupil suddenly turning red with renewed suspicion.

Clockwork glanced briefly at Danny before turning his attention back to Iluzisto, his expression as emotionless as ever as he continued, ""You know all too well that Time is my main concern and business, Iluzisto; and when it is wasted, I have little patience. The truth is, I find this whole affair an unacceptable waste of time. That's why I agreed to take part in this trial. I am going to _make sure_ this goes by as quickly as possible… which is why you and I ultimately have the same goal…"

"Is that so?" Iluzisto asked, still sounding distrusting, but now interested.

"You might not be able to see the future as I can, Iluzisto," Clockwork answered, a hint of a smirk on his lips, "but you are a spirit of vision. We both know this trial is just delaying these half-ghosts' inevitable fate. So, why not spare 'time' in all this by simply getting it over with?"

Danny instantly tensed. He wasn't sure what the Master of Time was talking about, but he was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Enough of your cryptic time words and references, Clockwork!" Iluzisto hissed. "What exactly are you insinuating?"

"I am merely insinuating that it benefits the time stream that you do your job well, which is why I am _inclined_ to aid you. You see, though you enjoy your work here as Prison Head in more ways than one, those half-ghosts over there are not like anything you have handled in the past. They are quite special, Iluzisto..."

"You do not have to tell me that. I already know," Iluzisto protested.

"I had no doubt of that," the oldest Clockwork coolly replied. "But, if you wish to do _your_ job well, you have to know that the two hybrids will not be easily broken on any level unless you know their weaknesses."

Danny immediately frowned in further worry, but continued to listen.

Iluzisto's eye flared in even more interest and suspicion. Still, he replied, "You of all know how 'well' I've done my duties. So, why do you believe knowing these 'weakness' will benefit me? Or, rather, why do I get the impression that your sudden interest to 'aid me' has to do with these crossbreeds' supposed weaknesses?"

The young form of Clockwork casually answered the ghost, "As I said, my loyalty is to Time itself and I'll do what I must to protect it. But being that I am currently the prosecutor in this case, then it is _also_ my job to know my opponents' strengths and weaknesses. And if necessary, use their weaknesses to win the case. Simple—and legal— tactics, as you well enough know, Iluzisto. Therefore, for the sake of Time—so that it is not only preserved, but will, in fact, be expedited—I can tell you precisely what their weaknesses are, if you wish."

This time, Danny twisted around to face Iluzisto and Clockwork. And firmly grasping the bars in front of him, he gasped in complete shock, "WHAT?"

Everyone in the vicinity instantly stopped each of their conversations and looked at the young hybrid.

But Danny didn't care at this point that all eyes were on him and yelled out, "You're not REALLY going to do that, Clockwork, are you?"

"Oh, confound it, Daniel, what are you blathering about?" Vlad asked in irritation. But of course, the older hybrid had been involved in his own little squabble with their 'lawyer' and was in a very foul mood at this point.

Danny turned back to the older hybrid and with unquestionable chagrin on his face, reported, "Clockwork's going to tell Iluzisto our weaknesses!"

"Weakness?" Vlad uttered, in both bewilderment and indignation. But then, he quickly regained his composure and demanded, "Now, what is the meaning of _this_? And who the blazes told you I have _weaknesses_, you time freak?"

Clockwork did not respond to either hybrid and merely turned his attention back to Iluzisto and continued with their conversation. But this time, the Time Master made sure that the level of his voice—though it was still very much in control—was high enough so everyone in the area could now clearly hear him. "As I was saying, Master Prison Head, I will not let time be wasted by delaying the inevitable. The half-ghosts' weaknesses are quite simple. And it is just as ridiculously easy to use them. In fact, I think it is a most desirable strategy to start with the younger half-ghost. Once you are successful in breaking him, then it will be only a matter of an insignificant amount of time to break the older one."

Danny stared back at the Time Master, frozen in shock. His throat had suddenly tightened with so much dread that he could not object at the moment.

But Vlad objected once more, though he was having a more difficult time controlling his voice now that he was having a creeping sense of dread as well. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. But this sort of thing can't be proper."

"Actually, it is," Spektanto quickly pointed out. "In fact,…"

"You stay out of this!" Vlad spat back before turning back to Clockwork.

But before he could continue to object, Iluzisto activated the restraining device around the older hybrid's neck, and he yelled in pain, his knees buckling immediately afterward.

"You may have the audacity to interrupt the Tribunal proceedings, crossbreed, but you will not interrupt mine!" the Prison Head jeered. He turned back to Clockwork and calmly said, "Proceed, Time Master."

Danny's eyes widened more in terror as each word passed the Time Master's lips…

"Of course," young Clockwork replied. "The timeline has shown without a doubt that the key to breaking Danny Phantom is to eliminate his loved ones—all of them."

This time, Vlad's blue eyes widened in alarm. That would include Maddie! But he was still in so much pain from his last jolt; he couldn't push his words out. But his whole body tensed up with the news, and he cried out with a frustrated yell.

And knowing the Time Master was referring to his dark alternate future, Danny finally was able to choke out, "NO, CLOCKWORK!"

But he was instantly answered with a jolt to his neck from his restraining device. He screamed in pain, and with his head spinning from the jolt, fell to his knees. He stayed in that crumpled position, panting and tugging at the device.

"Silence!" Iluzisto seethed at the two crossbreeds. But when he looked at their faces—and especially the way the younger crossbreed had reacted— he had no doubt. The Time Master had told him the truth. This _was_ the key.

But the adult Clockwork interrupted the Prison Head's thoughts. "In fact, for the sake of Time once more, I can tell you that at this precise moment, three of the youngest of those very creatures that the younger half-ghost holds dear are currently in the Ghost Zone. They are trying to track his whereabouts…And they are succeeding."

Danny's mind raced with the Time Master's words. He must be talking about Sam, Tucker and Jazz! He pulled himself off the ground using the cell bars for support. Then, he leaned against the bars and continued to listen in both shock and horror.

"By the time you get to them, they will be at a place called 'Skulker's Island', which is easy enough to find. Taking advantage of this knowledge now will also be strategic. Then, I will tell you where to find his parents…" Clockwork added, this time looking specifically at Vlad.

But the man could only stare back at the Time Master in horror.

As for Danny, he was still reeling with the news of his friends and sister's going to Skulker's. But why they were didn't matter right now. He was terrified for them!

But that fear was quickly replaced by his grit and a surge of strength. He suddenly yelled once more, "Don't you dare go near them! I don't care if they put me on trial ten times, if you so much as look at them, I swear I'll—"

The boy screamed in anguish as he was jolted once more. Though his head was spinning wilder than ever, Danny pulled himself up once more with the cell bars and lashed out at them through the slats of the bars at the two ghosts just outside his reach.

But in spite of his bravado, he didn't know how much longer he could hold out, since he had been in his human form this entire time.

Vlad, too, finally pulled himself up and fearing for Maddie, yelled, "And that goes double for me! Mark my words. I will get out and I will—"

However, Iluzisto quickly punished him before he could finish his threat. And Vlad screamed when this shock was even stronger than the last, and fell to his knees again.

"Your five minutes are up! And I will not warn you again, crossbreed," Iluzisto seethed with pure anger.

"Let me out of here!" Spektanto demanded, now completely frightened by the reactions of his 'clients'—and the Prison Head.

Iluzisto grunted in irritation, but immediately unlocked and opened the door.

This was Danny's chance. Just as Spektanto's body floated past him, he pushed his own body into the Observant, using him as a shield.

Spektanto screamed as he was then shoved into Iluzisto and the two fell in a heap on the ground.

Once he passed the cell doorway, Danny charged right at Clockwork. Angry and anguished, Danny's fists immediately swung at his mentor with all the strength he had left.

Unfortunately, he had not even made two full blows to the Time Master when a large electrical charge was sent through his restraining device. And as Iluzisto quickly got to his feet, he doubled the voltage on the collar and that was more than enough to send the boy's mind whirling into unconsciousness.

But just before total darkness consumed his heart and mind, Danny's last thoughts were of his now certainty that Clockwork had callously betrayed him.

"_Clockwork…How could you?"_ his words echoed in his mind before he knew no more.

* * *

**Truephan here: Well, my anxiety level just when up a few notches, has yours? Good— just what we wanted….I mean, that's bad. Bad. Yeah, bad. In fact, bad Clockwork, bad Spektanto, bad Okulo and bad Iluzisto. Yeah. Bad. But isn't 'bad' still the new 'good'? Anyways, until next time, and don't forget to push that little green button. It's great therapy for high anxiety levels!**

**Vlad muse: For the record, the branding thing was not my idea. I was highly against it when Pearl suggested it. But, of course, Truephan readily approved it and well….**

**Pearl: Hey! Don't blame that on us! You and Ms. Hydes are the crazy ones!**

**Vlad muse: Again, says the girl who speaks to a figment of her imagination.**

**Pearl: *pouts* I'm just going to ignore you now. So, heh-heh! I hope you guys liked this chapter. And you can bet things are going to go downhill even more before they go up! In any case, let us know what you guys think!**

**Ta for now! Oh, and Dawning of the Sun should be up fairly soon… *winks***


	8. Chapter 8: Reality and Unreality Bite

**Hello all! Back to Sid! Thank you all for your support and reviews! My muse and I really appreciate it all—and I know the same goes for Truephan and her muse. *winks* Well, I don't have much to say, so I'll hand it over to Truephan. Enjoy!**

**Well, thanky kindly, pearly! Ahem, I mean, pearl. Sorry. Must be my Southern belle personality finally erupting. Down, suga! In any case, after our writing this very long chapter out, I—gasp—too, don't have much to say, except that it's time for more action. Hope y'all surgapies enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

**Seeing is disbelieving—Chapter 8—Reality and Unreality Bite **

* * *

After the young half-ghost had passed out, Iluzisto didn't hesitate to raise his staff, activating it with the flick of his wrist. The unconscious boy levitated at once under the Prison Guard's power and was quickly deposited back into his cell.

And while Spektanto watched fearfully from a safe distance, Clockwork stared emotionlessly at Iluzisto as he left the boy on his bed and walked back out of the cell and locked it.

But then, the Time Master looked over at the older hybrid, who was still on his knees, panting and grasping at the burning collar on his neck. He could see that the man's eyes were locked on him.

But even though the older half-ghost said nothing, Clockwork knew there was nothing but loathing behind that penetrating stare.

Still, the Master of Time didn't react to the furious, yet helpless, man. Instead, he silently turned his attention to Iluzisto as he floated up to him and said, "I will take my leave now. Until the trial…"

Iluzisto didn't reply and just watched the time spirit vanish with a spin of a clock. But the illusionist spirit then regarded Spektanto with a bored look before moving past him and heading out of the jail hall.

Spektanto gasped quietly when he feared being left alone, so he quickly followed after the Prison Head.

While Iluzisto shut the door at the end of the jail hall, Spektanto cleared his throat and said, "Well, I should retreat now. After all, I have a trial for which to prepare."

Iluzisto just scoffed in response before he walked off, heading towards his private quarters. But just as he reached them, he found Okulo waiting for him by the door.

"Just who I wanted to see," Iluzisto said, his eye narrowing a bit with his evil intent.

"Yes, well, I also wanted to speak with you," Okulo said seriously.

Iluzisto looked around and seeing no one was around, he asked, "And what is it that you want to speak of?"

"These half-ghosts, Iluzisto," Okulo replied. "From what I have seen about them in their hearing, those creatures are too unstable—too uncontrollable. They may be a threat to all of us."

Iluzisto chuckled smugly. "Relax, Okulo. I can handle these creatures. They might be more powerful than I had imagined, but they are also more fragile than I had believed. It will be easy to manipulate them."

"You had better be sure of that, Iluzisto," Okulo said with a slight glare. "I do not want any…complications."

"Of course," Iluzisto said, his eye curving into a small smile. "Now, if that is all, I need to make another trip."

"To the human's world?" Okulo asked, sounding displeased.

"Closer. Somewhere in the Ghost Zone… "

"Why?" Okulo asked, suspiciously.

"For the same reason we were just speaking about," Iluzisto retorted, sounding a bit annoyed. He did not, of course, want to reveal his true reasons for going there. Even with his special ability to create illusions, they would not serve their purpose at the moment. Therefore, he knew he would still need something very _real _for his plans. Besides, not only would he actually enjoy what he wanted to do there, but there was a certain reminiscent feel to it all that was also oddly exciting.

"And how will that help matters?" the liaison asked, still doubtful. "I have not heard of any need of this from the Council, given the circumstances."

"My honorable Okulo," the illusionist spirit said with slight smugness, "Do I need to remind you that as Prison Head, I can take orders _directly_ from the Council? Though, out of more respect to your station than the Council gives you, I always keep you informed of their doings…"

Okulo studied Iluzisto untrustingly for a moment, but then, he reached into his cloak and pulled out the same glowing sphere he had used to brand the half-ghosts.

"Do not stray, as you know, this device extremely limits your time. And do not be seen by any _spirit_," Okulo warned before the sphere shot forth a flash of light and Iluzisto's bracelets oddly flashed brighter for a split second.

Iluzisto's eye flashed with annoyance as he glanced down at the bands. But then looking back at Okulo, his eye curved evilly as he said, "Do not worry. This will be quick…and easy."

* * *

It had been almost seven hours since they had last encountered the angler fish. So, the kids all knew that it wouldn't be too much longer before they would reach the Ghost Hunter's border….

"Okay, Danny said that every time he goes into the Ghost Zone, the territorial borders around Skulker's Island seem to expand," Sam commented, as she scanned the ghostly atmosphere just ahead of them. "So, we better make sure we're extra careful when we get anywhere near it. Obviously, Skulker _really_ likes his space."

Jazz and Tucker nodded in agreement as all three of them still scanned their surroundings. They all knew that they had the same thought of concern when Sam mentioned Danny's name.

They fell to silence as they traveled onward. After several more minutes of nothing apparent brewing on the horizon, the three unconsciously calmed down. Tucker began to doze off and even Sam was only slightly more alert than he. Jazz had also finally settled into the pilot seat when she had been on its edge almost the entire time she had been behind the controls.

But then, all of a sudden, a loud sound blasted from out of the control panel, and all three of the teens startled.

"What is that?" Sam yelled in distress.

Tucker pushed one of the buttons on the console and the alarm ceased. He then brought up his PDA to his cheek, patted it and said with a satisfied smile, "Compliments of my lady, ladies!"

Sam just narrowed her eyes with annoyance while Jazz rolled her eyes.

That never even fazed their male friend as he continued, "And that just tells us that we're very close to Skulker's Island! So, that also is our cue to slow down and proceed with caution!"

Jazz bit her lower lip and immediately let up on the accelerator.

The damaged Speeder obliged her command as the teens perked up and paid attention more now that they knew that they were closer to their designation than not.

As they chugged onward in silence, diligently scanning their pathway, Jazz finally said, "Have either of you come up with any plan on how we're going to sneak up on Skulker?"

"If that's even _possible_," Sam grumbled.

Tucker pulled out a folded piece of paper from out of one of his cargo pants' pockets. He quickly unfolded and studied it before saying, "Well, I thought of something. According to Danny's map—"

"Hey, how did you get that?" Sam immediately objected.

"I know that we're all tense, but geez, Sam! This is _my_ copy," he defensively replied. "Danny let me scan it a long time ago, so that, you know, we would have a back-up."

Sam cringed and uttered, "Sorry, Tucker. I guess I'm more uptight than I thought. I'm just worried."

"That's okay, Sam. And we're all worried," Tucker said. But then he quickly let it go and smiled at his next thought. He reached up to the side of his head, and lightly tapping his temple with his index finger, smugly added, "Like I was saying, ladies, I have this all under control, just like I had with the angler fish. You're now looking at a mastermind in progress."

The girls rolled their eyes.

Not at all affected by their response once again, the boy got up out of his chair and brought the map to the girls. Pointing out to where he was referring, he continued, "And according to the map, there's an area on the easternmost side of the island where the volcano borders right up to the edge. If we can loop around and approach the island from the east, we might be able to dock there in secret, using the volcano as our shield."

He glanced up at the girls and cringed a little at their disbelieving stares.

"What?" he objected, squinting one eye as he did.

"Nothing," Jazz immediately replied, before glancing at Sam.

But the younger girl then smirked, speaking for the both of them as she added, "We just didn't think that you were capable of thinking more than one step ahead of what's happening."

This time he frowned in irritation and replied, "Gee, thanks, guys. I'll remember that when you complain to me about all those nightmares you'll get when you're on the hook and the giant angler fish is reeling you in!"

"C'mon, Tucker, we're just kidding!" Sam gently chided him. "I think it's a great plan and I say let's go for it.

"Yeah, and speaking of the angler fish, we were so caught with everything that we didn't thank you for the save, Tucker," Jazz added with a smile. "So, thanks!"

And when Sam nodded her own thanks, Tucker smiled and replied, "Anytime!" He then quickly folded the map back up before telling them, "I can plot a course to the island at the precise angle like I was telling you guys. So, let me get right on that…"

When he was finished, all three teens unconsciously sat on the edge of their seats in anticipation as the Speeder continued forward.

Sam then said, "You know, guys, once we land on the island, we have to assume there will be traps all of the over the place. Remember that Danny had told us that it was like that when he and Valerie were once captured and brought there."

"That sounds logical," Jazz replied.

"But do we really have to worry about them?" Tucker then asked.

"What do you mean, Tucker?" Jazz queried.

"Well, doncha remember, Sam? We're the 'ghosts' in the Ghost Zone and those traps are for _ghosts_, not humans," he pointed out.

"Hey, Tucker's right!" Sam said with a little enthusiasm before frowning seriously and adding, "Still, I don't think we should just saunter right in as if it's all good. After all, Danny said that Valerie could've been affected by those traps as easily as he was when they were being hunted by Skulker that one time. It's very possible that his traps are designed with ghosts _and_ humans in mind."

"Good point," Jazz replied and Tucker nodded.

The goth girl added, "Plus, do we even know where his lair is on the island?"

Tucker grabbed the map and opened it again. "Well, this puts the lair just south of the volcano, so we shouldn't have to go far at all to get there.

"Then, are we supposed to just knock on the door and tell him he has company?" Jazz asked. "I think we need to come up with some sort of plan."

"That's what we're trying to do, Jazz," Sam said with a little irritation. "But I think you just had a great idea!"

Jazz and Tucker looked at her completely baffled by her comment.

"C'mon guys!" she said with a smirk. "Think about it! If we could get to his lair unnoticed, he might just be so impressed that 'the prey' just snuck up on the 'hunter' that _that_ might be enough for him to listen to what we have to say."

"Maybe," Tucker agreed, before adding dryly, "Or _maybe_ he'll be really ticked off that we did sneak up on him and waste us for it."

While Sam frowned at the boy's comment, Jazz pulled her hand up to her chin and rapped lightly on her cheek. "But remember, we also know he _works_ for Vlad. We could just _ask_ if he knows about his disappearance."

"Exactly…once we've snuck up on him," Sam agreed.

Tucker thought a moment and replied, "You both have good points, but I think we still should be prepared…just in case Skulker is in a 'you dare sneak up on me?' mood."

"I agree, which is why I made sure we brought plenty of these babies," the red-haird girl said, patting a rectangular deep box strapped down right next to her.

Tucker went over to it and opened its lid, only to find that it was stuffed full of ghost weapons.

"Smart…but creepy smart," Tucker commented with a slight cringe. "Still, I suppose we have no other choice, since we all know that Skulker wouldn't be greeting us with a plateful of milk and cookies."

The girls smirked with another roll of their eyes before Tucker started handing out the weapons.

Suddenly, Sam exclaimed, "Hey, I think I see the island!"

They all tensed a little more when they spied the volcano slowly coming into view, and Jazz reflexively placed her trigger finger on the control of the Speeder's weapon—just in case. But their anxiety was quickly replaced by their determination. They knew that they needed to stay focused in order to help Danny.

Jazz then slowed the ship, idling it down so that the engines were at the bare minimum needed to thrust them forward with as little sound as possible. As the Speeder glided in a ghostly hush, the teens scanned the area as it grew in size. They all instinctually felt that they should now keep their talk at a bare minimum as well.

Sam was the first to spot a potential 'docking area' just to the left of their heading and she quickly pointed it out to Jazz. It didn't look too promising, but it was the only place that didn't have lava or hot steam emanating from it.

Jazz nodded in agreement and quietly steered the ship toward that place. Once there, the red-haired pilot edged the ship up slowly to its 'dock' and successfully touched the spot with hardly a bump—which was quite a feat when the aircraft was badly damaged. Still aside from the bit of smoke one of the thrusters gave out, their landing went perfectly.

After checking their weapons, the three gingerly leapt out of the craft, surveying the area to their south. Tucker pointed out a nearby crude path. It was steaming a bit, but it was not red with lava like the other areas. So, ignoring the uncomfortable heat around them, they headed in that direction in single file, with Jazz leading the way.

In less time than they had thought, they had soon pulled away from the volcano, and under the guidance of Tucker's PDA, they continued to move southward. All the while, they tried to stay close to any bushes or other vegetation that could hide them from searching eyes.

Finally, after walking for about ten minutes, Jazz stopped and waited for the other two to reach her.

Now abreast with the older girl, Sam whispered, "What is it, Jazz?"

"Everything seems too easy. We don't seem to have set off any traps so far. Not that I'm complaining, you know. But, still, do you know how far the lair is from here, Tucker?" she asked in a low voice.

"Well, I've never been here, of course, and the map is not to scale. I think we should just keep going south and we should be able to see it sometime," he suggested in a hushed voice.

"Okay, but I'm going to slow the pace a little," Jazz replied and the two younger teens nodded.

The red-haird girl started off in the lead once more and no sooner had she taken a few steps when she felt something give a little against her ankle, almost tripping her. She instinctually turned back to the other teens and gasped, "Hit the ground!"

The three dropped to the ground just as they were engulfed by a moving cloud of red darts.

They gasped in fear, expecting the worst, but their low position and their backpacks kept them from finding out what those red darts did.

Slowly getting to their feet, while trying to slow down their fearful pants, they took off their packs and cringed at all the darts embedded on their packs.

"Well, it's official. Skulker's traps can harm both ghosts and humans," Tucker said grimly.

"All the more reason for us to keep on our toes," Jazz said as she pulled out the darts from her bag, while the younger kids did the same.

Once they had finished and had calmed down a bit, they resumed their walk, heightening their senses as they trudged ahead.

Now time seemed to drag as they continued, but none of them complained because they all knew that they had to be careful. A short time later, the path widened and now Sam was able to walk next to Jazz, who was silently glad she now had another set of eyes watching the path. Still, as they plodded onward, they all were becoming overwhelmed with their anticipation, and they all just knew they could relate to the slot machine player awaiting that jackpot.

All of the sudden, Sam and Jazz felt a strong pull on each of their shirts, yanking them to a stop. The girls were thankful that they hadn't screamed when Tucker did that, but he put his head right between their inside shoulders and hurriedly whispered, "I think I see the lair!" He quickly pointed out the direction.

The girls scanned the area and saw what he saw. They hadn't seen it yet because both of them had kept their gaze right on the trail. A small chimney was jutting just above a boulder just ahead of them. And there was smoke coming out of it!

"Man, he is confident in his security, isn't he?" Tucker remarked.

The girls frowned a little, but checked their wrist ray guns.

"Okay, here goes," Jazz quietly announced, bringing out another ecto-gun.

Sam and Tucker, likewise, readied the other small gun each of them was carrying.

But the moment Jazz and Sam, who were still in the lead, stepped forward, they wished they had not.

The girls let out a cry of alarm as the path in front of them gave out, opening up into a pit. And the girls were about to nosedive right into it!

But thinking fast, Tucker grabbed them by their backpacks and threw himself backwards, using his own momentum to keep them from falling in.

As a result, Sam and Jazz cried out again, but just as readily grunted when they both fell on top of Tucker.

The boy cringed and gasped in pain, but he managed to utter, "Man, now I totally relate to the bottom of a stack of pancakes!"

But instead of being annoyed by his comment, the girls rolled off him and sighed in relief.

"Oh, Tucker, I could kiss you," Sam said with another sigh.

"Yeah, me, too," Jazz said, smiling at the younger boy.

With a grunt, Tucker sat up and answered with a grin, "Not sure how Danny would feel about me smooching with his older sister and girlfriend."

Jazz rolled her eyes, while Sam glared and then punched her friend in his side.

"Hey, easy!" Tucker yelped.

The girls ignored him as they got to their own feet and carefully made their way over to the pit they had just avoided falling into. Looking into it, they gulped at the sight of the sharp spikes at the bottom.

Sam, in particularly, felt sick at the sight of the glowing bones jabbed into some of those spikes.

"We have some lucky packs on today or something," Tucker muttered when he came up alongside the girls and looked down himself. "First, they save us from the darts, and now I used them to keep you girls from becoming human kebobs!"

"Thanks for the imagery there, Tucker," Sam said dryly.

But Jazz ignored the younger kids as she scanned the pathway ahead of them. It was then that she thought out loud, "What if there are more of these pits ahead?"

Sam and Tucker cringed. But then the goth girl quickly got an idea, and backtracking at bit, she grabbed a large stick off the ground. She then returned and said, "Okay, get behind me and follow my steps."

Jazz and Tucker quickly figured out what she was planning, so they obeyed without a word.

As Sam carefully tested the ground ahead, they slowly moved forward. But just a yard in, the ground gave way when Sam prodded it hard with the stick.

"Well, that answer Jazz's question," Tucker answered with a gulp.

Still the three carried onward very carefully avoiding the many hidden pits until the road narrowed once more and changed into a red-bricked walkway.

They crept up as silently as possible and were feeling as if they were going to succeed when they finally reached the front door of the cottage. The teens glanced at each other before nodding that they were ready. Jazz grabbed the front knob, slowly turned it and then all three teens burst in, guns ready….

…Only to find a completely empty lair, with not even a stick of furniture or hint that anyone had ever inhabited it.

All three instantly knew this was not Skulker's real home. It was a decoy—and they soon found out it was also, a trap.

Before any of them could retreat, they were suddenly swept upward into a net, which quickly rebounded like a rubberized yo-yo.

"About that 'confidence-in-security' thing, Tucker? That's a 'yes'! Obviously he was prepared for ghosts and humans!" Sam grumbled as the three teens continued to yo-yo, though the rhythm was rapidly slowing.

"Let's just try to get out of here," Jazz commanded when the net stopped.

Though all of them had their arms pinned against their torsos because of the tight net, they made themselves reach for some of the rope. Grunting with the effort, and then sighing in success when they could finally get their fingers wrapped around a strand, they all started to pull on the ropes. They hadn't yanked on the strands for very long when they froze at the next sound.

A loud bellowing voice snickered, "So, you thought you could sneak up on me?"

When Tucker spied the fully armed hunter, he blurted out to his friends, "Oh, no, _that_ mode!"

Jazz cringed and Sam crossed her arms in front of her and grumbled.

Skulker then did a double-take and uttered in surprise, "What? I can't believe it! You're the whelp's annoying little helpers! What are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, if you just let us out of this dumb trap, we'll tell you!" Sam hissed; and Jazz and Tucker cringed at her audacity.

Skulker's eyes widened at her outburst, but then he laughed, "Oh, I like that! The prey giving demands!"

Cocking his gun, he walked up to the netted pile of teens and calmly snapped his fingers, motioning a 'give me' with his hand to them right afterward.

The teens immediately knew he wanted their weapons. And knowing they were in no position to deny him, they struggled to get to them and when they did, gingerly gave them up.

"So, will you let us out now?" Jazz asked, hopeful.

Skulker, who was curiously studying the kids' confiscated weapons, turned his attention back to his favorite prey's sister and grinned maliciously at her. "Depends."

"On what?" Tucker managed to squeak out.

"On whether or not you three can give me a good reason why I shouldn't add you all to my collection," Skulker replied before laughing evilly.

Tucker and Jazz looked in chagrin at their pile of weapons now on the floor next to the Ghost Hunter, now silently wishing they had not given them up so easily.

Sam, however, was quite peeved, but mainly at herself for not thinking about this kind of trap. Still, she wasn't about to just give it up. Too much was at stake. She squared her chin in determination and firmly said, "I'll have you know that it's _you_ who fell right into _our_ little trap!"

Skulker's eyes widened in surprise once more and growled, "How's that? I believe I have the upper hand here!"

"No, we wanted to talk to you and we lured you right here! So, really, _we're_ the ones who got the upper hand!" the girl smugly replied.

Though Jazz was getting terrified with Sam's attitude, her quick mind knew that this was a great angle. She immediately piped in, trying to make her nervous laugh seem like a smug one. "Yeah, didn't you know that we _knew _this was a decoy lair when we saw the smoke coming out of your chimney? Really, Skulker, are you _that_ confident about your security?"

Tucker also took his cue from the girls and added, "Sure looks like the prey snuck up on the hunter this time!"

Skulker growled, and lifted his large cocked weapon. "You whelps are daft! You might have managed to sneak in all the way here, but it's more than obvious you three are defenseless _and trapped_."

The teens tensed when he did, but Sam immediately replied, "Well, that might be true, but we sill managed to get pass your security, which means you got some major holes around here!"

"My island is breech-proof!" Skulker protested through gritted teeth, this time aiming his weapon at the teens.

Jazz ignored what he did, and had actually _calmed_ a little at his remark.

She had a hunch that they were mentally disarming him…in a freaky kind of way. Jazz then replied, "Well, it is an impressive place, we have to admit. But hardly a threat to those bent on getting to you! I mean, if _humans_ could do it as easily as we have, just think what ghosts could do!"

Skulker's eyes glared and his hair flared.

The teens shook a little when they saw that but Jazz immediately said, "Okay, we'll make a deal with you. If you let us out of this trap and answer a couple of questions, we'll tell you where you went wrong."

But Skulker wasn't buying it as he reminded them, "You're in no position to bargain, whelps! And I know you didn't come here just to prove that I have some flaws in my security!"

"Ah-ha!" Sam exclaimed; and this time, everyone else jumped at her outburst. "So you _did_ notice! But tell us, did you notice those flaws _before_ or _after _we got to this decoy? We would say it was _after_; otherwise, we're certain you would have captured us right at the borders, right?"

"Of course I would have!" Skulker blurted out, but then blinked. He had been had! The prey _had_ outwitted the hunter! They were right, otherwise, how _would_ they have gotten this far?

A sinister smile erupted on his face, as he raised his weapon up to his aiming eye.

The teens gasped, thinking they had pushed their ruse for too long.

But then, he suddenly fired a shot above them and the net broke, instantly freeing them.

Although Skulker knew the Ghost Boy's helpers had been trying to lead him on with their little comments on his security system, he had admired this ploy of theirs—annoyingly so. Still, he had already admitted to himself by now how quite clever these three were—and how brave.

But if they had really risked coming here and were this desperate to come see him, then there had to be an important reason for it. And that's what he now wanted to know. But deciding to make them believe he bought their little ploy, he grumbled, "Well, maybe now you have a bargaining chip. I can also now see why the pup keeps you around! And speaking of the young whelp, why isn't he also here to 'point out my island's 'blemishes'? Seems to me he relishes in that kind of sport!"

The teens quickly disentangled themselves from one another and pulled themselves up to a stand.

"We thought you'd never ask!" Sam then breathed with relief. She could see that the Hunter was no longer in 'that mode' that Tucker had feared.

The kids quickly proceeded to tell Skulker everything that was going on. And in turn, Skulker's eyes widened once more at the sudden barrage of information the teens threw at him as they told him all they knew about Danny and Vlad's disappearances, including all the evidence they could gather at the mansion, and their plans to return to re-check the inside of the mansion.

As Skulker listened, half-dizzy with how the humans hadn't stopped talking yet, the Ghost Hunter was more concerned, of course, about his employer's capture than Danny's. After all, he felt that his employer wouldn't even think about denying him some kind of reward if he should rescue him. And, of course, he couldn't help but remember his employer had rescued _him_ from Walker's prison one time before…

Then another thought surfaced, though the teens didn't notice the hunter's sudden reflexive frown. He didn't like that he didn't _recognize_ his competitive ghost hunter whom the teens had described, or the fact that said _unknown _had gotten to the young half-ghost whelp _first_.

When they were through, Skulker confirmed to the teens that this was the first time he had heard of all of this and he had no idea where the two hybrids could be, well, at least where _Plasmius _could be. Still, he had a burning idea.

Skulker paused in thought before saying, "Though it does interest me to track this one-of-a-kind strange creature—Do you know what level it is?" the hunter abruptly asked.

Tucker shrugged. "We're not sure. But the weapon he was using was definitely up there, like, a nine, actually…"

"Hmm, that could be a first, still, there are…" Skulker mumbled thoughtfully. But he then stopped himself and said more clearly, "Anyway, I wish I could have seen at least a picture of it, just to compare notes on any other unique prey I've captured in the past."

Tucker immediately piped in, "Your wish is my command!" The boy whipped out his PDA and dutifully played the clip that he had downloaded into his PDA.

When Skulker saw the purplish-silver blur that the teens identified as the mystery ghost, Skulker protested, "That's the _only_ clue you have about that creature? How can you even be sure it's even a ghost?"

Sam scrunched up her face in irritation and firmly replied, "First, we don't know any humans that have purplish-silver colored skin. And we especially don't know any humans that carry around large needle-like things like that creature does which shoots out some strange kind of ectoplasmic goo. And lastly, do you really think any 'ordinary' human could capture such powerful ghosts like Danny and Plasmius?"

"You whelps have good points," Skulker grabbed his robotic chin and scratched one of his cheeks in thought. "But that's not what I meant, whelps. You see, not everything that exists in the Ghost Zone are _ghosts_," he added with a raised eyebrow.

This time, the trio frowned in confusion. But it was Jazz who asked, "What do you mean? Are you saying there are other creatures in here besides ghosts?"

"More or less," Skulker replied with a smirk. "The 'less' part of that category, though, is usually where you find creatures with higher energy levels, which is why I asked if you three were sure it was a ghost."

The kids still looked highly confused. But Skulker didn't feel like explaining the Ghost Zone's inhabitants to them right now. But he did want to find out more about that creature, especially about the kind of ectoplasmic energy it might possess. He, too, was certain it was no human that attacked the half-ghosts. But… he wasn't as sure that it was a _ghost_, either…The blur of the creature he had just seen seemed vaguely familiar, especially when the whelp's helpers had just mentioned this mystery creature had a higher level weapon, which left strange goo residue. Honestly, Skulker hoped it wasn't the type of creature he had in mind…

Still, he had to keep all his options open until he found out more information about all this.

"Okay, whelps, let's assume for now it's a ghost…But don't assume that just because I am interested in all that's going on that I want to help _you_! I have more important things to do than to go on some wild ghost chase, even when my employer's involved. There's no place to start—and don't expect me to go investigate in the Real World, either! For all I know, you three could be lying about all this, and the Ghost Child is really trying to get me on his 'home turf' to get even with me!"

Skulker's eyes narrowed evilly, as he added, "Besides, helping you three wasn't part of _the deal_…"

"What deal?" Jazz asked in bewilderment.

"The one where I tell you what I know and you tell me everything that you know, whelp!"

All three humans' eyes widened and Sam insisted, "But we did!"

He frowned in fake irritation, "No, you told me if I let you go, that you would tell me about those flaws in my security."

The teens blinked in response. Now _they_ had been had!

But seeing the look of fear on their faces, Skulker's smile widened as he said, "Did you three really think I bought your little ploy? Foolish humans, you cannot outsmart the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter!"

The trio quickly backed up when Skulker suddenly raised one of his guns at them and added, "Do you know what else _wasn't_ part of 'the deal'? …The part that I was going to let you leave _my turf _alive. Any last words, _prey_?"

"Wait!" Jazz said, raising her hands fearfully. "What about your employer? Don't you want to find him?"

"That's my business, human," Skulker answered smugly. "And, besides, I do not need you three to do my own investigations on this matter. If it's any consolation, I'll hang up your skins right next to Ghost Child's once I catch him, too!"

The three cringed, but before they could think of how to get out of this, they heard several explosions just outside the door.

"What the…?" Skulker began. And instantly forgetting about the humans, he re-cocked his gun and dashed outside.

The humans were just as perplexed and curious as he was, and after grabbing one of their weapons off the floor, darted right after him.

Once there, the foursome's mouths gaped open as they looked up and saw….fireworks?

Skulker instantly narrowed his eyes and abruptly aimed his gun back at the kids, demanding, "What is going on, whelps? Who is setting off those human explosions?"

The kids quickly aimed their own guns at the hunter, but Sam replied, "It's not us, Skulker! We don't know how those things got in here!"

The hunter suspiciously studied the trio for a moment, but suddenly, he was now aware that he could _smell _their fear and confusion about the situation. He knew then that they were telling the truth. He quickly turned his attention to his weapon and checked its gauges. Then he checked his other instruments briefly.

But just as he finished adjusting their settings and was about to lift off in search of the fireworks' source, Jazz blurted out, "Wait!"

Skulker frowned impatiently at her.

And the red-haird girl quickly continued, "Whoever set them off must have used the narrow pathway on the easternmost side of the volcano to get here—like we did!"

But Skulker unexpectedly growled, "If I find out this is some sort of trick set up by you three and the Ghost Child, all your heads will roll, whelps."

But before they could reply to the threat, the hunter soared off in the direction in which Jazz had suggested.

"Now what are we going to do?" Tucker asked with exasperation. We can't fly right after him, of course, and the rest of this island is full of traps!"

"That's right, Tucker!" Sam excitedly agreed. "But we can _retrace _our steps and get the Speeder. That way, we avoid any new traps and can fly after Skulker to investigate, too!"

The three needed no other convincing. They raced back toward the Speeder, easily avoiding all the previous traps now that they knew of them.

But just before they got to the side path that would take them directly behind the volcano, they heard a loud commotion up above them. They quickly saw Skulker, but the trio frowned in confusion when they saw the hunter grunting and wrestling with _himself and his weapon_ in midair!

A few moments later, the weapon he had adjusted before he had first left them fell right at the kids' feet.

But what the trio didn't know—and most importantly, didn't _see_—was that the Ghost Hunter was indeed in a violent struggle.

He was currently wrestling a giant blue squid!

"ARRGGHH!" Skulker yelled when the squid squirted black ink squarely into his eyes. The Ghost Hunter swung blindly at his foe with one hand while his other tried to wipe the sting out of his eyes. But that hand was quickly captured by another squid arm and thrust forcefully to his side. He tried to pry that squid arm off with his free hand; but that one was soon also wrapped securely by still another squid arm and was pinned to his other side within moments.

Now that he was completely engulfed within the eight arms of the giant squid, Skulker felt himself being pulled toward its torso. He struggled against the pull as well as trying to blink the ink out of his eyes. He was finally successful with the latter attempt; and when his vision finally cleared, he didn't like what he saw.

A large mouth was eagerly awaiting him, complete with rows of razor sharp teeth!

But not a moment later, Skulker gasped at a beam of blue ectoplasmic energy that barely missed him and had just distracted him from his battle.

But, before he could turn back to investigate where it had come from, he realized he was suddenly completely free! He looked around in confusion. Where had the giant squid gone to? It literally had vanished—and not in a ghostly way, either!

He shook his head and looked this time toward the source of the blue beam that had just apparently saved him.

It was those pesky little helpers…and they had _helped_ him?

The teens, in fact, had aided the Ghost Hunter, but they had done that accidentally. They had tried to pick up his weapon, hoping to tote it to the Specter Speeder and then give it to the hunter once they were airborne.

But the weapon had proven to be too heavy even with the combined strength of the trio and they had fumbled it in their grip, causing it to unintentionally fire, and sending its beam directly toward the Ghost Hunter.

They had gasped in alarm when they saw that, but just after the beam missed the ghost, Skulker had stopped struggling with himself!

Skulker flew downward; and easily sweeping the gun out of the teens' hands, growled, "Be careful with that thing! It's set for a _level nine_ ghost! It would have evaporated me had you hit me!"

But before the teens could apologize, they frowned in confusion when the hunter added, "But lucky for me that it hit that giant squid instead! It must have evaporated when you hit it!"

"What squid?" Jazz asked in bewilderment.

But Tucker reacted to something else that Skulker had said. Remembering that he had told the girls right before they had been attacked by the giant angler fish, he smugly added, "I told you he had a _level nine_ weapon!"

But before Skulker could even ask what the boy was talking about, Sam, who had been scanning the area and had purposely ignored what her male friend had said, saw a strange ripple in the plants just in front of the group ahead. And certain that the wind could not have done that, she immediately pointed at a bush and blurted out, "What's that?"

The other three turned right to the goth girl and aimed their sight in the same direction to which she was pointing. No sooner had they all looked when a couple of dozen very vicious looking black bats came charging at them from the underbrush.

"Those are not mine!" Skulker blurted out, for a brief moment too shocked to do anything.

But although the teens screamed, _they_ reflexively shot at the swarm. But they couldn't believe that all their shots went wild and the bats, now even more incensed, increased their speed toward the humans. This time, the kids bolted away from the swarm.

"NO!" Skulker yelled to the humans, pulling out of his shock and aiming his gun at the bats as the panicking teens scampered. "There are lethal traps out here!"

But the kids didn't listen to him and kept running. And because of their confusion, neither they nor the Ghost Hunter noticed the entity that had momentarily appeared and then disappeared in between the plants that Sam had seen….

None of them were aware that they now had an unwelcomed 'guest' and that it was _the same_ spirit that had attacked and captured Danny and Vlad…

Iluzisto internally grinned as his illusion finally managed to do what he had hoped: separate the humans and the ghost. Now, it was time to end this. It was time to do what he needed to do to break the young crossbreed. And he would start with the red-headed human...

Jazz had instinctually headed right to the Specter Speeder. But just as she turned away from the path that would collide right into the bats, she bumped into _something…_but she hadn't seen it!

However, before she could react, she was grabbed by the hair and was then jerked back toward that unseen thing. She screamed in terror, kicking and scratching as she did. But then, remembering the weapon on her wrist, she used her other hand, triggering it to fire at whatever unseen force was attacking her.

To her fortune, it was enough to get the 'thing' to let up on its hold on her hair. And she quickly managed to grab her hair and pull it completely out of her unseen attacker's grasps. She hardly cared how she lost her headband—and a few tufts of hair—in the process and kept running towards the Speeder, all the while also ignoring her now pained skull.

She never saw Iluzisto let up on his stealth mode a bit and narrow his eye at her, while he fisted the headband in his hand. But just when the spirit decided he was going to use his weapon to kill the girl, Jazz reached the Speeder and Iluzisto instantly halted and vanished completely again.

He briefly eyed the strange and large aircraft with distrust, clearly never having seen anything like it. And suddenly deciding to leave the redhead alone for now and try his chances with the other two humans still running around, he turned and flew in another direction.

Meanwhile, Tucker had turned in the direct opposite direction as Jazz had, into an untested pathway. He looked briefly over his shoulder and gasped when he saw several bats still on his trail. He shot at them again, but seeing that he had clearly missed them, he increased his efforts and in his haste, hadn't, of course, seen the trip wire ahead. Fortunately—and unfortunately—the boy stumbled on the trip wire. He plummeted to the ground, but not before a host of daggers was launched his way. His fall had saved him from most of them, but one dagger managed to scratch his left arm as he fell. Instinctively clutching at it, he yelled at the pain.

Now on his back, the boy looked up in dread, expecting the second wave of attack—the bats! His heart leapt when four of them did appear shortly after his fall. With green ooze dripping from their fangs in anticipation of sinking them into their prey, they dove immediately downward at him.

Tucker screamed and instantly protected his face, expecting to feel _their _daggers dig into his fingers at any second. But several more agonizing moments later, Tucker gingerly removed his hands and looked up at the clear sky. The bats had completely vanished! Instantly relieved, he blurted out, "What was _that_ all about?"

He started to get up when, all of the sudden, he was inexplicably yanked upward by the arm that had been injured by the dagger. He cried in pain as the force clamped around his arm dug into his fresh wound. Then the teen's green eyes widened in terror when a huge black needle appeared out of nowhere and began to pull him toward it.

He instantly resisted, pulling backward. But in his struggle, his heel met a stone, tripping him. And as he fell to the ground again, his arm was yanked out of the clamp. When it did, a portion of his bloodied shirt was torn away.

Once the boy had ended up on the ground, a jolt of adrenaline pulsed through his body and mind. He crawled backward as fast as he could, trying to get away from that unseen thing. He had no idea what was going on, though he had a gut feeling that he was having a déjà vu moment. But he didn't want to waste any more time thinking about it. He was certain something was after him, and it did not have good intentions. He needed to get away as far as possible from it, or he was going to be done in!

Suddenly, he remembered the extra small weapon he had put into his pants leg pocket. He groped for it and fumbled to get it out. He suddenly saw a wrinkle in the small bush right next to him and finally secured his fingers around the small gun. He immediately shot into the general area of the wrinkle, gasping when the wrinkle _shuddered_ and turned a blackish-silver for a fleeting moment. In the next instant, however, the wrinkle was gone.

All the while, Tucker did not stop in his ground-laden backstroke. But he knew he couldn't go on with it for very much longer. He had to take the chance. Still gripping his weapon, he quickly turned on his belly and tried to pull himself off the ground.

He suddenly yelped. This time, the clamp had grabbed a hold of his ankle. Squelching his scream, he resisted once again. And then he spied it. Another trip wire! He reflexively reached for and pulled on it; and a barrage of red darts shot out from over his head.

This time, the teen heard a hideous yell from the onslaught. But he didn't care about that. All he cared about at this point was that _that_ yell had let go of his ankle after the darts had hit it!

He jumped up and steeled himself. There was no other way. He knew he would only meet more traps ahead. He turned and darted right toward the thing that had grabbed his ankle, bracing for an impact….that never came.

Silently thanking the heavens, he continued non-stop back toward the volcano….

Like Jazz, Tucker didn't see his attacker appear. But this time, Iluzisto lost his stealth mode unwillingly. He gasped in pain at the number of darts that had embedded themselves into the spirit's flesh.

"What is this place?" Iluzisto hissed out before turning intangible and ridding himself of the painful darts. But the spirit suddenly stumbled forward and he realized the darts had had some kind of poison! But because he suspected they were not designed for _spirits_, but, rather ghosts and humans, it's probably lethal effects only had him a bit disoriented.

Nevertheless, he was very peeved at the change of events. His idea to save time by flushing out these creatures rather than hunting for them had obviously not worked out. And their stubbornness was robbing him even more of his precious time.

Still, refusing to be outdone by these inferior creatures, he ignored his spinning head and regained his stealth mode. His eye narrowed at the area he had last seen the male human, but not seeing a trace of him now, Iluzisto growled and quickly headed after the third human…

All the while, Sam had darted away from the bats as well, but she, too, had steered toward the path the teens had previously used. But unlike Jazz who had kept running, Sam had sought refuge in a bush and waited for the bats to pass.

Now feeling like the coast was clear, she carefully made her way down the path, hoping to spot one of her friends.

But just when she spotted the Speeder in the distance, her boot caught up into some vines and she crashed face forward onto the path. The gun she had been carrying was thrown out of her hand with her fall. Trying not to panic anymore than she already was, the girl frantically yanked on the vine to loosen her foot. But before she could finish, she heard the piercing scream of victory emanating from the group of five bats heading her way.

The raven-hair girl had no other choice. She whipped out another wrist ray gun that she always kept in her boot. In fact, she had actually had the extra weapon with her the entire time she was in the Ghost Zone, even when she had been caught up in Skulker's net. But she hadn't used it then because she couldn't reach it in that precarious position. She had no such barrier to her hands now. So, she didn't hesitate as she quickly strapped it on and shot at her pursuers.

She looked at them in confusion when the beam went right through the leader with no ill effects. She threw away that feeling and shot several more beams at the animals. Again, each beam did no harm to its target.

Grunting with frustration now, Sam fisted her hands and readied herself for hand-to-claw combat. She closed her eyes and struck at them wildly just as they and their screams were upon her. Immediately, she noticed that she kept feeling as if she were hitting only air. The girl slowly opened her eyes, only to confirm that she had been doing just that!

Now confused, she let her arms fall to her sides as she quickly scanned to either side, behind and in front of her. There were no signs of the bats at all!

Sighing in a mixture of relief, bewilderment and frustration, the girl headed toward the Specter Speeder again. But she hadn't gone too far when some unseen force suddenly grabbed her wrist and just as suddenly twirled her completely around in the opposite direction. Before she knew it, that same arm was being tugged forward so violently that if the girl had not been on her feet, she would have been dragged.

Sam grunted in desperation, trying to pull away from whatever this was. She quickly threw her thought away that this was some kind of weird trap of Skulker's because they had already been on this path already and had found all its traps. Still, whatever was pulling her was still _very _real and had not stopped. She pulled harder, grunting with her efforts and unconsciously brought up her other hand—the one with the wrist ray gun—when she did.

She was about to fire that gun when she felt a sudden, sharp pain rivet through her captured wrist. Resisting the urge to scream, she looked at that wrist and startled when she saw that it was bleeding! Something had sliced it!

Now panicking, the girl forced herself to reach the button on the writs ray gun. She succeeded after what seemed like eternity and the unseen power holding her wrist was jolted away—along with her black bracelet that had been on her wrist moments before.

Without any other hesitation, Sam bolted away from whatever that was toward the volcano once more, and didn't stop until she had seen the Specter Speeder approaching her with Jazz at its wheel. She hopped immediately in when Jazz momentarily landed the craft; and they soared toward Skulker's decoy lair…

In the meantime, Skulker was having his own problems. The bats kept nearing him even as he was sure he had dead-eyed each one of them. The thought to outrun them hadn't even occurred to him. They had invaded _his_ turf and he wasn't about to let that lie!

He kept firing and only stopped when their claws blocked his robotic eyes. It was then when he tried to knock the bats away, even in the midst of hearing their claws and fangs scratch and dig into his metal body's surface.

"What is going on?" he grunted to himself as he continued to grapple with the bats, pulling one away, just to have to throw off another. His armor began to buckle under the assault.

As Skulker continued in his close battle, Tucker had finally returned from his own harrowing experience. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Skulker huffing and puffing with …nothing!

"Skulker!" Tucker was finally able to yell out. "There's nothing there!"

The Ghost Hunter heard the boy, but then he thought that Tucker must be crazy not to see what was happening. But that distraction was enough of a one; and Skulker suddenly found himself free from the bats!

"What happened?" the cyborg ghost uttered, really to himself.

"I don't know how or why, but I think that 'video clip ghost' is here!" Tucker replied, remembering seeing the same needle-like weapon from the clip when the ghost attacked him a moment ago. "And, worse, it's somehow making us all _see_ things!"

Skulker blinked in disbelief at what the boy had just said. That couldn't be possible! Not on his island! And could these sudden bombardment of attacks be just illusions, _illusions_ caused by one ghost? Or... maybe _not_ a _ghost_...

Still looking stunned, Skulker replied, "But if that's true, then we are dealing with a very powerful— "

Tucker excitedly interjected, "There's no time to explain, we have to—!"

But Skulker was cut off by a strange voice echoing in the air.

"You, _Ghost!_ Give me the humans and I will spare your inferior afterlife!"

Tucker let out a gasp at the sound of the menacing voice, while Skulker's eyes widened in surprise. The hunter didn't understand why this being was after these three whelps, but he mostly wanted to know how it had known they would be here at this precise moment!

However, Skulker pushed aside his shock and quickly sniffed the air. That's when he perked up. The scent was definitely not one he had ever encountered before. Or had he? But, oddly, it also faintly smelled of Plasmius—and the whelp!

That's when it hit the hunter.

This must be the same ghost responsible for his employer and the ghost child's disappearance! The human child was right!

But the revelation did not make Skulker back down—quite the contrary.

"Not in yours!" Skulker defiantly screamed back, righting his weapon at the same time.

In the next instant, Iluzisto appeared. Both Skulker and Tucker gasped at the hideous sight. But that's all the illusionist spirit needed. He aimed his black needle-like weapon at Skulker and fired.

Both Skulker and Tucker dove away from the blast, but a small portion of it hit Skulker's leg, sending waves of electrical energy throughout his suit. Skulker yelled at the assault and was suddenly still.

Tucker quickly righted himself and dashed toward the decoy lair. He didn't even look back as the rays from Iluzisto's weapon chased after him. And now that he had seen the weapon again, Tucker had no doubt anymore. This _had to be_ the ghost that had attacked Danny!

**And now it was after them**!

Now more panicked, he darted right into the door and locked it. "As if _that _will keep him out, dude!" he chided himself, frantically searching the decoy lair for anything that would help him. But then, he grumbled even more. Duh! Of course all that was in here was the netting that had captured them. And, unfortunately, the weapon he was currently holding was not equipped to counter that ghost's kind of power.

Or… was it?

Acting on his sudden idea, Tucker quickly pulled out his PDA and hooked it up with the ecto-gun.

Beads of sweat formed as he pounded on the keys. Where was the ghost? The boy was sure it would have been trying to waste him again by now!

But he didn't know that Iluzisto had actually turned back to check Skulker over first. The illusionist spirit found the ghost quite particular, since he had never seen anything like it before. And as he stared down at the unmoving hunter, Iluzisto briefly looked like a child, studying his first dead—but very unique— bug.

But then, Iluzisto's thoughts drifted back to the matter at hand. And he growled at himself in annoyance for being distracted. He had no time for this! He quickly jabbed Skulker's unmoving body with the end of his staff and when he got no response from him, the spirit scowled in both annoyance and glee. It was past time that he resumed his search of the nearby male human he was set on killing.

Of course, the illusionist ghost couldn't have known that Skulker had sort of performed his own illusion on Iluzisto: Iluzisto had merely short-circuited Skulker's _suit_—not Skulker.

At the precise moment when Tucker had pushed the last command key, Iluzisto had finally blasted the door in.

Tucker gagged his gasp and hurriedly backed up along the wall. He had already decided what his escape route would have been before he had hooked up his PDA to the ecto-gun.

"_C'mon, c'mon!"_ he silently and desperately commanded his PDA as the power level indicator of the gun rapidly increased. In the next moment, however, Iluzisto appeared mere inches from the boy and aimed his wicked weapon at him.

Tucker did gasped at that; and looking at the screen of his PDA, announced to himself, _"Eight-point-seven-five…it'll have to do!"_

He pushed the key to disengage, grabbed the weapon and fired point blank at the ghost; but even more fortunately—and precisely—at his red _eye_!

Iluzisto instantly reacted to the intense burning sensation in his eye as red ectoplasm oozed out of it. But instead of raising his hands to it, he pulled his eye down into his body, where it abruptly vanished inside him.

"Whoa, dude!" Tucker choked out, seriously freaked out by the sight.

But Iluzisto suddenly let out an incensed yell and he immediately charged forward at Tucker, activating his weapon as he did.

However, because Iluzisto was unable to see with his eye now cradled inside him, Tucker was able to dart away from him. But then upon hearing the boy's quick escape, Iluzisto forced his eye back out and spun it with a hiss behind his head. Yet, at the moment, it was too late for him to do anything.

At that moment, Tucker jumped out of a nearby window. Now outside, Tucker ran as fast as he could. But he suddenly saw Skulker's dead robot just ahead. _"Oh, no!"_ he immediately thought, but still steered toward him.

Crouching at Skulker's side, the boy hurriedly whispered to the robot, "Skulker?"

He heard a tiny cry—well, more like yelling—in its head, but the cyborg would not move. Tucker hesitated only a moment before commanding his little machine to link with Skulker's own PDA. Scanning the immediate area as he waited, hoping _not_ to 'see' that unseen ghost, the boy finally sighed at the results of the diagnostics.

"Looks like it just needs to be rebooted!" he said with relief just before issuing it that command, which jolted the hunter's suit.

A few moments later and Skulker's robot was stirring. Pulling vainly in his efforts to help the ghost up, Tucker immediately cried, "Hurry! We've got to get out of here!"

"I think that you are too late for that!" an eerie voice informed them both.

Still crouched next to the Ghost Hunter, Tucker looked up in dread.

Skulker, who was now recovered, also turned his head to the voice. But when he did, he couldn't help but utter, "I don't believe it!"

Iluzisto was floating over them in full view with his black weapon aimed right at them. His red eye, though still injured, had an unmistakable look in it: the look of craving blood —_their_ blood, that is.

But before the illusionist spirit could fire, a large green beam hit him from above. His body ricocheted from the impact and ended up a few hundred feet from Tucker and Skulker.

The boy and the cyborg needed no other prodding. Tucker jumped up and Skulker lifted himself upward. Tucker began to run, but before he knew it, he was scooped up by Skulker. Both of them soared upward to the source of the large green beam that had hit their attacker: the Specter Speeder.

Sam immediately opened the hatch to let the males in. They quickly entered the Speeder. But no sooner had the hatch been secured when Jazz screamed.

Iluzisto was charging at them with his weapon ablaze!

Fortunately, Jazz quickly rebounded and jerking the thrusters forward, veered to a hard left. Even with the slight hesitation of the damaged Speeder, the rest of the occupants yelled as they plowed immediately into the right side of the Speeder at Jazz's reaction.

"Sorry!" Jazz apologized, glancing briefly back at the pile of bodies as they tried to pull away from the other. But when the red-hair girl turned her attention back to steering, she gasped in horror! She hadn't thought that they were _this_ close to the volcano; but now, it was certain that they were going to collide right into it!

She reversed the thrusters, hoping that the ship would slow enough so that she could bank away from the formation. But then, she frowned in confusion when it looked like the volcano was nearing even more quickly than before!

She gasped again as the volcano suddenly erupted, spewing out copious amounts of hot gases and lava, and a very large cloud of hot molten ash was headed right their way!

"Guys, this doesn't look good!" she screamed.

In the meantime, the others had just about regained their footing when Jazz screamed the last time. Tucker and Sam ran to Jazz's side and they gasped as their eyes widened in horror. There was no escape!

Just when Skulker was finally able to get up and go see what was wrong, he, too, gasped in dread. He could do nothing and stood stunned in disbelief just as the Speeder impacted the cloud of hot ash….only to meet clear, open sky immediately afterward.

The three teens looked at each other in disbelief, not even aware how hard they were breathing right now. But they had no time to think about it—otherwise, at least Tucker and Skulker would have realized it had just been another illusion.

Instead, everyone gasped yet again when the Speeder was suddenly jolted by a large blast at its rear.

Jazz immediately increased the boosters and the Speeder jerked forward.

"It's not over, whelps!" Skulker cried, quickly referring to the instruments imbedded in his battle suit. "I thought I recognized that smell! That is no ordinary ghost. Actually, he's not a ghost, at all! I had heard of him before, but I thought he was just a folk tale. At best, I thought he kept to his own realm!"

"What are you talking about, Skulker? What do you mean that's not a ghost?" Sam asked in a panic as another blast jolted the speeder, this time ripping clean off the already damaged engine from the angler fish.

Even with the ship now heavily smoking, Jazz managed to steer them away from another energy blast, which would have taken out their remaining engine. "Guys, think of something. **Fast**!"

"If that's who I think it is, he is very powerful _spirit_, whelps! A _level nine_! And that is definitely _not_ good!" Skulker explained quickly. But then also trying to sort his racing mind for an idea, he soon added, "Are your weapons on this flying machine equipped for a _level nine_ _ghost_, at least?"

The two younger teens shrugged in trepidation, but Jazz immediately voiced their answer. "We don't know!" she cried in fear.

"Well, my weapon can fight a _level nine_ ghost, but it, of course, won't do us any good in here!" Skulker grumbled, even as Jazz was able to keep the Speeder just out of range from the shots fired from an enraged Iluzisto.

But that gave Tucker an idea. "Do you have a connecting wire or port for that weapon, Skulker?"

"Of course I do, whelp. I'm not the best ghost hunter in the Ghost Zone for just any reason!" he replied, obviously somewhat insulted by the question. But then, he finally caught on to the boy's drift . "I get it! Let's do it, pup!"

Together, the cyborg and the boy secured the connection between weapon and Speeder. And not a moment too soon!

Iluzisto had thrown an even more powerful ray at the ship and it effectively slowed it dangerously down after being hit. And, also, the speeder's backup power was quickly waning, too!

Tucker then commanded, "Let me have the controls, Jazz!"

The girl didn't argue with him and quickly surrendered them.

As soon as he sat down, Tucker turned the wheel to make the ship come to a hard about, purposely maneuvering the ship so that it could face its attacker. Not waiting for a complete turn, the boy immediately fired upon the entity still charging right at them.

An instant later, Iluzisto was engulfed in the beam, which halted him violently in mid-flight. He shuddered convulsively, then disappeared from sight in the next instant!

All four pairs of eyes frantically scanned the area. And then they saw the entity! It was coming in and out of vision, but it was definitely—and rapidly—flying _away_ from them! What they suspected—but really couldn't be sure of—was that they had injured the creature enough that it had to retreat.

But they were not _entirely_ right. Although Iluzisto was so injured at this point that he had trouble maintaining his stealth mode, his real reason for retreating was because he had run out of time. Therefore, he was _forced_ to give up the chase…

Tucker immediately slowed the boosters and quickly landed the Speeder on the ground. Once he cut the power, the boy hooked up his PDA to the Speeder, sending it commands to the 'diagnostics' program. When he was finished, he looked up at the girls with worry.

"The Speeder is down to less than twenty percent power, guys. I don't think it's enough for us to…"

But Skulker interrupted him before he could finish, "Then we'll just have to repair it. We still have to get back to Plasmius' mansion to check out those clues. And I can't be seen traveling in a sub-par flying machine, now can I? I have a reputation to uphold, you know."

The teens blinked at him in surprise before grinning.

But Skulker didn't return their smiles. Instead, he turned to Tucker again and growled, "And don't ever do that to me again!"

"What?" Tucker squeamishly asked, cringing a bit.

"Your half-baked effort to jump-start my battle suit when that creature had shot me gave me quite a jolt _inside_ the suit!" he growled.

Tucker cringed a bit more and stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, I-I…"

But Skulker interrupted him again. "And it was just what I needed," he replied with a hint of a smile.

Tucker smiled weakly back, and the girls sighed in relief.

They all knew that they were back on track. And although Skulker had not said it directly, they now knew they had an extra hand on their rescue mission…

_**

* * *

**_

"I should not have let myself lose my patience," Iluzisto chided himself, still wincing from the nagging pain in his eye and now in his entire form from that last jolt from the flying machine. Plus, he had not fully recovered from the poison from the darts and was still dizzy from their effects. He then growled, "That will be the last time I will let those insignificant creatures get the better of me!"

He soared onward, no longer using his energy to keep his stealth. He would need all the energy he could spare to heal his ghostly wounds.

If he wasn't so prideful, Iluzisto would have admitted that he had underestimated those inferior creatures. They were definitely more resourceful than he had ever expected. Then again, the humans had an advantage from the start since his illusion powers could not physically harm them as they could ghosts. But also, he had to remind himself that he wasn't at _full_ power.

He was naturally an energy level of nine but he was _forced_ to be at a mere seven…

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes at the glowing bracelets on his wrists. But he then looked back at the horizon, angry at himself once more.

"If I had not been so sure that I could have eliminated all of those creatures so easily, I would not have put myself into such a compromised position. Not to mention, it took more time than I thought, with all of it in vain!"

However, he suddenly hissed and glared down at the pulsing black bracelets, which brought him to the main reason why he had relented at his intent to kill those three humans. He was out of time. And the burning bands on his wrists were painfully confirming it…

But now, he was not only injured and hurting but would have to come up with a quick plan to explain his longer-than-expected absence from the Realm Beyond Time.

The illusionist ghost grunted in arrogance at his next thought. "_But that should not be so hard to do! That imbecilic High Tribunal has been in its isolated, naïve world for so long, any plan I concoct will awe them enough to keep them from asking questions!"_

That thought sparked another, darker one. _"And speaking of plans…I should not have been so harsh on myself. It really is only a minor annoyance that I did not __**fully**__ succeed in my mission…"_

He reached into his robe and reinspected its contents once more. He dressed himself in evil at the thought and said out loud this time, "I have not failed! I can _still_ eliminate those human creatures! And they _still_ are the key to breaking the younger crossbreed! And soon, the other!"

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**Ah, Iluzisto. Thinks he can easily waste Team Phantom. Think again! Lol! Well, thank you for reading! I hope you guys liked all the action! Oh, just a note. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter of Checkmate out. This week has been… tough for me. And, honestly, I haven't had much will to write. Heh. You would think that with CM being so angsty, I'd have no problem writing it when I'm feeling blue myself. But, no, I can't focus on emotions correctly when mine are in a blender. But don't worry. I'm feeling better now. Just have had some things going on. I might rant about them on Deviantart, if I have time. But now, this coming week, I have some church-related things to do, so I'm not sure how much writing time I'll get in. So, we'll see. I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case you start wondering why I haven't updated my other stories. Anyways, until next time! Thanks again!**

**Truephan here now: I, too, hope things are better for ya, pearl. But you know I'm right there for ya and I'm positive the readers are, too! And speaking of our dear readers, we hope you've enjoyed this chapter and relish your thoughts. We especially thank all the brave ones who did share theirs with us! We really appreciate it—and admire you! Until next time, too!**


	9. Chapter 9: Raising the Stakes

**Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay, but I think we got you all a nice chapter up ahead. Er, kinda! Thank you all for your support! **

**Truephan here: Yeah, whatever pearl said. In any case, I hope you like what we cooked up in this chapter. And, oh, look, it's still hot! Careful, though, and don't burn yourselves! But enjoy it while it is still hot! **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

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**Chapter 9: Raising the Stakes**

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The Specter Speeder's engines and back-up power had finally given out after all the damage the illusionist spirit had inflicted upon it. Still, Tucker and Skulker did their best to get it as flight-ready as possible with what they had at the hunter's island. Ultimately, they were unable to do much for the strange noise the engines were emitting; and the ship was still briefly stalling whenever more speed was demanded of it. But, at least, it was operational enough to get them to their destination.

The foursome wasted no time in shoving off. But sooner than they thought, the sputtering speeder finally arrived in front of Vlad's closed ghost portal.

"So, Vlad has a portal in Amity Park?" Tucker voiced, sounding a bit surprised.

"Doesn't surprise me," Sam and Jazz said dryly at the same time, quickly glancing at each other afterwards. The two girls rolled their eyes at one another before looking back at Skulker as he continued to type something on his suit's controls on his right arm.

"Silence, whelps. The sounds of your voices are beginning to annoy me," Skulker grumbled, ignoring the three scowls immediately responding to his comment.

However, even as annoyed as the hunter was, he was more apprehensive than anything else. He had just given the Ghost Child's helpers the coordinates to his employer's ghost portal in Amity Park. He had a feeling Plasmius would not be very content with him when he found out. But, under the circumstances, the hunter had been left with no other choice. He—or rather, _they_—needed to get to the man's home.

Besides, going through the Ghost Child's portal would have been a waste of time, especially when, according to the whelp's helpers, Plasmius' home was inaccessible from the outside with all the camera crews and police's tapping the place off. So, using Vlad's secret portal to get inside was the only option.

Furthermore, going through the Ghost boy's portal would have also been risky. His damaged suit would not withstand another confrontation—even if it happened to be with the whelp's human parents.

Of course, Skulker had no idea that Danny's parents were not home. And the teen's friends and sister did not feel too inclined to inform this to the hunter when he had suggested that they return to the human world via his employer's portal…

In any case, Skulker _hoped_ Plasmius would understand that this was for the greater good—for _his_ greater good, anyways.

But now, with the Speeder's engines beginning to give out again, it looked like they would have to be going to the whelp's home, after all. Of course, not before doing what they came here for…

The hunter soon finished punching buttons on his suit and silently looked back up at the sealed ghost portal. Almost instantly, its doors began to open. Skulker ignored the three teenager's wide-eyed stares and said, "This flying contraption will not be able to enter completely. Plasmius' portal leads into one of his libraries. And even if the room is quite large, it was not meant to have a ship land in it."

Tucker was the first to break out of his surprise, and soon the girls followed. Without a word, the tech-boy guided the ship forward. He had not really understood what Skulker meant by the ship's not fitting inside, but he still did as he was told, and only moved the ship through the ghost portal until it was halfway through.

Everyone—but Skulker—gasped when they saw that they were now inside a huge library. But since the ship was only halfway in and the side doors were still outside of the portal, they needed to open the cockpit window. Nevertheless, Tucker made sure to turn off the choking main engines and set the speeder to 'hover' mode before he jumped out. But the engines still had given off enough smoke that the three teens reflexively coughed on it.

Fanning away the smoke, Jazz quickly looked to see where exactly the portal was and she was surprised to see that it was actually inserted into the wall. And she could only guess that since the portal's edges were actually framed by some kind of flat, decorative wood, the portal was probably hidden behind some portrait. It was then the older girl realized that Skulker was more accessible to and more trusted by Vlad than she had originally thought!

Wasting no time, Skulker quickly walked down the hallway towards his employer's security room. He didn't even bother to look back to see if the three humans were following. He knew they would, and mentally grunted with that thought. He now secretly wished that he hadn't agreed to work with them. After all, he had to get several things done and some of those he would have to wait to do until he was alone. Not to mention that _he_ worked best _alone_. Still, for now, he could tolerate the annoying lot enough to accomplish what he had to do.

In the meantime, in spite of being in a 'hover' mode, the Specter Speeder poured out even more smoke, distracting the younger teens.

"Man! This ship still needs some major fixin'!" Tucker said in between his coughing.

Sam waved her hand in front of her, fruitlessly trying to get rid of the smoke and dryly replied, "Duh. I think I got that message loud and clear from all that loud and annoying 'mystery noise' and smoke coming out of the Specter all the way here. But it'll have to do until we find Danny!"

The boy frowned, a bit annoyed at her last comment. "Well, of course I want to find Danny, too, Sam, but I don't know how long our patch-up job will hold up. I just wished we could have made it to Danny's house first."

"And do what?" Sam challenged. "Danny's parents aren't home, and even if they were, how would we explain all of this damage to them? Besides, even _they_ don't know what half of their gizmos do, so how will we be able to use any of them right now without taking up way too much time trying to figure them out?"

"All I know is that the way the Specter is acting, we'd be lucky just to _make_ it to Fenton Works, much less do anything else. So, really, Sam, we won't have much choice but to try to figure out those gizmos, or else we're going nowhere," Tucker retorted.

As the two continued to debate about their damaged mode of transportation, Jazz was busy watching Skulker. And when she saw the ghost leaving without them, she quickly grabbed the two arguing younger teens by their wrists and pulled them forward. There was no way she was going to let Skulker out of her sight. He might have agreed to help, but she still didn't trust him.

They soon arrived at the security room, where Vlad kept most of the security monitors and controls for his home—and other places. But for now, Skulker had purposely started with this room, even if it only allowed him to see what the cameras _outside_ of Vlad's mansion had captured. He planned on checking out the man's lab, which held the cameras that monitored the _inside_ of the house, when he didn't have prying eyes so close behind him.

After all, Skulker wasn't about to share his employer's secrets with the whelp's helpers, even if they might be of some assistance to him at the moment. Somehow, he felt that if there was a way that this could benefit him even more, he wasn't going to hesitate to carry it out. And the more he knew and the less the whelp's helpers did, the better for him and his employer…

"What are we doing here?" Jazz asked in sudden suspicion when she saw the ghost at the security systems' controls—not that she knew what they were.

But it wasn't Skulker who answered her question.

"Hey, this is a security room!" Tucker suddenly exclaimed, getting closer to Skulker and watching him work the system.

The two girls' eyes slightly widened. If Vlad had cameras in his home, that meant that they had a chance of finding out what had really happened to Danny!

Everyone watched the hunter anxiously as he silently continued in his attempt to find out what had happened.

But as they did, Jazz spoke again, her voice still laced with suspicion, "You sure know Vlad's stuff pretty well. And by the looks of things, you also know his home as well as your own home."

The hunter finally regarded her, but he now looked irritated with her. "I work for Plasmius. I build half of his ghost weaponry. _Of course_, I know my way around here! _Of course_, I know how to work his systems! But that isn't any of your business, whelp. And what he has here isn't, either. So, how about you find something else to do or just keep silent and let me work?"

"Geez, calm down." Jazz huffed. "I didn't come here to pry into the fruit loop's freaky inventions, if that's what you're implying!"

"Then how about giving me some space, human?" Skulker snapped back, before going back to what he was doing.

Jazz glared at him, but didn't say anymore. But it wasn't too long before the monitors came to life. The three teens gasped again when they saw a beat up Danny lying still on Vlad's doorstep, just before the man himself stepped out. And by the look on the billionaire's face, he was shocked by the sight.

"Oh my gosh!" Jazz exclaimed.

"So, something else did attack Danny!" Tucker then said.

But then Sam added, "But how did he end up at Vlad's?"

Skulker frowned at the sight himself. But he then quickly looked down at the controls and attempted to bring up the cameras to another angle. It took him a moment, but then, he got what he wanted.

Now, the cameras were facing outward, so they captured what Danny and Vlad saw, instead of viewing them. And this time, even Skulker gasped when he and the kids saw the image of the same spirit that had attacked them on his island materialize on the screen.

Of course, they didn't know they were looking at Iluzisto's stealth mode.

"We were right! It was the same ghost! But what does he want?" Sam choked out.

They all silently watched what took place on the screen, which was the fight with Plasmius' duplicate and the illusionist spirit. Unfortunately, there was no audio, so all they saw was the movements. And they were very confused when Plasmius seemed to be fighting thin air at times. He would sometimes struggle with himself! What did that mean?

It was Tucker who blurted out the answer.

"I bet that freaky ghost was making Vlad see things, too!"

"What?" the girls blurted out.

And Skulker continued to explain, "At my island, we discovered this spirit can make illusions. I am unsure of how it works, but, somehow, he can make them real. At least, I know that somehow the illusion of the bats damaged my suit," he said, lifting his arm up a bit to show them the bite and claw marks on it.

But Sam frowned in confusion and said, "No wonder the bats would vanish when I closed my eyes. But, I don't get it. They came right at me and didn't hurt me."

"Same here," Jazz added, while Tucker nodded in agreement. But then seeing that, the older girl soon added, "What if his illusions only hurt ghosts?"

"It's possible," Skulker agreed with a frown. But, ultimately, they couldn't be sure.

But at that moment, the security screens showed how Plasmius, who had still been fighting against 'thin air', suddenly puffed out of existence.

The kids gasped again.

"It was merely a duplicate," Skulker muttered to himself, though the teens heard it.

Skulker let the camera continue to roll, but nothing really showed up for a while. Then, suddenly the ghost arched an eyebrow when he noticed something and he quickly paused the film and zoomed in.

"Do you see that?" the hunter asked as he got closer to one of the monitors and pointed at a barely visible tree with a slight glint of light reflecting off of it.

But Tucker quickly recognized what Skulker was looking at. "Hey! It's the spy-cam we recovered!"

The girls looked at their male friend incredulously. How could he see that?

But the Ghost Hunter was very interested in the boy's response. "You have it? Let me see it!" he quickly demanded.

"Okay, you don't have to slice my head off or something. I'll give to you," Tucker grumbled, annoyed by the hunter's forcefulness. The teen quickly shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out the little Plasmius-bug and gave it to the ghost.

Skulker wasted no time and hooked it up to the system. He silently watched what the kids had already viewed and part of which he had seen at his island. But he soon checked the house's cameras again, hoping that the cameras had captured a bit more than what the spy-cam had.

And he was not to be disappointed.

But then as they all saw those odd blurs occur on the screen again, Jazz was suddenly hit with an idea.

"Those are not random ripples. This ghost has the ability of blending into its back ground! See, look!" she quickly added when right after a ripple had occurred, Iluzisto materialized.

This time, they were able to see what the spy-cam had not shown and that was Iluzisto's attempt to break through the ghost shield with that odd weapon.

Skulker's eyes slightly narrowed at the weapon. It sure was familiar. And there was…something about the creature wielding it…

He soon realized why.

He had only vaguely suspected it at first. But now, he was certain. This was no ordinary spirit. It had to be the legendary 'Iluzisto', the spirit he thought was just a myth. But there was more than that. This spirit, 'Iluzisto', was an _Observant_. And that could only mean that his odd weapon was one of those creature's creations and that it was meant for only….destruction.

His employer was in serious trouble.

But the hunter kept his revelation to himself. The cameras recorded evidence ended when the ghost shield suddenly vanished and Iluzisto entered the house.

"Wait. Who would turn off the ghost shield?" Jazz asked in apprehension.

"Vlad, of course," Sam grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Yes, but, why?" Jazz retorted. "Obviously, the ghost was after him as well, since the fruit loop is gone, too."

"Well, maybe he didn't know the ghost was after him at first?" Tucker suggested with a shrug. "But, either way, it sure looks like that ghost would have gotten in, anyways. That weapon he uses is some serious stuff!"

Jazz nodded, realizing it didn't matter how the ghost got in. What was important now was _where_ Danny was. They didn't have any solid proof, but it was still certain that Danny and Vlad's disappearance was due to this ghost. But where had he taken them?

Skulker didn't say anything as the three teens continued to discuss their findings. He had his own thoughts rolling around in his mind to really care about their half-attempts of making sense of these things. The ghost quickly brought up the cameras again; but this time, he put them on live-feed.

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at all the people outside the mansion. Luckily, the police had finished investigating the inside of the house, so all they were now doing was making sure no one tried to come into the home.

Skulker smirked. Silly humans! All running around like panicked ants now that their 'leader', the mayor, was gone. It was especially amusing to him to see the reporters still anxiously milling around in hopes of getting the breaking news that would not come.

"_Plasmius is going to have a lot of explaining to do. Or should I say, a lot of covering up?_" he thought half-amused.

But the hunter's mirth didn't last long when he began to scan the outer premises for clues. With all those humans out there, it was best to use the cameras to secretly do the job. It was a good thing his employer had the best technology around.

They quickly spied the evidence of Plasmius and Danny's struggles with Iluzisto. The broken lamp posts and damaged trees were the biggest clues. But eventually, Skulker felt he would not find anything more significant in these cameras and decided to search for clues inside the house. He was now certain that the last struggle and capture had occurred in here…

Without a word, he quickly turned from the monitors and headed out of the room, startling the three teens at first.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Jazz called after him as she and the other two humans immediately ran after him.

But Skulker ignored them and continued toward the foyer, where he had decided to start his investigation.

And the moment they all got there, Skulker sniffed the air, quickly catching the mild scents of Vlad, Danny, and… that spirit.

He frowned as his flaring green eyes scanned the immediate surroundings and immediately zeroed in to what he was sure were some ectoplasm stains. He didn't waste any time and kneeled beside one of them. He brushed his finger against the dried ghost blood before bringing it up to his nose.

"It's the whelp's," he muttered, and the teens gasped in horror.

"Are you sure?" Jazz asked quietly, her voice quivering as she tried to push off the watery pressure in her eyes.

"Completely," Skulker replied, before standing and investigating the other stains. He soon found out that all the ectoplasm stains were not Danny's. They were also Vlad's. The hunter couldn't help but swallow roughly. He could tell by the size of the stain that the man had been severely injured as was the whelp as well.

Skulker could only wonder…

Were the half-ghosts even alive?

He knew it was something to which he had to find the answer immediately. But he had no choice but to wait for a moment more…because the humans were being too nosey. In fact, they were already inspecting one of the many scorch marks in the vicinity.

He walked over to them as Sam asked, "Why is this ghost energy residue so different than what we usually see?"

Skulker passed a finger though the residue and rubbed his fingers together, before answering, "It is different because, as I said, this creature is not a ghost, he is a _spirit_ and they are different than what you usually find in the Ghost Zone. You see, I suspect that he belongs to a group of spirits called 'the Observants'. And they live in a realm where time has no affect on it or the spirits that live there. The spirits there are very powerful. And usually don't step out of their realm unless they deem it necessary."

"Yeah, we've heard of the Observants… But we didn't know it was that bad…," Tucker said with a gulp.

"It's very bad, whelp," Skulker replied, rising to his height again. "Spirits not only exist outside of time, but they are much more powerful than ghosts. In fact, they are invincible. Unlike ghosts, you cannot _destroy_ a spirit. Only another spirit has the power to do it… So, it does not surprise me that Plasmius and the Ghost Child stood no chance against this one. I still do not understand how _we_ managed to survive our own encounter…"

"So then, you know who he is?" Sam asked, her voice sounding more accusatory than inquisitive.

Skulker glared at the annoying little helper. But then his eyes widened a bit when she didn't back down at his silent threat. He then squinted an eye in more threat and boomed, "Yes, of course I know who he is, whelp! His name is Iluzisto!"

"Il-u—wha-wha?" Tucker stuttered, cringing a bit at both Skulker _and Sam _over their confrontation.

"Il. U. Zees. Toe!" Skulker then bellowed to the boy.

Tucker cringed more but Sam just crossed her arms in both defiance and determination and replied, "Iluzisto, huh? Creepy name for a creepy jerk. So, this just gives us all the more reason for us to find Danny!"

Still eyeing the younger teen, Skulker seriously added, "Let's hope he and my employer are still alive, humans. By the looks of everything, they had a very intense fight with that creature."

"Of course Danny's alive! He has to be!" Jazz quickly piped in, though it sounded like she was trying to comfort herself more than convince the others.

Skulker shrugged. "Then, if that's the case, I have a fairly good idea where they were taken. Luckily, I now have Iluzisto's scent. I should be able to track him down, and, in turn, track the half-ghosts."

"Does that mean you're helping us?" Sam asked with a slight smirk.

Skulker quickly glared. "Don't confuse whom I'm helping, human. I am only doing this because my employer's demise does not benefit me. I could easily take on the quest on my own. But I will admit that we have the best chances of being successful if we stay together for this." His eyes then flared a bit as he said with finality, "However, our truce is only temporary. And I will be calling the shots. We do things my way, or I will not do this."

"Just don't give us any reason to think you are pulling our chains, and I'll agree to that," Jazz replied, her eyes slightly narrowing.

"Well, I won't agree!" Sam quickly said, glaring at the ghost. "I don't have to do anything you say!"

"Sam," Tucker quickly interrupted. "He's the only one that can lead us to Danny. We have no idea where this ghost, er, spirit, is at and we have no way of finding Danny because nothing we have can track him. Look, this all we got. And I say we give it a try."

Sam frowned, clearly not wanting to agree. But she then reluctantly nodded. However, she quickly glared again at the ghost and said, "I'll go along with this. But you better not be up to anything or you're gonna find yourself inside a Fenton thermos permanently!"

Skulker grinned evilly at the threat. "The moment I find my employer, human, our truce will be over. And it is you who will find yourself as a permanent addition to my collections if you continue to challenge me…"

Sam glared at him, ready to argue back when they heard heavy footsteps closing in on the front door.

Instantly, Skulker grabbed the three humans and made them all invisible, just before the door was broken down and several men in white came barging in.

Skulker's eyes widened at the sight of the ghost hunters. But not just any ghost hunters, but those Guy-in-White agents! Their weaponry made them a real threat to any ghost. It was time to leave before they picked up his ghost signature.

"We must leave," he whispered to the teens before he flew them all back to the ship.

He let them go and turned them visible again before quickly pinning them with a serious look. "If my employer and the ghost child are indeed where I think they are, then we are going to need all the ghost equipment and technology we can find. But, also, this ship needs to be fixed up. The Observant Realm is almost a two-day travel. This contraption has to be able to withstand that kind of trip. That is why you three must return to the whelp's home and prepare yourselves."

"What about you?" Jazz quickly whispered, suspicious of why the ghost wasn't coming with them.

Skulker momentarily looked down a hallway when he heard footsteps. But then he looked back at them. "I must prepare as well. My suit is damaged and I need to fix it. My employer has spare parts in his lab. I need to stay behind."

"But won't the dudes-in-white pick up your ghost signature?" Tucker asked, confused.

"My employer's lab is impenetrable. It blocks out all kinds of sensory devices and can only be accessed by the usage of intangibility. I will be fine. I will head to the Ghost Child's home as soon as I am done. We can depart from there. Now, hurry. I have to seal this portal before those human hunters find it."

The three teens looked worriedly at one another, now more doubtful that they would be able to fix the Speeder.

And catching a whiff of their apprehension and doubt, the hunter quickly added, "I will help with the flying contraption when I am finished here."

This time, they nodded at the hunter and quickly got back into the speeder. The moment they were back inside the Ghost Zone, Skulker looked down at his arms control and typed something in. The portal quickly shut. An instant later, the left half and right half of a painting of a nineteenth-century clad Vlad mounted on a white horse slammed together in the middle and locked firmly.

Skulker briefly regarded the painting, but then rolled his eyes at it and turned around to face the opposite wall. Turning intangible, he phased right through it and immediately found himself in his employer's hidden lab.

"Now, to find out what really happened," Skulker said with a smirk as he stepped towards another computer system.

It didn't take him long to bring up the program. And with it came the Maddie hologram.

"Why hello, my sweet, little cup—Wait, you're not Masters," the hologram said, blinking in confusion. But then, she seemed to quickly realize who it was and smiled again. "Oh, hello, Skulker! Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, stop talking to me," Skulker grumbled as he continued to type in commands to the computer.

Maddie giggled. "Well, if I did that I couldn't help you, could I? Surely, I can get you what you need more quickly."

Skulker rolled his eyes. "Fine. Pull up any of yesterday's visual recordings containing Plasmius or Phantom."

The hologram blinked once, before shaking her head. "Sorry, Skulker, but those files are off limits to you. Masters has those kinds of things under private files. Even you are not allowed access to them."

"Well, _Masters'_ life is at risk. You look through those recordings and see yourself that I do not lie," Skulker retorted.

Maddie frowned, before momentarily zoning out as she ran the recordings through her system. Her eyes then widened before an alarm went off.

Skulker groaned, though internally he was glad that the walls kept all sounds inside. But immediately his eyes widened as a screen suddenly appeared in the middle of the room and soon after, Vlad's human face showed up on it.

"_Ah, Skulker. I could just imagine the look on your face. Close your mouth and listen up."_

The hunter jolted and quickly closed his gaped mouth before scowling at the screen. Obviously, even when he wasn't physically present, the man liked to annoy him.

"_It seems you have triggered my emergency plans—at least, the one's that I have designed only to activate around you; and under certain… circumstances. And those circumstances seem to have occurred, which means I am in need of your services again."_

Skulker crossed his arms, and raised an eyebrow. If his employer knew him as well as he led on, then this was where the man would tell him what he would get in return.

"_Of course, you are going to require compensation, my good ghost. And I am only too willing to give it if you do what you must to assure my safe return, hmm?"_

Skulker smirked when he realized he was right. His employer might know him very well; but he also knew the older half-ghost very well. And it didn't surprise him too much that the man had come up with plans should something happen to him. After all, even though Plasmius was powerful and respected in the Ghost Zone, many of his actions were hardly legal. He was bound to have enemies, especially those ghosts that protected the justice system in the Ghost Zone.

"Alright, Plasmius. Let's see what you came up with," Skulker replied with a grin, though he knew the massage was prerecorded.

_As if having heard the comment, the Vlad on the screen smirked secretly, before saying, "Maddie, dear, open weapon vault twenty-three."_

The hologram quickly agreed and pushed some buttons. Soon a metal door opened on Skulker's right. He stepped towards it and his eyes widened at the sight of a brand-new suit, plus other interesting gadgets inside.

He smiled at the suit's sleek design and approved of its grey and green color. And that heavy plate reinforcing the neck and shoulder region made a lot of sense when it came to protecting the helmet portion of the suit.

He ran his hand admirably over the outer layer, guessing from the feel that it was made of reinforced ecto-titanium, the strongest metal known in the Ghost Zone. And he definitely thought the technical mesh of green wiring covering most of the suit was quite the accent.

But as his eyes continued to run over the suit, he wondered what were the uses of the glass panel in the middle of its chest and that green tubing connecting the either side of the shoulder plate to the helmet. But he was pulled from his thoughts at hearing Plasmius' recorded voice again.

"_I figured that whoever had the gall and strength to capture me had to be a serious matter. Therefore, I have come up with this design for you, my dear friend. You will have to program it, of course. But the machinery itself is state-of-the art, and created to withstand blows up to a __'__level nine__'__ ghost. And need I mention that it is practically indestructible by the usage of human ghost weapons? It has a cloaking device among other things. I'll let you be surprised."_

Skulker barely heard what the recording was saying as he quickly got out of his destroyed suit and made himself comfortable in this new one. But what he didn't know was that his new high-tech suit was the _exact_ _one_ 'Skulker _from the future'_ had worn. Well, minus Technus' being his operating system, that is.

As his flaming hair came to life and his green eyes glowed through the suit, the ghost grinned as he felt his body charge with power.

"Excellent," he said as he began to flex his arms and shift through the many new or improved weapons.

"_Now, Now,"_ the still-on-the-screen Vlad suddenly said, getting the ghost's attention again. _"Before you continue with your 'child at a candy store' mode, listen to the rest of what I want to tell you. Right beside your suit you will find another device. It is locked to my ghost signature. Feel free to use it." _

"I would if the whelp's helpers didn't already mention that they cannot track the whelp's signature through their own device," Skulker answered.

"_Also, there are a few other ghost weapons meant to take down higher level ghosts. If Daniel is not involved in this, see if you can persuade him to assist you—only if necessary, of course. If he doesn't do so out of the kindness of his heart, make something up, oh, say, like telling him that I have planted a bomb inside his father's suit. That should be enough to motivate him. Or, with your hunting expertise, I'm sure you can use your vivid imagination to get him interested enough to help you out. He is so very gullible, so I'm sure you can trick him into our services, if need be…"_ _the recording said with an evil grin._

Skulker raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you planned for everything. Problem is the whelp is as in much trouble as you."

"_Now, if by any chance, Daniel is somehow involved in my current dilemma as well, then, you will have his friends and sister all too willing to cooperate with you, hmm,_" Vlad teased while raising an eyebrow.

Skulker rolled his eyes when the man then laughed evilly.

"_Now where was I? Oh, yes. I am giving you full access to everything in my lab, including my private cameras. They might help. Hmm… I think that covers it, Skulker. You have everything necessary to assure my safe return. And upon it, you can expect more compensation. Well, then, that is all. I leave you with these last words of wisdom:"_

Vlad's eyes suddenly narrowed._ "Do not fail me, Skulker."_

With that, the screen went black.

Skulker scoffed. "He says it as if he could do something about it if I would fail. What? Was the 'bomb bit' really a bluff? Did you install a bomb in _my_ new suit, then?" he asked himself with amusement, only for his eyes to quickly widened. "Would he really do that to me?" he whispered with a bit of apprehension.

Skulker frowned, deciding he rather not find out. Plus, he wouldn't fail. He was Skulker. He never failed…. _Okay_, he never failed when it _mattered! _

The hunter dismissed his thoughts and moved back to the screen he had been looking at before his employer's annoying face had shown up. "Okay, let me see those files," he ordered the hologram.

"You got it!" Maddie said with a grin.

Skulker didn't react when he saw Danny and Vlad talking inside the lounge closest to the foyer. As usual, they were arguing. But nothing significant seemed to be happening, so he quickly asked the Maddie program to speed up the tape.

He only stopped it when he saw the video file come up on the foyer where Danny and Vlad were fighting in their ghost forms, just before they froze.

Skulker unconsciously drew closer, while wishing this video had audio. Wait, perhaps it did.

"Audio?" he asked Maddie.

"Right away!" she said.

The volume was added just as Vlad offered Danny to what could only be Iluzisto and threw him at him. That explained who had dropped the ghost shield and why. Of course, the man would want to take advantage of the situation; but his plans obviously backfired.

As he continued to watch and listen, the ghost's face turned more and more grave. He then gasped when he heard Vlad shout to Danny, warning the younger hybrid that what he saw was only in his head. Skulker smirked in triumph. So, he had been right in thinking it was Iluzisto who was conjuring up all those illusions.

And then, Skulker quickly learned that the ghost was after both of them and was working for someone. He now was certain his other hunch was right. The half-ghosts were in the Realm Beyond Time.

Still, because he was a good hunter, and good hunters prepared well for their quests, Skulker had to be certain on both counts. He had to know everything about the spirit whom he was up against and how exactly he was going to get into that realm.

But for now, he held off thinking about his questions. He had to finish watching the rest of the clip. He couldn't see the illusions that the spirit was putting inside the half-ghosts' heads, but Skulker could see from the tape that somehow they were physically hurting them—just like they had hurt him when he was on his island!

"I see the whelp's sister was right. It seems this creature's illusions can only harm ghosts…" he muttered.

The hunter suddenly couldn't help but cringe when he saw his employer get run through with that black device. He unconsciously placed a hand on his chest as he momentarily imagined how painful it had to be to get stabbed in his ghost core.

By the time it was all over, the half-ghosts looked to have been reduced to ghost energy and had been sucked up into the black crystal on that gruesome staff Iluzisto carried. And although it seemed to indicate that Plasmius and the whelp had been captured and not killed as he had first thought, Skulker nevertheless suddenly felt sick with fear. He knew this spirit was powerful. But he couldn't believe how evil he was. Even _he_ wasn't that cruel to his prey.

"Would you like to see it again?" the Maddie program suddenly asked.

The hunter shook his head. "Once was enough," he whispered.

At that instant, Skulker hesitated in wanting to help his employer this time. Trying to do anything against the Observants was a fool's choice. He really did not want to get on _any_ spirit's bad side, especially one like this illusionist Observant….

Indeed, no reward was worth risking his afterlife like this…

But suddenly remembering all the years he had known Plasmius and how his employer had gotten _him_ out of many tight spots as well, Skulker's uncertainty vanished. No, he could not walk away from this. He could not leave his employer on a limb. If anything, the hunter had to do this because of _who_ he was.

And Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter was an honorable ghost who was loyal to the very end!

He took a deep breath as if to regain his composure before he looked at the hologram again and asked, "Where does Plasmius keep his ghost books? I need the one titled 'The Realm Beyond Time'."

"Oh! That one is right here!" the hologram moved across the room and towards a book shelf. She quickly scanned through the glowing books before finding the one she was looking for.

Skulker didn't say anything as he was handed the book. He scanned through it, passing right by a picture of the Ancients, and then later, Clockwork. He finally stopped at the section labeled 'O's' and soon came to the part about the Observants. As he looked through the different types—though most all looked the same—he eventually found the one for which he had been searching.

"Yes, that was Iluzisto who had invaded my island and attacked me… I have heard tales of this spirit before, but I wonder if there is more in this book that I can use…," Skulker muttered as he carefully began to read the book.

However, although he did find confirmation to his suspicions as well as a few news pieces of information about Iluzisto, it also raised several more questions…

There was no picture of Iluzisto, but judging by the description of his appearance and description of his illusionist powers, Skulker was sure this was the spirit with whom he was dealing. The book further reported him as a level nine, which was interesting in itself, though not surprising. But what was odd about this was that while on his way to his employer's house with the whelp's helpers, one of the things he had been checking on his instruments was the energy level his suit had automatically recorded during his encounter with Iluzisto. And what his suit reported was that Iluzisto was a level _seven_… Yet the book affirmed he was a 'level nine'…

It really left much to speculation.

The rest was just general information about the Observants, which the hunter already knew about, so didn't bother reading it over.

Skulker just closed the book, knowing this would have to do for now. He would have to proceed with what he now had—and he certainly would not be sharing the details of what findings he had with the whelp's helpers. He wouldn't say anything unless if it was necessary; though he doubted it.

As his employer would say, 'what they don't know can't hurt them.' It just made it easier for him and his employer to get the upper hand should the need arise…

The hunter chuckled evilly at his thoughts before quickly shifting though his new suit's abilities and weaponry. Once finished, he grabbed the rest of the things his employer had provided for him.

But he then smirked at his next thought.

"And now would be a good time to test just how good this new suit is," he slyly muttered, knowing he would be easily detected by those white-clad ghost hunters once he was outside Plasmius' ghost-proof hidden lab; that is, unless he had something better to outwit their devices.

He activated the suit's cloaking device and finally turned intangible.

Much to his surprise, once he exited the lab, he actually phased through one of the Guys-in-White agents. But Skulker kept his gasp in check, even as the agent kept walking through him without even a shudder… He had not noticed him, nor had any of the human hunter's ghost-detecting instruments gone off. The cloaking device worked perfectly!

_"Advantage, Skulker!"_ he thought triumphantly. But then he grinned mischievously when another daring thought hit him as he phased out of Vlad's mansion…

_"Now that I think about it, I've always wanted to test my hunting skills on my employer. I suppose this is as good a chance as any!"_

Without any more comments, he flew off towards Fenton Works to meet up with _his_ new helpers.

* * *

Vlad paced the length of his cell with growing anxiety. He guessed that Iluzisto had left with that blasted time ghost and his and the boy's worthless 'lawyer' about four or five hours ago. But the man still could not get over their visits, especially after what _Clockwork_ had said to the illusion-willing spirit.

The older half-ghost's eyes flashed red with restrained anger, though he remained in his human form. It was unwise to become Plasmius unless necessary. At least not with Iluzisto around. And to his misfortune, his powers were being suppressed, but _conveniently_ not his ghost form. The device around his neck was pretty impressive to accomplish such a feat. But not unique. Skulker had something similar to it that he was sure Daniel knew firsthand about—those special spectral handcuffs. They were meant to keep the boy in ghost form but blocked all his powers—including flight.

Vlad already knew the device on his neck did more than Skulker's cuffs. His bruised neck was a constant reminder of that.

The man suddenly stopped pacing and looked across at Danny, who was still out cold draped on his bed. That vile illusionist had really hammered the boy with that collar for trying to attack Clockwork… Daniel had yet to wake up.

"Iluzisto could have had the decency to at least give the child a warning before shocking him senseless," he muttered angrily, internally wishing he could get close to the teen and at least put him correctly on the bed.

The billionaire suddenly sighed and shook his head. His real anger had long since melted over this affair. Now, he was truly worried. But not just for himself. But for the boy; the boy and his… mother. The time spirit had practically sent Iluzisto after Daniel's loved ones with the purpose of breaking not just the teen, but _him_ as well…

It sure proved how wrong Daniel was about Clockwork, and how right Vlad was. That spirit was only out to do what he thought right for the timeline. He did not care about the boy. But now the man was sure the Time Master was also evil. He had to be to have sent Iluzisto to harm his innocent Maddie.

But why would Iluzisto be interested in breaking him and the boy, anyways? Supposedly the ghost worked for the Observants and his job was to guard them while the trial took place. However, it was obvious that Iluzisto did not do what the Observants asked willingly. He was being forced to obey them. But how? And why?

"There's something more to Iluzisto that I have not yet uncovered," Vlad whispered, his eyes narrowing.

And the billionaire was sure that Clockwork knew that 'something more'—being the Master of Time and all. But the time spirit had to also know Iluzisto's true intentions with him and the boy. Clockwork knew…and he was still helping him…

"Curses!" Vlad growled, his hands fisting on his sides as he began to pace again.

As much as he hated to admit it, he and Daniel stood no chance against a spirit with the ability to will time; especially when Clockwork was teaming up with another who could distort one's perception of reality… And with Daniel and his powers being suppressed…

They were in serious trouble.

Vlad knew the type of creatures the Observants were. Their punishments only ranged from severe to deadly. So, if they declared him and the boy guilty—which Vlad was sure would be the case regardless of whether or not they could present anything close to a good case—-Daniel and he would surely be condemned to eternal imprisonment…or even sentenced to… death.

The older half-ghost's certainty of their fate should they stay here for the final verdict was what had him on the edge. This trial could not be allowed to reach its full duration. Problem was, he was powerless to stop it. And escape looked slim without his ghost powers…

Vlad understood that they needed…help.

The billionaire knew he could rely on Skulker or Fright Knight for assistance if he could only reach either somehow. Yes, he had developed a system in his house that would be triggered in case of emergencies. But it only did so if Skulker or Fright Knight came to his house and the Maddie program found evidence of a struggle and his absence. But how long would it take for one of his closer allies to figure out he was missing? After all, Fright Knight _only_ came to his home when he requested his audience; and Skulker hardly came every day.

Then, there were Daniel's friends and sister.

But how could they possibly help? They would never figure out their friend and brother's location on their own.

But, then, if by some small amount of luck, they or Skulker were to discover their abduction and their location, the chances of their getting him and the boy out were just as slim. At least, not with so many dangerous spirits around. And the jail itself seemed to have some form of spell that kept out outside technology, since his highly advanced wrist device wasn't working!

Even with all the upgraded ghost weapons he left in case of this kind of emergency, Vlad wasn't sure it would be of any use when technology must be null here...

Vlad suddenly snapped his head back toward Daniel at the sound of his groaning; and the billionaire instantly froze when he saw the teen's hands begin to twitch to life.

It took the boy a while, but he eventually managed to lift his body off the hard bed. He let out another protest of pain as he brought his hand up to his spinning head. But then, suddenly, he gasped and his once clouded eyes cleared and widened.

"Clockwork!" he whispered in dread, not knowing that his previous gasp had startled his arch-enemy.

The boy's eyebrows creased as he mumbled out his friends' and sister's names. But the moment their echo had left his lips, he felt a surge of energy pulse through him. He was done sitting here! He could not afford to do so anymore when his friends and sister were in danger! He had to get out of here! He had to stop that Iluzisto creep from hurting his loved ones!

He bounded to his feet, so charged that his past injuries no longer held any power over him. He instantly grabbed the collar around his neck and yanked on it. When it did not budge, he grasped it even more fiercely, to the point that he was turning his already bruised neck red. Grunting in determination after realizing that the device was not going to break under his strength, he attempted to call forth his powers. But no matter how many times he tried, his energy would just fizzle in his hands.

Suddenly worried about the panicking teen, Vlad called out with a grave voice, "Daniel, stop! You need to calm down!"

Finally remembering that the older hybrid was here, too, the young half-ghost quickly looked at the man. But the boy reflexively narrowed his eyes and shouted back, "Calm down? You expect me to 'calm down' when my supposed guardian whom I once completely trusted has sent a sadistic, crazy ghost after my friends and sisters, and possibly even my parents? I don't think so!"

"Panicking isn't going to help them, boy!" Vlad snapped back.

"Then what will?" Danny yelled, now sounding more desperate than angry.

Vlad didn't reply this time.

But the teen could tell by the man's sober gaze that even he didn't have a way out of this.

That was enough of a shock itself for Danny. His grit deflated with a sigh, and he dropped his hands to his sides.

A moment of silence fell upon the two hybrids.

But then, the teen suddenly closed his eyes and whispered, "You don't understand, Vlad… If something happens to any of them… I…"

The young half-ghost could not finish his words. But the older one did not need him to.

"Look, Daniel, you're friends and family—and _ironically,_ I am including Jack in this comment—are more resilient than you believe," Vlad assured him seriously. "I am quite certain they will be able to fend for themselves. Right now, you need to focus on your predicament—as I do mine. I hate to admit it, but we are in more peril than they are."

"I don't agree, Vlad!" Danny instantly countered, unconsciously fisting his hands once again. He couldn't shake the strange feeling within him as he continued, "Didn't you see how Iluzisto's whole attitude changed at the news and then all of the sudden even _I_ could see the _hunger_ in his putrid eye at the thought of wasting my friends and sister? And though I have no clue how long I was out, he must have been gone for at least that long or longer, right? Or else, he would have been back here torturing us some more, I'm sure." He suddenly gasped at his next thought. "And that would mean that Jazz, Sam, and Tucker must be in danger _now_!"

"That may be true, Daniel, but in case you haven't noticed, we are in just as much danger, especially with our powers curtailed," the man quipped back with some annoyance.

"And in case _you_ didn't notice, Iluzisto easily defeated _us_ and so what makes you think that my friends and family could stand a chance against him? I don't think we even have weapons strong enough to counter Iluzisto," the boy retorted in even more annoyance.

"Believe it or not, Iluzisto's power level is a seven, much like your own, Daniel. I believe your parents _do_ have weapons your friends and sister can use to keep him at bay," Vlad retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Then, why did he kick _our_ butts so easily?" Danny pressed, not believing the man. "Plus, don't think that after hearing everyone around here talking about it that I haven't noticed by now the difference between 'ghosts' and 'spirits'! And I might not know all the differences between them, but I know enough now to say that spirits are much more powerful than ghosts, and Iluzisto is in the 'spirit' category, which makes him a bigger threat to my friends and sister than any ghost they have faced!"

"I cannot deny that," Vlad said with a frown. "But if Iluzisto managed to capture us as he did, it is because I was unaware of his unique powers. I hate to admit it, but he caught me off guard. There is one thing I do not understand, though…"

"And what is that?" Danny questioned, annoyed by the man's change in subject.

"I would think that because Iluzisto is an Observant, he would have the same power level as the Observants. Iluzisto should be a 'nine' and, honestly, when he attacked us, he fought like one. But… my instruments read him as a level 'seven'…"

"Yeah, well, maybe your instruments were _wrong_," Danny replied with more agitation. "And looks like you've forgotten that that weapon he has had you down for the count with just one hit! So, there is no way that Iluzisto is at _my_ power level! I've fought ghosts with my power level and Iluzisto was a whole lot stronger than me when I fought him! Well, uhm, of course I was very tired at the time….but, you get my point!"

Vlad sighed in frustration. "Look, I do not know what is going on with Iluzisto, but the point is that we need to focus more on our predicament, Daniel!"

But Danny then frowned in irritation, "There you go with that 'we' thing again! I don't care what level that putrid spirit is at in the end, either! But there is no 'we' here, Plasmius! There is 'me' and 'you' and the fact that I don't want Iluzisto near my family and friends!"

He immediately began to pull on his neck brace again, grunting with the struggle.

Vlad glared again. "It was a manner of speaking, you little rat! But like it or not, _we_ are _both_ stuck here! And like it or not, even if you could _miraculously_ break that neck restraint, it would take all your strength to do so. And that would make you a sitting duck for Iluzisto to come punish you for trying to escape! A lot of good that will do your family and friends, Daniel! If you want to save them, then use your head! We need to save ourselves and find a way out of here, _first_, before _you_ can help _them_!"

Danny just glared back, but he had nothing to counter what Vlad had just said. He just hated it when his enemy was right.

Still reluctant, Danny crossed his arms and bitterly asked, "Alright, Vlad, how are _we_ getting out of here?"

But the man hesitated in his reply. "I am still thinking about that…I just need an opening. But it seems for now we are going to have to go through with this blasted trial."

With a sigh, Danny plopped in defeat on his bed; and knowing he had no plan himself, muttered, "I guess we don't have much of a choice, then."

Vlad didn't reply, though, he also took a seat on his hard bed. He stared at his dysfunctional watch for a moment. It irked him greatly that he had made the blasted thing to get him out of tight spots and now when he needed it most, not even the blasted time on it worked!

"Why do you think they put this here?"

Vlad jolted with the sudden question, only to jolt again when he found Danny standing in front of the transparent shield with his hand against it.

"What?" the man quickly snapped, still irritated with his previous thoughts and now by the boy's sudden actions.

The boy raised an eyebrow before dryly muttering, "And you wonder why I call you a fruit loop."

The man briefly scowled at the boy, but still said, "I didn't catch your question."

"I asked, why do you think the Observants or Iluzisto put this shield here?" Danny repeated as he inspected the barrier.

"To keep us apart, obviously," Vlad said, rolling his eyes.

"Obviously," Danny repeated, rolling his eyes himself. "What I mean is, why an _invisible_ barrier? They mentioned something about us being more dangerous when we're together. So, then, why let us see and talk to each other?"

Vlad frowned. He actually had not thought about that.

"Wow, Daniel…" the man said with a hint of smirk on his lips. "You really are more clever than I gave you credit for."

"Gee, thanks," Danny muttered sarcastically, removing his hand from the shield. "Now, think you can answer my question?"

"I would. If I had the answer to it," Vlad answered with a sigh.

But much to the man's surprise, the boy smirked wittily back at him, and then said, "Wow, Vlad. You're _less_ clever than I gave you credit for…"

The billionaire raised an eyebrow, but then he smirked back. "Touché, little badger."

"Looks like you are both in much better spirits…"

Both half-ghosts instantly tensed; but while Vlad quickly stood, Danny backed away, keeping his eyes keenly on Iluzisto. They didn't utter another word, even when the evil Observant moved closer to them, rolling a cart with three covered trays—one small and two larger ones—and two glasses of some beverage.

Stopping in front of the cells, Iluzisto also silently regarded the half-ghosts, but his eye was curved into what could only be interpreted as secret amusement.

After getting back from that 'hunter's island', it had taken the Illusionist spirit some more time to tend to his wounds. But now, he was feeling better, and was ready to act on the next part of his plan…

Iluzisto's eye curved higher with the thought. But then, abruptly, the spirit broke eye contact with his two prisoners and calmly uttered, "You two must be famished…"

He first moved over to Vlad and used the end of his staff to unlatch a small door at the bottom right corner of the man's cell. He then levitated one of the larger covered food trays and glasses of some liquid and slid them into the opening. He soon sent the other large tray and glass through a similar opening in Danny's cell, leaving only the smaller of the covered trays on the cart.

The two hybrids watched the spirit like hawks the entire time. But when the smell of food wafted up to the two prisoners' nostrils, they dared to glance down at their respective covered tray. Vlad and Danny both barely suppressed a cringe when they each felt their stomach jolt to life. Still, neither took a single step towards his tray.

Iluzisto slightly narrowed his eyes at this, and demanded, "Why are you two not eating?"

"You don't really think I'm about to touch something cooked by you, do you?" Danny answered angrily.

"You have very likely tampered with whatever is inside those trays," Vlad then muttered.

The illusionist spirit abruptly laughed. "You creatures amuse me. If I wanted to merely kill you, I would have from the moment we met. I am simply following orders. And they were to tend to your physical needs. You crossbreeds do require sustenance, correct?"

But when neither replied, Iluzisto shrugged and added, "Alright. I did my part. I can do nothing more if you two decide to starve yourselves." The spirit turned to leave, but then he froze and turned back to Danny. "I almost forgot," he said, a lace of wickedness in his tone. "I have something special for you, little crossbreed…"

He picked up the smaller covered tray. And just like before, he unlatched the small door at the corner of Danny's cell and slid the smaller tray right next to the larger one in the cell.

"Think of it as _dessert_," Iluzisto then said as a strange gleam in his eye.

With that, the spirit turned again and finally floated down the hallway. But then, when he reached the darkened area in the hall, where he knew he was hidden from sight, he used his stealth mode to watch the two half-ghosts in the shadows. He also quickly distorted their ghost sense in case they could still detect him. He did not want to miss their reaction for the world!

Silence reigned in the room as Danny and Vlad just stared wearily down the dark hallway. But then, slowly, they gazed at each other for a brief moment, before turning their blue eyes down to the food trays.

"I'm not eating that," Danny suddenly said, but his resolve was barely there as the smell of food continued to invade his senses. He was SO hungry!

Vlad didn't reply, though by the slight pained look on his face, he seemed to be having the same problem as Danny. But there was one thing that kept him from touching the food.

Something told him that Iluzisto was close by.

He couldn't be sure, however. Although he had long since figured out that the evil spirit could distort his and the boy's ghost sense, he wasn't sure if the queasiness in his stomach was due to his empty stomach or because the illusionist spirit was really around. It made Vlad extremely edgy…

But whether or not the spirit was close, the billionaire was sure Iluzisto was up to something. However, Vlad doubted that the spirit was just trying to poison them. In fact, as much as he hated to accept it, Iluzisto was right when he said that he would have already wasted them if that was his intentions.

Vlad's eyes slowly drifted to Danny's meal—or _meals_, apparently. Why had Iluzisto given the boy an extra tray? Somehow, the man had a hunch that whatever was inside them was not all food…

"Daniel?" the older half-ghost called, apprehension clear in his voice. "Uncover your trays…"

"What? No way!" Danny quickly exclaimed. "What if it's a bomb or something?"

Vlad countered that with a silent dry look.

But the boy still refused. "No, I'm not going anywhere near it."

Vlad clenched his teeth, and was about to argue back when he suddenly got a better idea. Why force the child when he could convince him to _willingly_ open his trays?…

"Daniel, Iluzisto is right. He didn't go through all the effort of capturing us just to eliminate us now—there would be no sadistic fun in that," the man muttered bitterly. But he then shook his head and added, "Besides, he has a higher power to which to answer. He wouldn't dare go against the High Tribunal."

"I don't care," Danny answered stubbornly. "I am not touching it." And as if to make his point final, he walked over to his bed, sat down, and crossed his arms.

But Vlad just shrugged. "Fine. You starve. But I'm going to prove I'm the wiser and gather my strength."

With that, Vlad moved over to the tray on the floor. He hesitated momentarily as he thought, _"I really do hope it's not a bomb…"_

But swallowing his fear, he finally picked up the covered tray and glass and took them to his bed. Placing his meal down on it, Vlad's breath hitched as he slowly lifted up the cover.

The entire time, Danny watched the man with slightly parted lips, though his own breath remained still. And when he saw the billionaire lift the meal's cover he tensed and squeezed his eyes close expecting the worse.

Vlad suddenly let out a small chuckle and Danny snapped his eyes open and looked at him.

"See? It's just food…" the man said, raising a smug eyebrow, while tilting the tray enough for the boy to see.

Danny's eyes and mouth opened wide as he stared at Vlad's dish of roasted chicken, collard greens, mash potatoes with gravy, and a soft hot roll. It looked as good as it smelled! Heck, Iluzisto had even placed utensils inside the tray for them!

But then Danny gasped when Vlad suddenly turned into his ghost form. "What are you doing? I thought you said he can hurt us in ghost form!"

"That's true, Daniel. But, if you have not noticed, this is _ghost_ _food_. It will do nothing for our bodies unless we are _ghosts_," Vlad responded calmly, though internally he was even more nervous. He began to wonder if this was Iluzisto's intention. Is that why he had been so…noble as to feed them?

Vlad suddenly wondered if exposing himself like this was even worth discovering what was in that extra tray the illusionist had given the boy. Maybe what was in it was just food, and he was just playing into Iluzisto's real intention of getting them to change into their ghost forms…

Danny frowned slightly when he finally noticed the slight glow around the food. He didn't need Vlad to elaborate. It made sense that in the Ghost Zone there would only be ghost food; and that it would only nourish ghosts. The glow made the boy a little uneasy, but the food still looked—and smelled—sooo good…

The billionaire shot a suspicious look down the dark hallway before looking back at the food. If Iluzisto had not made a move yet, it must be because he was waiting for something more than their turning ghost. Vlad decided to continue.

With his heart beating wildly in his ears, he first lifted the glass of what looked like some sort of juice and brought it to his lips.

"Wait, you're actually going to drink that?" Danny quickly said, stopping the man in his tracks.

Vlad frowned at the boy as he lowered the glass. "I told you, Daniel. I will not allow myself to be weakened further just to merely defy Iluzisto. It is foolish."

Danny didn't say anymore as Vlad finally took a sip from his drink. When the man lowered the glass again, he smirked at the boy and said, "It's kiwi."

Danny rolled his eyes.

Even still, Vlad added, "Oh, come now, Daniel. I know you are hungry and thirsty. Stop being so stubborn and just fill your empty stomach."

But when the billionaire placed a small piece of chicken in his mouth and teasingly savored it, Danny scowled and looked away. But the teen couldn't keep his stomach from protesting at him as the minutes ticked by. And ultimately, it won against his resolve.

With a defeated sigh, Danny suddenly stood and changed into his ghost form. But unlike Vlad, the teen just sat down on the floor and lifted up the cover off the larger of his trays. He made sure to keep his back to the billionaire, already feeling his smug, triumphant smile without having to see it.

And indeed Vlad was smiling at finally getting the boy to do what he wanted. But his interest really was with the _smaller_ tray. Still, the man waited patiently, and just continued to satisfy his own empty stomach as he did.

Danny's meal was the same as his arch-enemy. The boy downed the juice, actually surprised how _normal_ it tasted in spite of its glow. He then went to his food and began eating it quickly, especially when it tasted as good as it smelled and looked.

"Don't choke, Daniel," Vlad suddenly teased. He couldn't really see the boy eating, but he could see his quick movements and hear his large gulps of food.

The teen finally looked over at his arch-enemy just as he swallowed a big piece of chicken. "Why don't you shut it, Plasmius, before _you_ choke?" he snapped back.

Vlad scowled at the teen, but Danny suddenly smirked back and said, "Oh, I know what's wrong! You're just sour because you didn't get dessert. But don't worry, V-man, I'll make sure to eat it slowly just for you."

Vlad didn't say anything as he finally saw Danny grab the cover off the smaller, flat tray; but the instant he had, the boy's grin vanished and he jolted at the first thing he saw inside the tray.

_Blood_.

Danny yelped as he scrambled away from the small tray.

Vlad jumped to his feet and darted to the invisible barrier, anxious to see what had freaked out the boy. But just as the man got close enough to see what was on the small tray, the teen finally noticed _what_ exactly was covered in blood.

Silently screaming out in violent witness were his sister's headband with a few locks of hair still intertwined with it; Sam's black bracelet streaked in red; and a ripped, bloodied piece of Tucker's shirt. But…all of them…were covered with _fresh_ human blood.

If Danny wasn't so horrified, he would have questioned why the blood was still so fresh… Of course, the teen had no way of knowing that once Iluzisto had returned to this realm, where time was irrelevant, the blood would not dry, since it was in a sense, frozen in time.

"That's, that's…" the boy tried to speak, but his mind was reeling with what this could only mean.

"_That's_ what remains of your loved ones, crossbreed," Iluzisto suddenly interrupted him when he abruptly appeared in front of the cells.

The billionaire's eyes widened and he immediately changed to his human form. But Danny was too frozen with shock to think of the danger he was now in with his being in ghost form.

Danny stared up at Iluzisto and the triumphant look in the spirit's eye confirmed the words the spirit had uttered. But the teen refused to believe it.

"No…," the boy whispered as he slowly backed away from his friends and sister's articles. "I-It's just an illusion," he told himself.

But Iluzisto suddenly laughed. "What you see before you is no illusion, crossbreed. I found your loved ones at that hunter's island, just as Clockwork had said. And I dealt with all of them _permanently_. Why else would I have been gone for so long and not brought you sustenance until now? "

Vlad cringed at the mention of 'that hunter's island'. He was sure the ghost referred to Skulker. And that brought up the question: Had Iluzisto also gotten rid of his ally? Surely, Skulker would defend his home with his after-life and the illusionist spirit would not tolerate interference.

The older half-ghost felt his heart speed up faster as he thought of what that could mean. If Iluzisto was telling the truth, then the spirit had just gotten rid of the only ones that could possibly have a remote chance of saving the boy and him.

If his words were true, they were now utterly alone.

"NO!" Danny suddenly screamed at the spirit, his hands fisting at his sides as they fizzled with his attempt to use his powers. "You're lying! You're lying! You jerk! **You're lying!"**

Iluzisto pulled closer to the young half-ghost's cell and whispered evilly, "You should know that my illusions cannot touch you in your human appearance. You want hard evidence? All you have to do is reach out to your 'loved ones' remains."

With a scream of rage, Danny suddenly lunged at the spirit and attempted to punch him through the barred cells door. But Iluzisto quickly caught his fist; and knowing he had no one watching him, he used his hold to withdraw the boy's ghost energy.

Danny gasped when he felt his body suddenly weaken; and before he knew it, he was in a heap on the ground back in his human form.

And when he fell, Danny accidentally brushed his hand against the contents in the tray. He immediately brought it up and noticed that his _human _hand was now stained red with some of the real blood that had not fully dried and had been on the items in the tray. The blood. It _was_ real and very wet _and cold_! His eyes grew wide and his breath tightly hitched in alarm. But a moment later, he was panting with the emotional impact.

Iluzisto sighed contently as the boy's powerful energy finished pulling into his being. The boy's energy was just as delectable as the older crossbreed's. The thought made the spirit turn his eye to the man. Too bad he had not been able to catch him off-guard as well and take up some more of his energy, too. Still, the crossbreeds' ability to regenerate their lost energy made them a limitless power supply. He would have plenty of chances to get more from both of them—if he had anything to say about it, that is.

Vlad, who had been staring fearfully at Iluzisto after having witness him drain the boy's energy like he had with him when he first was captured, quickly shifted his eyes to the teen when Danny suddenly grabbed the items in his shaking hands.

The boy only breathed heavily for the moment; but then suddenly he screamed, "No! You-You couldn't have! You didn't! **NO!"**

Iluzisto gasped as the boy suddenly let go of the items and sprang furiously towards him again. But what he couldn't believe was the sight of the boy changing into his ghost form _again_. He had just drained him completely of energy! How had he managed to regenerate it back so quickly?

But as the crushed boy screamed out threats to him, it dawned on Iluzisto that the crossbreeds were a more complicated species than he had thought. It seemed that, perhaps, under strong distress their bodies could regenerate their lost energy even faster…

How delightful!

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to gather more energy from the young crossbreed, Iluzisto quickly moved closer to the boy, who was in vain trying to reach out at him through the bars again. But before Iluzisto could do that, the older crossbreed got his attention.

"You horrid, vile, disgraceful creature!" Vlad spat out hatefully. "You wait. I swear I'll make you wish you had never been given your wretched existence! You are a pathetic, lowly excuse for a spirit. You're nothing but a waste of—AH!"

The man's scream resonated through the cell as Iluzisto kept his finger firmly pressed against a button on the collar's control. And by the furious look conveyed by his reddened eye, the spirit had no intentions of ending the older hybrid's agony.

Vlad could only crumble to the ground; and as he fell, his neck restraint scraped against the invisible shield, sparks crackling from both shield and restraint under the electrical assault. In the back of his mind, he cursed himself for his foolish idea of capturing the spirit's attention in order to keep him from draining the boy of more energy. But he also realized he might have overdone it and that the spirit may actually want to push aside his duties to the High Council and just out-and-out waste him. At that moment, his instincts overtook him; and without even knowing it, the man changed into his ghost form.

But the instant he did, the electrical assault vanished; but his instincts were still in overdrive and he somehow sensed Iluzisto drawing closer to his exposed ghost half. With a fearful gasp, Vlad managed to push himself away from the cell bars in time to keep Iluzisto from touching him.

Iluzisto narrowed his eye further at the man's quick reaction. "If you ever dare to insult me in such a way again, I'll hold down this button until your heart stops," he said darkly.

The spirit glanced over at Danny, who had by now deflated after witnessing the spirit's assault on his arch-enemy. But he was now just sitting on the ground, his head lowered as he clutched his sister and friend's belongings against his chest as if keeping them there would bandage the agony tearing his heart.

The illusionist ghost felt the swell of victory tugging at his central core. But he knew he still had to be patient.

"Your first day of trial is in a few hours' time. I strongly recommend you finish your meals," Iluzisto said, his tone of voice dressed in smugness. With a last triumphant look at the two half-ghosts, he turned and this time truly left them alone.

Vlad's mind was too deep in a pained haze to move from where he lay on the ground against the shield. He only barely noticed that the shield was still crackling from the collar's electrical assault. But he was too out of it to really think much about it.

The man briefly shut his eyes and grasped his raw neck as he tried to regain control over his panting and aching body. But a moment later, he managed to gain enough mental control to change back into his human side again. But he couldn't keep a soft groan from escaping his raw throat as his pain doubled.

Still, he had to get past his own injuries right now. Something was really wrong. And he knew that it involved the young half-ghost.

Vlad slowly stood and frowned when he saw the shield flicker. But again, he gave it hardly a thought. He looked through blurry eyes over at Danny, who was still sitting on ground clasping his loved ones' belongings.

"Daniel?" the man called worriedly. And when he heard no answer, he said a little stronger, "Daniel, look at me."

But the boy still didn't move.

Vlad's hands fisted at his sides in a moment of desperation as he insisted, "Listen to me, my boy. It could just be a trick. You can't know for sure that—"

"Leave me alone, Vlad," Danny suddenly whispered, cutting him off.

The billionaire frowned even more as the boy began to shake with restrained emotions.

"Daniel, this is what he wants," Vlad began softly. "You can't let…" But this time the man cut himself off as the thought of something happening to the boy's mother suddenly became _very_ real. Vlad instantly felt even more scared as he felt his heart skip a beat in dread. The thought jolted his sense of priorities.

"No, you're right, Daniel. I-I, Oh, dear boy, I'm so sorry," the billionaire said, lowering his head in sadness. The boy and he might be rivals; but this was a kind of pain he would have never wished for Daniel.

The man's words seemed to push Danny over the edge and he suddenly brought up his knees and buried his face into his arms. His body quivered even more as he tried to quiet his crying with only slight success. He didn't want to believe that his sister and friends were gone. But how could he deny it when he had their articles stained with their blood in his _human_ grasp?

Vlad's eyes slightly widened at the sight of the crying boy. It was a sight that even he couldn't ignore. And it was one he had hoped never to see. But he was seeing it now and he couldn't do anything but watch.

The billionaire placed a hand against the invisible shield as he wished with all his might that it was not there or that it would not have been transparent. Having to watch Daniel like this was worst than being physically tortured by that horrible spirit.

The man's hand suddenly fisted against the shield as he tried to keep himself from losing it. But knowing if he continued to watch the boy, he would indeed lose his composure, he turned away and walked back to his bed.

The sight of his unfinished food suddenly made him extremely ill and he quickly closed the tray and stuffed it under the bed. He then sat down and leaned forward as he rested his elbows on his legs and let his hands dangle in between his legs.

Vlad raised his sad eyes and briefly glanced at the weeping Danny again before lowering his head.

For the first time in his life, he felt utterly helpless.

**

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****They say the best illusions are based on one's _real_ fears…. *Vlad muse laughs evilly***

***Pearl rolls eyes* Yes, my muse is being evil again, which I'll just ignore. I hope you are all enjoying this story as much as Truephan and I are enjoying writing it! But, let us know either way, kay? You guys know how much we love hearing your thoughts!**

**In other news, I hope to have CM before next weekend. Heh. I wanted to finish CM by this year, but with my alternating updates with DoaS, that goal has fallen short. And, I don't dare freeze my updates for Doas when we have gotten into such a good part! So, we'll see how things play out. In any case, CM won't be lasting very long. If I don't finish this year, it will very likely be by sometime in January. *winks* Now, over to your other author and her own evil muse…**

**Truephan here: Man, just who is responsible for cooking up all this bad news? Oh, yeah, right, pearl's and my muses! *smiles sheepishly*. Oh, well, what did you expect from them? Cookies and milk? Well, of course, they could have used them—laced with arsenic or something! In any case, we hoped you enjoyed this chapter and will show us your appreciation and give us your delicious thoughts by pushing that little blue button just below this. We can't promise, however, if our muses booby-trapped it…but you'll never know unless you push it…go on… **


	10. Chapter 10: Trial and Error

**A/N: Hey, wonderful readers! Did you have a great Thanksgiving? I sure hope so! And I sure did! In fact, I think I could go right into hibernation for winter! But, hey, oh, looky! More celebrating, 'cause here is the next chapter of Sid for your enjoyment! Hope you enjoy! And now, here is pearl with some of her pearls of wisdom! Heh-heh, *permission to groan*!**

**Pearl:**

***Vlad muse groans***

**Ha-ha! Wasn't me! That was Vlad muse, Truephan, but you know how he is! Anyways, it's good to be back to this story! It's so deliciously evil! *grins***

**I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, and thank you all for your support and thoughts! Truephan and I really enjoy them!**

**Which, reminds me, we weren't able to reply to _Monday Mourning in the Asylum_ since your PM is disabled, so we wanted to do it here:**

_Monday, thank you for your thoughts! We really enjoyed them! And we're thrilled that all the suspense is keeping you on your toes! Heh! You know that's our intention! As for the ending, well, you'll see. I wouldn't worry too much, though, our muses are not that evil... I think! Ha-ha! As for Clockwork, well, you'll see as well. But all I can say now is that, we agree with you... CW isn't very compliant with the Observants. Not at all. *wnks*_

**Well, without further delay we give you chapter 10 of Sid. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

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**Chapter 10: Trial and Error**

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Vlad soberly stared at Danny, but said nothing to him. He had tried several times to get the boy to at least look at him, but the teen was just staring blankly at nothing in particular, as if…he had all but phased out of existence. The billionaire was glad to see that the teen had at least composed himself enough to get off the floor and regain control of his emotions. But... Daniel's silence was now as worrisome as his initial reaction at finding out his sister and friends had been killed by Iluzisto.

Vlad wanted to believe it was all a trick somehow. But how else would the spirit have acquired those three teenagers' belongings unless he had found them? And those blood stains did not lie…

Speaking of the articles, Danny still had them clutched in his hands. The man didn't understand the boy's reason for keeping the bloody things with him, but he decided best not to ask—not that he would get a response, anyways.

The billionaire knew there was little he could do to ease the boy's pain. But even if he could do anything, he knew Daniel was not interested. After all, he was sure the teen still blamed him for their current situation. And at the moment, Vlad felt such pity for the grieving child that he couldn't agree more.

It seemed every time he wanted to make the boy understand him, to bring the boy closer to him, he only managed to push him further away. Daniel would never understand how special he was to him; and especially not now.

But the billionaire knew thinking about his feelings for the boy was not the priority right now. Escaping was. If indeed Iluzisto had done away with the boy's loved ones at Skulker's island, then there was a very good chance he had destroyed his ally as well. And that meant he had to just count his losses and find a way out of this mess himself.

He needed an opening of some sort. Some inkling of hope—especially now when he felt so hopeless…

The billionaire was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of ghostly footsteps. He briefly glared at the sight of Iluzisto, before looking away towards Danny. But the boy didn't even bother to look at the nearing threat. He just stayed as still and as emotionless as before.

Iluzisto raised his eyebrow at the sight of the two hybrids. For the first time since they got here, neither was looking at him with any defiance. The spirit had expected something like this from the child, being that he believed his loved ones were killed. But the older crossbreed?

He acted as if he had just lost something as equally important. But Iluzisto was sure it wasn't the case. Those three humans meant nothing to the man. But it was then that Iluzisto noticed the man staring at the child.

It was clear the older crossbreed was trying to keep his face neutral. But there was something in his eyes that told of his real emotions… Concern? Sadness? Sympathy?

Whatever the emotion was, it was not one you'd expect to find one rival feeling for another. It made Iluzisto wonder. And suddenly Clockwork's words began to make some sense…

"_Break the boy and the other will follow…"_

Iluzisto eye curved with wickedness as he thought, "_How interesting… I will have to investigate this further…,"_

But pushing his thoughts for later, the illusionist spirit suddenly demanded, "Crossbreeds! Stand up! Your presence is required at the High Tribunal and I have been ordered to escort you!"

Vlad felt some sort of unrestrained rage swell inside him for the evil spirit, but he managed to keep it down before it manifested itself. With clenched teeth, the man silently complied and stood.

But Danny did not even look up, much less move.

"You. Crossbreed! I said: stand up!" Iluzisto growled out at Danny.

But again, Danny just sat there.

Furious, the spirit quickly moved closer and unlocked Danny's cell door. He didn't noticed Vlad tense as he watched him.

"Unless you want to be punished, I suggest you stand right now," Iluzisto spat in the boy's face.

Danny finally reacted; but all he did was glare darkly at the spirit.

"Still have some fight, I see," Iluzisto said evilly as he grabbed the remote control for the teen's neck brace from his cloak. "Then, let us fix that…"

A scream tore from Danny's throat as he was painfully assaulted; but his grip on his friends and sister's articles only tightened.

Vlad quickly looked away and briefly shut his eyes as he tried to keep himself calm. There was nothing he could do as the spirit continued to drive electricity into Daniel via the collar.

Seeing that the teen was close to blacking out, Iluzisto finally ended his assault and quickly grabbed one of the weakened boy's arms and pulled him to his feet.

Danny could barely keep himself up; so when he was roughly shoved towards the open jail door, he fell face first just outside it.

With a snarl of disgust, Iluzisto floated over the groaning boy on the floor and went to open Vlad's cell. He narrowed his eyes at the man, and darkly warned, "If you so much as look at me the wrong way, you will be writhing in the dirt right beside him."

Vlad didn't reply and just stared at Danny. He only looked back at the spirit when the door was opened. The man grunted slightly when he was suddenly and roughly pulled out by one of his wrists.

"Give me your other hand," Iluzisto commanded; and seeing the man comply, he quickly created a set of cuffs, which quickly formed around his wrists.

Vlad rolled his eyes as the spirit finally stepped away from him. What was the point of binding his hands when the collar already kept him from escaping?

But the man's attention went back to Danny when he saw Iluzisto approach him. The boy cried out when the ghost grabbed a fist of his hair and forced him to his feet.

It was then that Iluzisto noticed that the child had his loved ones articles still in his hold. And knowing he could not allow the boy to take those with him unless he wanted the Observants to discover his private doings, he quickly snatched them from the boy.

Or at least tried to…

"No!" Danny suddenly shouted as he quickly twisted to keep the spirit from taking the articles from him. But Iluzisto quickly whirled him back around and backhanded him so harshly that it threw the teen against the bars.

"You do not know when to quit, do you, you little freak?" Iluzisto snarled before jabbing the boy in the stomach with the butt of his staff.

The boy choked as the air whooshed out of his stomach; but he still kept his grip on the blood-stained belongings. The evil spirit would have to waste him first before he took them away from him!

As if reading his thoughts, Iluzisto suddenly lifted up his staff and quickly raised it with the tip pointed at the teen. But he froze at the abrupt shout protesting against his cruel intentions.

"Stop!" Vlad yelled before he realized it.

Iluzisto quickly pivoted his eye towards the man and narrowed it again."What did you say?" he asked darkly, pulling out the other remote in his cloak.

The billionaire took an unconscious step back; but then he steeled himself and spoke. "I… You have no need to do that. The boy is just upset. But I can make him comply with you if… you permit me to…aid you," he said carefully.

"Is that so?" Iluzisto asked mockingly. "And why would I need the help of some insignificant freak like you?"

Vlad suppressed a growl and seriously answered, "Because I am sure the High Tribunal is waiting for our audience. And we both know they are not a patient bunch. Beating the child to an inch of his life is not going to make him submit, believe me. I've tried. Just give me a moment. I know how to _persuade_ him."

The spirit glared suspiciously at the man; but he then took a single silent step back as a sign of agreement.

Vlad carefully got closer to Danny, making sure to keep away from the sharp weapon in the evil Observant's hold. He then kneeled next to the teen and grabbed his pained face. A surge of fury swelled within the man when he saw the boy's left cheek red and swollen from Iluzisto's savage strike. But he quickly forced it down and focused on the matter at hand.

"Daniel? This is not going to help us," he whispered urgently to the boy.

Danny angrily pushed the man's hand away as he sat up and hoarsely growled. "I don't care!"

"Well, you should. Your sister and friends would want you to care. They would want you to stay strong. They would want you to get out of here, Daniel," the man said gravely, whispering his last part.

"Don't talk about them!" Danny exclaimed, his hands clenching even more. "How could you know what they would think? You never cared! Don't you _dare_ pretend to now, Plasmius!" he shouted, but his voice wavered in the end.

Danny suddenly clenched his eyes closed to keep his emotions at bay.

Vlad frowned. But then, he continued, the tone of his voice graver yet more sincere, "You're right. I should not pretend to care." And before he realized it, he mentally added, _"I don't need to pretend. I really do."_ But he quickly squashed the thought and continued. "But _they_ cared, Daniel. Anyone could see that. And I _know_ that they would not want you to spend the rest of your days here. So, get up, boy. You are stronger than this!"

Danny just stared at his arch-enemy for a moment. If he wasn't so upset by the loss of his loved ones, he would have been shocked by his words of encouragement. But, instead, he just nodded. He knew the man was right. He needed to get a grip of himself. His parents were still alive and still in danger. He couldn't fail them like he had his sister and friends. He **had** to get out of here!

The entire time, Iluzisto had been watching and listening to the two with more interest. Indeed that their relationship was more than just mere enemies. They had some sort of connection, one that was deeper than either of them realized….But it didn't matter. And those words of persuasion the older crossbreed threw at the younger one were all in vain. Still, it would be fun to take advantage of their...'bond' when the time came…

But knowing they had wasted enough time, the Observant suddenly barked, "I've had enough of this! Remove those items from your hand, young Crossbreed, or I will remove them myself by ridding you of your limbs!"

Danny looked down at the items in his hands with saddened eyes before respectfully and reluctantly putting them inside his cell, and shutting his cell door, just in case Iluzisto had the intentions of taking them away from him. Although, internally, he knew he couldn't stop the spirit from ultimately doing whatever he wanted….

Iluzisto smirked at the young crossbreed's childish actions but said nothing. Instead he grabbed the boy's wrists and also put on a pair of glowing cuffs.

"Keep up," the Observant ordered, before walking past them.

Danny and Vlad hesitated briefly before following the evil spirit. Neither said anything as they continued. But the man's eyes briefly creased when he noticed Iluzisto hang the jail keys at the end of the hallway beside the only door there.

Iluzisto then opened the door and the hybrids saw two more guards waiting right outside for them. But these guards were not Observants, yet the older hybrid had seen them before when he had helped Vortex escape. In fact, he had taken one of them out and dressed in one of their armors to infilatrate the High Tribunal's courtroom. The armor covered them so much that all one could see of the guards' faces were their eyes and mouth...

As Iluzisto took the lead, the two lower guards took the rear, making sure to keep Danny and Vlad in the middle and in their sights at all times.

Danny just kept walking with his eyes towards the ground, not caring where they were going. But Vlad was discreetly looking around, memorizing as much as he could at every turn. But, then, the man briefly glanced at Danny, and it was then that he noticed the boy's hands.

Vlad's eyebrows creased at the still wet blood on them that he knew was from the articles he had kept clenched in his hands. Something about seeing the boy with blood on his hands bothered him greatly; so much that he reached into his suit's pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. It took him a moment considering his hands were bound.

He didn't notice the suspicious looks from the two guards behind him and the boy when they spied what he was doing. But he wouldn't have cared, anyways.

Suddenly, the small group had to stop until Iluzisto could unlock the door just in front of them. But Vlad continued what he wanted to do just the same.

Danny didn't notice Vlad's doings either until he felt his hands being grabbed. The teen had also not noticed that his hands were still stained with his sister's and friends' blood; but now that Vlad's actions had called his attention to them, he saw it. His heart instantly constricted with grief once more; and he reflexively fisted his hands, drawing them up to his chest as he tried to clutch at this last connection to his loved ones as if they were right there.

But then, he felt the pressure of Vlad's gentle and silent urge for him to stop. And for some reason, the boy couldn't make himself resist the older hybrid's efforts. Somehow, by the gentle and even compassionate way that Vlad had slowly drawn his arms down and opened his hands, Danny could tell that the older hybrid _understood_ how he was feeling...

Danny didn't say anything as Vlad wiped his stained hands; yet he kept his eyes glued to what the man was doing. But even after Vlad's efforts, a little of the blood was still there.

Of course, Danny saw that and then he couldn't keep himself from cracking a bit under the sudden emotions that the lingering reminder of his friends and sister's death brought on. And yet, he just swallowed hard when his own silent teardrop fell upon the remaining blood, finishing the job as it seeped between his fingers.

Vlad had not once looked at the boy either in all the time he had been cleaning his hands. He just felt it best. After all, he just didn't know how he would have felt or what he would have done it he had…

But just as he had finished and before the boy could look up to express his silent gratitude, both the hybrids were harshly shoved forward when Iluzisto had finally opened the door.

As they were thrust forward and forced to keep up, Vlad finally let go of Danny's hands. The man thought nothing of the boy's silence, since he wasn't much in a talking mood, either.

However, Vlad did smirk smugly to himself when he purposely threw the dirty napkin behind him and he heard a disgusted yelp from one of the guards, who could do nothing but give the billionaire a dirty look.

As they continued to tread along through the prison, Vlad scanned his surroundings. He had never been in this part of the complex during his first visit and wanted to be sure to pay attention, just in case he could find anything that might help him.

Each door had strange symbols on them. And even though he could not begin to guess what they meant, he made a mental note of them.

Danny, however, never looked further than the floor right in front of him. He walked as if on automatic pilot, still too upset to think of anything but his grief.

At last, the two hybrids approached a long, wide hallway, which was the final stretch to the room where their trial would commence.

Vlad immediately noticed the different shapes and sizes of the doors they passed. And each also had those same strange symbols on them. He frowned in frustration. These symbols obviously had purpose, but they would be no help to him if he could just as clearly not understand them. He glanced back briefly to Daniel. The boy still had his head down as he silently walked onward.

Finally, Vlad could see that they were nearing two large double doors. In spite of his attempt to keep calm, a flutter of fear surged inside his stomach as he and Danny halted in front of those doors, which were also guarded by two tough-looking ghosts.

Vlad recognized these doors. They looked very similar to the ones he had seen in the High Tribunal's room, considering this was the place he had broken into to free Vortex. But now that he was in chains and powerless, the place suddenly felt pretty intimating.

Still, he swallowed his uncertainty and went back to making subtle notes of their surroundings.

Danny barely noticed that they had stopped and that Iluzisto was talking to one of the guards at the door. He knew he should care, but he felt too depressed to do so. The teen just lowered his eyes again and waited for whatever was to happen.

A brief moment later, the guards opened the door and Iluzisto walked inside the courtroom; but not before gesturing to the two guards behind the hybrids to encourage them to move forward as well. And by 'encourage', it meant roughly pushing them forward.

Vlad briefly glared at the soldiers; but it vanished when he suddenly gripped at his forehead and hissed in pain. And as he glanced at the boy and saw he, too, was gripping his head, the man instantly knew what was going on.

The numbers Okulo branded on their foreheads were suddenly glowing fiercely, searing them with pain!

Iluzisto then chuckled quietly, and he actually got both hybrids' attention.

"Get use to that, crossbreeds," the illusionist spirit said quietly, yet smugly. "It will happen every time you enter this courtroom, so that the Observants can identify you among their other prisoners. After all, to them you are all inferior and not worth the use of their memory.

"Are you telling me I have to endure this burning sensation through the entire trial?" Vlad snapped, his anger quickly swelling, though he continued to hold his head.

"As I said, get use it," Iluzisto replied, his eye curving into a smile before he turned from the two half-ghosts and gestured his guards to proceed.

Once more, Vlad and Danny were shoved forward, though now that they were in the courtroom, Iluzisto's guards were not being as rough with them.

The older hybrid just ignored them for the most part, feeling too uncomfortable with the pulsing burning sensation on his forehead.

Danny gritted his teeth against the pain, but he then lowered his hand from his head and continued to walk with his head lowered. Somehow, the physical pain compared nothing to his emotional pain…

Meanwhile, Vlad was also doing his best to endure the pain and his eyes quickly returned to the matter at hand. The man frowned at the sight of all the Observants, who had been silently sitting in their seats, now muttering with each other, while glancing untrustingly at the half-ghosts.

The man resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and just continued to silently inspect every detail of the room.

It was exactly how he remembered it with its blue corner-less walls curving symmetrically inward on all sides. Black seams accented the curves and were the only adoration on the walls except for several grotesque orb-shaped television screens, each of which hung from the ceiling on thick threads. They, too, were symmetrically placed around the room so no one would escape their view—inside and out of the screens. Still, the thought that all eyes would be on him was not as irritating as how disgusting those television screens really were now that he got a better look at them. Now he was sure that each of those screens were hanging by what could only be described as raw sinew. But that was not all. Each of the screens were surrounded by a white flesh-like border that were covered in _throbbing_ red veins, as if…the screens were embedded in….some sort of…_living_ eyeballs.

Ugh. Vlad huffed under his breath when he finally got what this room was all about. What egos these cretin Observants had! It was now too grossly obvious just how much they 'worshiped' their one eyes. Even this moronic courtroom was designed as if they were now within an eyeball!

He rolled his eyes and then groaned at his unintentional pun. Still, he could see that the Observants weren't very imaginative. The rows and rows of seats stacked in many tiers on the outer circumference of the room were still on either side of the main entrance. And there was a large curved table on the far opposite wall from this entranceway where he knew must be for the judge and jury.

He noticed that every seat in the room was occupied; save for the judge, who had yet to get there. He frowned in irritation—and sudden understanding—when he suddenly spied that putrid creature, Okulo, who was floating silently to the far right of the large, curved table, looking in anticipation toward a closed door just behind that table. Of course. He must have been there waiting for his next orders, disgustingly obedient lap dog that he must be.

But then, finally, he spied Spektanto just to his left, sitting at a smaller table that was facing the large curved table, but was separated by the larger table by several yards of empty space. And there were also two empty seats beside their lawyer.

Vlad rolled his eyes again at the sight of their supposed defender. But then, the man caught sight of Clockwork at the prosecutor's seat, which was several yards away from the defender's table and to his right. And he was staring at Danny.

The billionaire quickly looked down at the boy and realized he was oblivious to the time spirit's eyes on him. The poor teen still looked completely heartbroken.

That thought just pulled the man's mind in another direction. Clockwork. It was that spirit's fault that such a dark fate had come over Daniel's sister and friends—and probably his ally. And, it was also the Time Master's fault that his Maddie was now in mortal danger.

The older hybrid glared hatefully at Clockwork, who finally met the man's gaze. But the time spirit did not respond and just calmly looked away. This only angered Vlad more; but, ultimately, the sentiment was quickly pushed aside.

"Listen carefully, crossbreeds," Iluzisto suddenly spoke up, his hushed tone barely masking his dark intent while demanding their attention. "You two are to go sit beside your lawyer. But do not think that I will not be immediately available just because I will not be next to you. I am responsible with keeping you both under control, so I will only be one of your heartbeats away. And you can be sure there will be consequences if either of you show anything short of orderly conduct."

Vlad tensed. But when he saw that Daniel hadn't reacted, he slowly nudged the boy without drawing any attention to himself.

Danny frowned at the man's action and finally looked up, only to see Iluzisto in his aggressive stance. Danny reflexively gasped, but then sighed in defeat.

Iluzisto smirked at that, but just said, "Go."

The billionaire made sure to take a big step back before turning his back on the evil Observant. But he also made sure to grip the teen's shoulder to coax him to do the same.

Noticing the half-ghosts' approach, Spektanto quickly stood and nervously floated a bit away when he heard the older one cursing angrily under his breath...Though, it was odd…It sounded as if the man was talking about some sort of…pastry?

"Spektanto," Vlad called once he pushed aside his anger over Iluzisto. "I assume you have properly prepared."

The lawyer blinked his large eye. "What do you mean?"

The man looked at him incredulously before drawling out, "You are our defense lawyer, are you not? That means you must have some sort of plan of action in our defense."

"Oh, yes. Well, I did gather a few things…," he muttered, bending over to grab a briefcase.

Vlad sat down as the spirit sorted through the papers.

Meanwhile, Danny, who had already sat down, just kept looking soberly at only the table in front of him.

Spektanto soon handed a folder to the older hybrid, who quickly looked through it. But, suddenly, the man looked furious!

"What the blazes is this?" he exclaimed. But when he caught Iluzisto take a warning step towards him this, the man quickly lowered his voice, but continued just as angrily. "What is all this gibberish, Spektanto?"

The lawyer looked at the document in the man's hands, before turning his gaze back to him. "It is not gibberish. That is simply the Observant's written language. Do you not understand it?"

"I would not be asking you, if I did," Vlad snapped back. But before the spirit could say anything, the man noticed that this 'Observant language' had some of the same symbols he had seen in the hallway. But he dismissed the thought when he saw some pictures just below the documents and he quickly turned to those, instead. But the sight of them only ticked off the billionaire even more.

"How are these pictures supposed to help us? They are _evidence_ of our crimes, you dolt! You present these blasted things and you are going to condemn us!"

"I beg pardon. But It is not my fault that you both are guilty of your crimes, and so, I could not find anything in your defense," the lawyer retorted, his eye squinting a bit.

"That's not the point!" Vlad hissed back, his hands fisting. "You are supposed to be bringing up a defense case! And you do so by any means; even if you have to twist the truth itself! Have you even defended anyone before?"

"Actually…," Spektanto said meekly, "This is my first _actual_ case..."

Vlad's mouth gaped; but before he could say anything, the room notably silenced. The man—and even Danny this time—looked up and they both realized that all the doors had been shut and the door behind the judge's seat was now opened.

"All rise for the great and honorable Tribune Justeco and his illustrious Counselor, Konsilisto," an announcer somewhere in the room said loudly as an Observant dressed in gold attire entered the open door behind the judge seat. He was followed by another Observant who was dressed very similarly, though his outfit did not have as much gold in it.

Vlad frowned deeply; but deciding to go with everything for now, he stood. However, seeing that Danny did not stand and was just staring soberly at the judge, Vlad discreetly poked the boy on his side.

Danny jolted to his feet, as he bit back a yelp. He hated being poked! And he made that clear when he glared at the older hybrid, who had a slight smirk on his face in spite of the fact that he was not even looking at the teenager.

All of a sudden, that smirk really irked Danny. How could the man think poking him just now was amusing? In fact, nothing about this whole thing was funny. _Nothing_. Not being here, not the cruel treatment of Iluzisto, not Clockwork's betrayal. Nothing. In fact, Vlad had no reason to poke him at all, especially since it was pretty much the man's fault that his sister and friends were…gone. And, suddenly, he was more angry than anything else.

"Quit it, Plasmius. I'm not in the mood!" Danny suddenly hissed, giving into his anger.

But hearing Spektanto clear his throat loudly, the teen then glared at him before catching sight of the judge just beyond that Observant. Once more, his eyes threw daggers at the judge.

Finally, his gaze drifted over to Clockwork. This time, he instantly seethed with hatred, which fully displaced his grief over his sister and friends…. And that, ironically, finally got him to focus…

Suddenly, the boy knew that the last thing on his mind was this stupid trial. What he needed to do was find a way to escape. He didn't have time to wallow around in his grief! He had to get to his parents before Iluzisto would! He couldn't let that jerk…hurt them like he had his… his…

Danny had to squeeze his eyes shut to hold back his emotions again.

Meanwhile, Vlad, who hadn't noticed the change in the boy, was watching everything going on with annoyance and apprehension. He watched as the jury's—or as they called them, _High Council's_—ugly one-eyed faces came up on some large screens around them. None of it was really new for the man since he had seen all this during the Vortex incident.

But being in Vortex's place now made the whole experience much less appealing. The man still couldn't believe he was being held prisoner by _the Observants_. It was down-right embarrassing!

The man quickly pushed aside his thoughts when he heard the announcer speak again. "Today begins Trial number 789 against prisoners 484 and 485, respectively, Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom, versus All Existence. For the duration of these legal proceedings the appointed trial members are: Master Defender: Spektanto. Master Prosecutor: Clockwork. Jury: the High Council. Honorable Tribune: Justeco. And his Honorable Counselor: Konsilisto."

The judge, Justeco, waited for the note taker to finish putting everything in writing, before he finally spoke up. "Council? Are all these details accepted?"

"Accepted," they all echoed at once.

"Then we shall proceed. High Council, I require a motion to open 'Day One' of three in the trial of Prisoners 484 and 485 versus All Existence. Charges that will be discussed today, Day One of this trial, include those committed against the Time Stream itself. Do I have that motion?"

"I, Kulp, approve the motion of commencement for this trial," one of the Observants, whose face was up on one of the large screens, said.

"Does anyone second his motion?" the Tribune asked.

"I second it," another of the High Council members spoke up.

"All in favor?" Justeco continued.

"Aye," everyone echoed at once.

"Opposition?"

"Aye," Vlad whispered, annoyed when no one answered.

"Then, we will begin with the Master Prosecutor. Clockwork, if you would take the floor."

The Time Master looked over at Danny, who only glared briefly at him before lowering his gaze back to his hands. Just seeing his mentor there on the opposite side twisted the teen's heart with further anger and betrayal. It was Clockwork's fault that his sister and friends were gone. How could he? He had trusted him! Still, his anger helped him keep focus on what he needed to do.

Vlad also scowled at Clockwork, but he just watched on as the spirit took the floor.

"If the High Tribunal agrees, I wish to use a Time Viewing Orb for this part of the trial…," Clockwork calmly requested.

The judge turned his eye to his counselor, who nodded his approval. Then he turned to the jury and asked, "What say you, High Council?"

"Approved," they all said.

"Continue, Master Prosecutor," Justeco said.

Clockwork nodded before pulling out a small crystal ball from his cloak. In one quick move, he tossed the clear sphere into the air and quickly shot a blue beam at it with his staff. In an instant, there was a viewing glass floating in the middle of the room for all to see.

"I wish to present the first set of evidence against Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius. May I proceed?" The Time Master looked at the jury and waited for their approval. Once he had it, he continued, "I will be presenting three scenarios—each holding proof that the two prisoners present are guilty of tampering with the time line."

Clockwork briefly looked at Danny and Vlad, before lifting his staff and bringing up an image.

"We are all aware of the powers of the Infi-Map," he began again as everyone stared at an image of the parchment. "It is why the map has been entrusted to the leader of the Far Frozen, Frostbite. He has always kept true as protector of the Infi-Map…"

The time spirit suddenly silenced without explanation. But before anyone could question it, he lifted his staff and brought up another image, one showing Danny in his parents' lab, holding the Infi-Map and talking to his friends about it.

Danny just stared at the image and, this time, he couldn't keep his eyes from clouding with pain again. His friends… He would never see them again…

"In this scene, we can all see Danny Phantom with the Infi-Map in his possession. And due to his further irresponsibility, this also led to Vlad Plasmius' discovery and usage of it."

Clockwork was steadily showing the images of Danny and Vlad fighting at all the different places that they had traveled.

"Danny Phantom was the first to begin using the map to enter different time periods. But as you can see, Vlad Plasmius joined in soon after. With the map, they traveled to different points in time, all the while rivaling over possession of a parchment that should not have been in either of their hands in the first place. The extent of their tampering with the time line can fully be seen in these images. The evidence is indisputable."

"Object, you dolt!" Vlad quickly hissed at his lawyer.

Spektanto jolted, before blurting out more out of fear than anything else, "I object!"

Clockwork paused and turned to look at the lawyer as the Tribune ordered, "State you objection, Master Defender."

"Well…," But not knowing how to reply, the spirit paused and looked back at Vlad, whispering, "Why are we objecting?"

Vlad slapped a hand against his forehead before growling and shooting up into a defiant stand, "Your evidence is _faulted_, time spirit!" he exclaimed. "You may have proof that we used the map and traveled to those places. But what you should be presenting is exactly _what_ crime was committed and _why_ it was detrimental to the time stream! And yet, you have not said or showed a single thing that proves that our actions affected the time line in any significant way! And you cannot prove it! Because you have **no** proof! If our actions that day would have had lasting consequences, all of us would have seen them manifest themselves in this present time! So, then, where is your proof of our damage?" Vlad angrily demanded.

Loud mutterings of protest erupted throughout the room as the older hybrid glared furiously at Clockwork. But the time spirit remained silent, though only Vlad could see mirth hiding behind his calm gaze. This only made the man even angrier. What in blazes was Clockwork playing at? He didn't care how powerful this spirit supposedly was! He would not let him make a fool out of him!

But Vlad's gaze snapped over to the Tribune when he slammed his gravel and demanded, "Order!" Justeco stared coldly at the older half-ghost as he said to him, "Prisoner 484, you are out of jurisdiction! If you do not agree with something said here, you are to bring your objection to your defender's attention. And then, he—and _only_ he—can present it to the Council. For your lack of respect to this Tribunal's laws, I will overrule your defender's former objection as well as ignore everything you just said."

"What?" Vlad exclaimed. "But my argument is more than valid!"

"I will not tolerate any outburst in the Council Room," the Tribune said sternly. "I recommend you willingly take your seat now. Or I will have to ask the Prison Head Iluzisto to restrain you."

Vlad looked like he was about to argue; but when he caught movement in his peripheral vision and he realized it was Iluzisto moving against the closest wall to keep a closer eye on him, the man closed his mouth again and then sat down in a huff.

Upon hearing the judge ask Spektanto if he had any questions for Clockwork, Vlad silently fumed to himself for a moment when he heard his supposed lawyer's response. He wasn't at all surprised that Spektanto had said 'no'.

But knowing he could not do anything unless he wanted to get punished to an inch of his life, Vlad remained quiet. However, it was then that he realized Danny had been quiet the entire time. He had almost forgotten the boy was present.

The billionaire looked over at the teen, who still had his gaze to his own hands on the table. But by the angry glare on his face, it was clear Danny had been listening.

"Well, boy? Are you just going to sit there and sulk the whole time?" Vlad hissed in aside, feeling even more annoyed with his silence.

"Like what you're doing is any better," Danny muttered back.

Vlad's glare intensified. "At least I'm—"

"Order!" the Tribune demanded. "Prisoner 484, this is your last warning! You are to keep quiet unless you are addressing your appointed defender! And my warning now extends to you, Prisoner 485!"

While Vlad clenched his teeth in restraint, Danny just kept his gaze to the table. And yet, his eyes were narrowed and his hands clenched, as he was barely able to hide his restrained rage. It was all he could do to keep the burning hate for Clockwork and Iluzisto at bay. However, the teen knew that right now, he could do nothing but wait for this to be done with. But he didn't plan on keeping still once they were out of this room…

"Master Prosecutor, please continue," Justeco said.

"Very well," Clockwork replied. "Being that the previous evidence has been accepted by the Council and no questions were asked by the Master Defender, I will proceed to my next set of evidence against the accused."

Vlad continued to scowl, still furious over the fact that everyone had just accepted the previous evidence as it was when it was hardly substantial. But he had no choice but to continue to listen.

"However," the Time Master continued, "before I can do so, I need to present to the Council a set of images pertaining to Vlad Plasmius—or more correctly put, Vlad Masters'—past. I will assure you all, it is relevant to my case."

The billionaire visibly tensed, and even Danny looked up in sudden curiosity as the Council approved Clockwork's next set of images.

"Vlad Masters' past is tied with Danny _Fenton's_ present. The boy's parents, whom you can see here, were—and still are—acquainted with the older of the accused. In fact, he had—and still has—a deeper interest than simple friendship for the human woman shown here…"

Vlad's face flamed red with indignation and he quickly turned to Spektanto. "Stop this, right now! He cannot divulge my personal life as he sees fit!" he heatedly whispered.

"I cannot object," his lawyer replied. "He has already told the Council that this is relevant to his next set of evidence."

"I don't care!" Vlad snapped back. "My life in not a blasted form of entertainment!"

"I am sorry. And I recommend you calm down. We must pay attention to what the Master Prosecutor says."

The billionaire looked as if he was about to snap, but he then took a deep breath, before glancing at Danny. But the boy was watching the images that Clockwork was showing with a little more interest than Vlad had expected.

The billionaire just shook his head as he turned his own eyes back to the painful and embarrassing images. If he wasn't so upset, he would have noticed that _someone else_ was watching the images with a lot of interest as well…

"Ultimately, their work led to an accident that resulted in the 'birth' of Vlad Plasmius," Clockwork said as he changed the image.

Vlad cringed as he watched himself get blasted by the proto-portal. That sure had been painful. But not as painful as that ecto-acne… And to his misfortune, the time ghost didn't restrain himself in showing that, too.

"Of course, if it had not been for the time stream's choosing of this course, Danny Phantom would have never existed, either. And here is essentially why…"

Clockwork quickly pulled up an image of the present-day Maddie and Jack before saying, "The boy's parents are ironically also responsible for the existence of the second human-ghost hybrid. Of course, it is more complicated than this. But the point is that what I have shown you **is** the time line's natural order. _However_, in my _next_ set of evidence, I will show how Danny Phantom, in conspiracy with Vlad Plasmius, is guilty of tampering with the time stream, to the point that they completely destroyed its natural order."

The courtroom filled with anxious mutterings again, and the Tribune was forced to call order again before Clockwork could continue.

"The secondary effect of Vlad Plasmius' accident over twenty years ago is chronic—or, at least, it used to be before the younger of the accused found its remedy. Just a few months ago, the older of the accused fell ill with this 'ecto-acne'…. As you see here."

Clockwork brought up the pertinent image of that day and continued to show the happenings as he told them…

"Vlad Plasmius then proceeded to also infect these two humans, whom associate with the younger accused, so that he could force the boy to aid him with his illness. In his need to help his friends, Danny Phantom came to my home. As you all know, this very Council decided to charge me responsibility of this boy and his alternate self…"

"Alternate self?" Vlad asked Spektanto with a lowered voice. "What does that mean? And why did the Council charge Daniel to him?" he questioned Spektanto, confused.

"It's a long story. One that I assume we will be hearing more about soon enough. We must continue to listen," the lawyer replied in a hush.

But the man was not satisfied and looked over at Danny. The boy had his gaze back to the table, but by the tension obviously radiating from his body, Vlad knew that the boy knew what the time ghost was talking about. However, the man had no choice but to bite his tongue and continue to listen, knowing that if he spoke to Danny, he would be punished.

"I will refrain from elaborating on this for now," the Time Master said. "However, I brought it up because it is important to remember exactly why Danny Phantom now has knowledge of my whereabouts." Clockwork paused, before continuing. "Danny Phantom asked me to allow him to travel back in time to keep Vlad Plasmius from ever existing. And, ultimately, I allowed it."

This time, the room exploded into shocked gasps, before the Council exploded into chatter. And as the Tribune attempted to regain order, Vlad's mouth fell open and his eyes widened as he glanced over at Danny again.

"You traveled back to my college days and tried to stop my accident?" the man slowly asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

Danny slightly squirmed. "I…uh… couldn't think of another way to save my friends…"

Vlad just stared at him, clearly not knowing how to react to do this. Obviously, the boy did not accomplish this, since he still had his ghost powers…or maybe he did accomplish it?

But before the man could ask, Justeco finally reclaimed order and he was forced to keep quiet.

"Clockwork, please explain your involvement in this," the judge said.

"Of course. I decided to allow the younger accused to travel back because it was necessary that he saw firsthand the older accused's past for future events. What exactly are those future events I will not say—nor are they relevant in this trial. However, I also allowed the boy's travel because, ultimately, I cannot interfere with the decision of anyone in the time line. That is the Observants' motto, after all. And as your employee, I am obligated to abide by your rules," Clockwork explained, this time a small smirk tugging on his lips.

"We understand your reasons, Clockwork. And if the Council approves them, then we will proceed with the evidence. What say you, High Council?"

"Approved," they all said.

Vlad rolled his eyes as he thought, _"This is ridiculous. Clearly, whatever we are being accused of now is their own faults. Theirs and this blasted time spirit's!" _

"In spite of my warning to not disrupt the timeline's natural order, Danny Phantom did not hesitate to interfere," Clockwork continued in his same calm, almost indifferent voice. "And his interference resulted in a completely different present. Vlad Plasmius was erased from existence. And instead Danny Phantom's own father gained his powers."

Vlad's eyes widened when all the sudden, he saw the picture of 'Jack Plasmius' on the Time Viewing Orb. Although he was beyond shocked by what he was discovering about Danny so far in this trial, now he was also suddenly beyond mortified at the thought of Jack with ghost powers.

"Ugh!" he groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I will never unsee this…"

"In turn," Clockwork continued, interrupting the man's thoughts, "Maddie Fenton became Maddie Masters. The Fenton family was wiped from existence. And if it wasn't for my intervening, Danny Fenton and Phantom would not have existed, either."

Vlad slowly looked up and his eyes widened again at the sight of him and Maddie in a newspaper article, speaking of their marriage and his title as Dairy King—though, the latter was almost as disturbing as the image of Jack with ghost powers…

He couldn't believe it. He and Maddie… she had finally been his… But why, why wasn't this the timeline now if the boy had changed it? Unless…

"You changed it back, didn't you?" Vlad whispered to Danny, anger lacing his voice.

"Of course, I did!" Danny snapped back. "Sorry, but you kissing my mom wasn't an image I wanted to see for the rest of my life!"

Vlad's mouth fell ajar. "I got to kiss her?"

"Don't remind me…," Danny muttered in disgust.

"Daniel, you are so lucky I do not have my ghost powers right now, because I honestly feel like taking your father's desire of ripping you apart molecule by molecule into my own hands…" the man mumbled back with restrained contempt.

"Well, you tried that there, too," he said, pointing at the image on the viewing glass. "My parents kicked your butt, though," he added smugly in spite of still grieving for his sister and friends and being angry about this trial.

"Order!" the judge demanded before Vlad could say anymore. "I warned you, Prisoner 484!"

Vlad went rigid at seeing Justeco about to call Iluzisto forward; but thinking quickly, he exclaimed, trying to cover up, "Wait. I am not at fault. The boy keeps speaking to me! I was merely asking him to desist and show some respect for this Council!"

"Hey!" Danny protested, his voice being fully heard for the first time since they arrived. "You're the one complaining to me about why I didn't let you stay with my mom!"

"Order!" Justeco ordered. "Prisoner 485, this is now _your_ last warning. And since both of you have admitted it, the fact that you indeed are responsible for tampering with the natural order of the timeline will be noted."

Vlad's mouth dropped open. That was so unjust! First, he hadn't admitted to anything! And, second, how was it fair that the blasted judge had refused to acknowledge his earlier argument, one that had been very valid? And yet, now, he takes Daniel's angry outburst as an admission of guilt? Blast! Even the judge wanted them to lose this trial!

"Continue, Master Prosecutor."

Clockwork lifted his staff and allowed the images to vanish. "Ultimately, the time stream had been so disturbed that I was forced to intervene and reset it back to its natural course. The damage done would have been irreparable, otherwise."

"I object to that claim!" Spektanto suddenly said, jolting to a stand.

"Really?" Vlad asked in surprise.

Ignoring his older defendant, the Observant continued, "I believe the Master Prosecutor just mentioned he was able to restore the timeline. Then, how can my defendants' actions be irreparable?"

"Yes," the judge answered before Clockwork could, "that is why the Master Prosecutor said, 'otherwise', meaning that if he had not stepped in, _then_, things would have been irreparable."

"Oh…," Spektanto mumbled. "I suppose I missed that last word…" But hearing Vlad groan right next to him, he quickly added, "Well, I still object! You have not told us how Vlad Plasmius is guilty of this specific crime. It is obvious that Danny Phantom is completely guilty; but you still have to explain why Vlad Plasmius is just as guilty. Or is he guilty because he forced Danny Phantom into the position that led to his time travel? Or, is it because in the other timeline Vlad Plasmius learned the truth about the timeline being altered and still tried to keep it as it was?"

Danny was now glaring at his lawyer. What was with this guy? Was he even on their side? Or was he just straight out dense?

Clockwork smirked. "Oh, you are quite right. Thank you for reminding me. But I think you just cleared all that up for me."

Vlad's eyes flashed red as he watched Spektanto sit back down with a smug look in his eye. "See, I got him now," the Observant said proudly to the older hybrid.

"Oh, you got him alright. So much so that you just strengthened his case!" Vlad growled back furiously. "Are you even trying to aid us?"

"Of course I am," the lawyer said in a huff. "It is not my fault you two are completely guilty."

Vlad looked as if he were ready to strangle the spirit; but instead he fisted his hands and turned his attention back to Clockwork. But then abruptly, the man asked his lawyer. "Did you see that big fat oaf that was shown on the screen multiple times?"

"You mean… my other defendant's paternal entity?" Spektanto asked, confused.

"Yes, his name is Jack, and I think you are related to him," Vlad muttered, before fully focusing back to the trial.

The defender looked appalled for a moment. But he then huffed again and returned his attention to the trial as well.

"Well, then, is there anything else you would like to add to this accusation, Master Persecutor?" Justeco asked.

"I am done," Clockwork replied.

"Then, if the Master Defender has no further questions… or _contributions_," the judge added with a strange look. "Then, we shall proceed to the High Council's approval of the provided evidence."

"No questions, honorable Tribune," Spektanto answered.

"Shall we proceed, then, High Council?"

"Aye!"

Vlad sighed, while Danny just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Master Prosecutor, I believe you have one last set of evidence to present to this Council in regards to the charge of 'tampering with the timeline' against Prisoners 484 and 485?"

"Yes, that is correct," Clockwork replied. "But for my last set of evidence, I would like to call Danny Phantom to the stand."

The Council gasped, while Vlad and Danny's eyes widened. But while the teen looked absolutely terrified with the time ghost's request, Vlad looked somewhat thrilled. This was the perfect chance to get their voices heard—with permission this time, that is. But with the boy sulking as he was, the man was sure the teen would not take advantage of this. No matter. He would just have to coax the boy to do as he wanted!

"Call for a recess," Vlad whispered urgently to his lawyer.

"Why?" Spektanto asked, confused.

"Because I have to go to the bathroom!" the man growled, annoyed by the spirit's hesitance.

"Can't you wait?" the lawyer asked, annoyed. "We have one last set of evidence."

"That's exactly why!" Vlad answered with exasperation.

"Huh?"

Vlad's eyes flashed red. "You either call the break willingly or I'm going to make a scene right now which includes me strangling you!" he whispered darkly.

Spektanto jolted to his feet. "Honorable Tribune. Prisoner 484 requests a brief pause. He… needs to use the….bathroom."

Everyone blinked at Vlad, before the judge asked, somewhat annoyed, "Can you not wait?"

"No. _We_ cannot wait," the man answered, looking over to Danny.

But Danny frowned in confusion at Vlad, having no clue what the man was talking about.

Justeco looked over at Danny and asked, "You require a restroom break as well?"

Still looking perplexed, the boy then turned to the judge and was about to shake his head 'no' when Vlad suddenly slammed his foot down on the teen's own, instantly tearing a painful yelp from his mouth in response. The teen quickly attempted to grab his aching foot, but because his hands were tied and the table was in the way all he could do was cross his legs and squirm in pain. Of course, those viewing all perceived it as something else...

"Well, that's an obvious 'yes'," the judge muttered as he watched the boy squirm in discomfort. "Very well. We will take a ten minute recess. Prison Head Iluzisto, escort the two prisoners to the nearest required facilities."

Iluzisto had not bought the two hybrids' act, but still nodded and walked over to them.

Danny and Vlad stood; and the teen didn't hesitate to lift his leg to try to nurse his aching foot. It looked quite awkward, though, when he was trying to do it with tied hands…

"You better make haste, Prison Head," the judge muttered, clearly disturbed with the thought of the teen having 'an accident' in his courtroom.

Iluzisto resisted the urge to roll his eye and just grabbed both of the half-ghosts by a shoulder and pushed them forward.

As soon as they were out of the Council Room, Iluzisto suddenly chuckled, "You crossbreeds are clever creatures. But know I will not tolerate any little escape attempts if that's what you have in mind," the spirit warned, squeezing Vlad's shoulder a bit in threat as they stopped at a doorway. "You both have two minutes."

Vlad grunted as he was shoved forward, and hearing a yelp from the teen beside him only confirmed that Daniel had also been pushed. But neither said anything and just entered the bathroom.

Danny was the first to speak as soon as they had entered. "What gives, you jerk? You almost broke my foot!"

"Ah, yes. Well, I had to get you to come with me somehow," the man replied with a smirk.

"Why? Are you like the girls in my school who can't go to the bathroom by themselves or something?" Danny asked, rolling his eyes.

"Hilarious," he said dryly. "Though I suppose I should be glad to see that you still have your wits about you, such as they are. In any case, the reason I brought you out here is because we need to do something to turn this trial in our favor. If you have not noticed things are _not_ going well for us."

"Look, I don't really care about that. They obviously have already made up their minds about us before this lame trial began. I'm going to find a way out of here. And I suppose now is a good a time as any. Excuse me," Danny said as he walked off towards an air shaft near the hand sinks that he had just spied.

Vlad growled before quickly walking after the teenager. "What are you doing, Daniel? It is pointless to try to escape now, especially when we have these inhibitors on our necks and our hands in cuffs! Oh, and let's not forget that our wonderful warden is right outside! Listen, boy, the logical thing to do for now is try to defend ourselves from those narrow-minded fools! And you are about to get on the stand! This is your chance to let our voice be heard in this ridiculous matter!"

"You mean **your** voice," Danny grunted as he climbed up on the sink and attempted to reach the vent.

"Technicalities," Vlad said flippantly with a wave of his hand. "The important thing is that you counter that blasted time spirit's accusations. It will be simple, considering his 'evidence' has as many holes as the Observants' brains. Now, while you're up there, I want you to—"

"Time's up, crossbreeds. Come out," Iluzisto suddenly said from right outside, cutting Vlad off.

"Apple strudels!" Vlad cursed, before abruptly grabbing Danny around the waist and throwing him over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Danny shouted as he struggled to pull himself from the older hybrid even as he was taken into one of the bathroom stalls. "Let go, Plasmius! I'm not in the mood for your lame ideas right now, alright?"

Vlad roughly sat the teen on the toilet seat, before turning around and locking the bathroom door. Before the boy could say anything, the man grabbed his face and glared. "You listen well, you little brat! I have just been made a fool at least two times in there. And somehow, it is because of something _you_ did! Now, you are going to do as I say whether you want to or not! And I strongly recommend you to 'want to' because if they find us guilty, we are **never** getting out of here!"

"Didn't I already tell you? There is no 'we', Plasmius!" Danny growled back, pushing the man's hand away from his face while trying to stand up at the same time. But as soon as the man shoved him back down, Danny said more firmly, "There is only 'me' and 'you'. And right now, 'me' is going to find a way to escape to save my parents before that twisted thing outside can get to them, too! And, 'you', you can do whatever the heck you want! Just leave me out of it!"

Vlad shoved the boy back down again and was about to argue back when he heard the bathroom door slam open.

"You two are truly trying my patience!" Iluzisto said angrily. "Come out here! Or you will feel what those devices on your necks can really do!"

The billionaire tensed slightly, before looking back at Danny. "You'll have to forgive me, dear boy," the man suddenly whispered, though he sounded anything but sorry.

Danny stared in confusion, but before he could ask what the man was talking about, he got his answer a moment later when Vlad slammed his fist into his stomach.

The boy's mouth opened in unspoken pain as he leaned forward to grab his burning stomach. But he suddenly fell off the toilet when he found he couldn't breathe. Although it seemed like forever, his lungs finally responded and he began to cough loudly as he tried to take in oxygen.

Iluzisto frowned from the outside as he heard the boy's shaky breathing and rough coughs and noises. To him, Danny sounded like he was throwing up. And his suspicion was confirmed when the older half-ghost suddenly poked his head out from the bathroom stall.

"Think we could have just one more minute? Poor boy is sick. I think it was that food you gave us," Vlad said innocently.

"Very well. And do not worry, I never planned on giving you such privileged food again…," Iluzisto said angrily.

Vlad briefly frowned, but then just closed the stall door again and turned to Danny who was slowly getting off the floor. However, the teen gasped when a hand gripped at his hair painfully, before a face was right in front of his.

"You're right, Daniel. There is no 'we'. But there is also no, 'you'. There is only 'me'. And right now, 'me' wants to focus on this trial. And you will help _me_!" the man whispered darkly to him, before abruptly grabbing one of his arms and lifting the teen to his feet.

Before Danny could say anything, Vlad unlocked the door and shoved him out of the stall. Still in pain, the boy grabbed onto his stomach and slowly walked over to the sink. But even though he was very angry, he didn't look at Iluzisto.

Vlad, who had stopped right beside Iluzisto, smiled calmly at the spirit and said, "Perhaps they could postpone the rest of trial. As you can see, the boy is unwell…"

The illusionist spirit stared back at the man, before coldly replying, "As amusing as your antics may be, crossbreed, they can only do so much for you when it comes to me. So then, I strongly suggest you go sanitize your hands before my amusement wears off."

Vlad frowned before sighing and walking over to a sink himself.

Once the two were done, Iluzisto wasted no time and returned to the Council Room with the half-ghosts.

Everyone was already seated and waiting for them.

"Prison Head, please escort prisoner 485 to the witness stand," Justeco ordered.

Vlad frowned as he was taken back to his seat next to Spektanto before Iluzisto took Danny to the assigned location. The teen still looked slightly pained from the blow to his stomach, but he still silently sat down.

The teen finally locked eyes with Clockwork, who was near the stand when Danny had approached his seat.

But as they waited for the judge to resume the trial and for the Council to approve—and to the teen's surprise—the time spirit discreetly approached him and whispered an aside, "You look unwell, Danny…"

"What do you think?" the teen quietly hissed back. "You let Iluzisto... M-My friends and sister…" But the boy could not get all that he wanted to say out without losing it a bit; instead he narrowed his glossy eyes at his mentor and hatefully choked out, "How could you?"

Clockwork didn't reply and briefly looked around and saw that the Observants were still busy with one another. But the time spirit quickly noticed that his private conversation with the child had Vlad and Iluzisto's attention—not that they could hear it, though.

"Perhaps you require that we continue tomorrow…You may have not been properly informed, but you do have every right to request a continuance. I strongly recommend you do so…" Clockwork spoke, though he kept his gaze forward.

"I do not care about what you recommend anymore! You're as big a jerk as Iluzisto!" the teen hissed in response.

"I do what I must, Danny," Clockwork repeated, before moving away from the teen and towards the viewing glass.

But Danny frowned in both anger and confusion even as his glare chased after the Master of Time. Just why the heck did Clockwork even bother to talk to him if all the time spirit was going to do was cause even more trouble for him in the end? What was the point?

"Master Prosecutor, you may continue with your case," the Tribune said.

Clockwork nodded before pulling up an image and everyone gasped at the sudden sight of Danny's evil future self. The teen himself was staring at the image dumbstruck in disbelief, while Vlad looked utterly lost.

"Order!" Justeco demanded, quickly silencing everyone.

"Before I question the accused on the stand, I would like to show my next set of evidence against him," Clockwork continued. "As you all know, Danny Phantom's future was once so bleak that this very Council asked me to intervene in the matter. In the course of these events, Danny Phantom traveled to the future, allowing his dark-self to break the time stream's laws and travel to the past to assure his existence—an existence that was a result of _his own_ wrong choices."

Danny could no longer keep quiet and he hotly exclaimed, "But I fixed everything! I changed my choice!"

"Order!" the judge ordered, rapping his mallet.

"Correction, Danny Phantom," Clockwork tersely replied, turning towards the boy. "You still made the wrong choice. If anyone is responsible for what transpired from there, it is I. I stepped in. I intervened. And now, I have your dark-self under my supervision, imprisoned by the very device you trapped him in…"

Danny could not find anything to say to that. All this time, he thought he had made a difference, that _he_ had fixed everything regarding his dark past… Isn't that what his mentor had told him that day? So why was he saying something completely different now? But, Clockwork was right… He would have cheated if the Time Master hadn't have stepped in… right? No! That wasn't right! He tried to fix things! That had to count for something!

As the teen debated his fault in the matter, Vlad was just staring at the picture of Danny's evil-self. He couldn't believe it. Daniel… the boy who used his powers for good. The child who he was sure had never purposely hurt a person in his life… The teen whom he wanted as his perfect son… He… He had turned… evil? How? Why? He wanted to say it was impossible, but the evidence was right in front of him. That creature on the screen was indeed Danny Phantom… but there was something not so 'Danny Phantom' about him as well… But the man just couldn't place his finger on it…

But Clockwork soon answered his question.

"This creature I am showing to this Council caused many misfortunes in his timeline. And his creation is the fault of not only the accused here on the stand, but also of the other accused," the time ghost said, pointing his staff at Vlad.

"What? That's preposterous! I was not even aware of that creature's existence!" Vlad exclaimed.

"Order!" Justeco demanded, before looking at Iluzisto, "Prison Head Iluzisto, silence prisoner 484!"

"Just a moment," Clockwork intervened. "I ask that this Council to allow the other accused to voice his thoughts. After all, he makes a valid point."

"What say you, High Council?" Justeco asked.

This time, there was dissention among the Council members, but when most agreed, Vlad sighed in relief as Iluzisto put away the remote he had taken out.

Clockwork then intoned, "You might not be aware of the happenings, Vlad Plasmius, but because evil Phantom still exists, you are still held accountable for his existence. _Your_ future self's wrong choices began from the moment the future Danny Phantom's parents died due to _his_ wrong choices. As noble as your future self's intentions might have been in that timeline, taking the boy in was his own downfall."

Vlad was shocked into silence. But Clockwork ignored him, and turned his attention back to the Council. "However, we are not here to discuss the existence of Dark Phantom, but the evidence does show that the two accused have tampered with the timeline. As you can see from these next images, Danny Phantom altered the timeline by interfering in it during these mentioned events. But this would not have been possible without Vlad Plasmius' own intervention."

The time spirit brought up an image of the future Vlad approaching the present Danny with the ghost gauntlets. "By removing the time medallion fused within Danny Phantom, the future Vlad Masters aided in the boy's return to his time, which effectively led to more changes to both the future and present timelines."

"Now, then, if this evidence is accepted, I shall proceed to my questioning of the accused on the stand…" Clockwork said. And upon hearing the chants of agreement from the Council, the time ghost moved over to Danny, who looked very emotionally distressed.

Vlad was not faring too well himself. All these discoveries were just so much to take in. He didn't know how to react to the fact that Danny Phantom had an evil self that was created by his and the boy's hand. And Maddie had died? He had taken Daniel in? …The boy had come to him for help…?

As the billionaire continued to mull all these finding around in his head, he half-listened to Clockwork, though the man had all but forgotten about how he wanted to turn the trial in their favor…

"Danny Phantom, by the earlier evidence presented against you, would it be just to say that you learned _nothing_ from these future events? From _this_ mistake?" Clockwork asked, pointing at the viewing glass as an image of the boy's evil self reappeared on it.

Danny stared at his evil self for a moment before looking back at Clockwork, "You know I learned a lot from that! You know that I'm not evil! I use my powers for good!" he defended himself fiercely.

"Are you sure about that?" the time spirit asked calmly. "How do you know? How can you prove you are not evil? That you are different than your alternate future self? You need solid evidence in a trial, Danny. Show this Council evidence of what you claim with so much assurance."

The boy stared at the time spirit, uncertainty falling over his eyes. Wasn't his good deeds obvious? Then, how was Clockwork now proving the opposite? What did this mean? No, he was _good!_

"I'm not evil!" Danny shouted. "You—You know that. _I_ know that!"

Vlad's full attention returned to the teen with his shout. But the boy looked terribly upset and confused. And the billionaire quickly realized what Clockwork was doing. It was a technique many legal representatives used to win their trials. They confused their witnesses, they twisted their words and questions to get them to admit to whatever they wanted them to without their realizing it!

He had to put a stop to this now, suddenly regretting for insisting that the boy take the stand! Daniel was already distraught and unfocused from the death of his sister and friends! He was more than an easy target! And if this continued, the boy would surely end up condemning them both!

"I know what the evidence shows me," Clockwork replied. "And that is what this Council knows and will only acknowledge. So, I ask you, Danny Phantom, what more have you done but commit mistakes that have affected the time stream ever since you came to be?"

Danny shook his head. "I-I-I…", he stammered before stopping. He could not find a way to defend himself.

"You have to object to this!" Vlad hissed at Spektanto. "He's pressuring him! That's illegal!"

"He is questioning him," the lawyer replied seriously. "I cannot object to simpl_e_ questions, unless they held direct accusation."

"And what the blazes do you think he's doing?" Vlad snapped, his hand slamming against the table.

"I suggest you calm yourself, unless you want to be removed from this room," Spektanto advised.

The man's glare darkened, but suddenly an idea came to his mind, and a smirk tugged on his lips as he turned back to Clockwork and Danny. He had hoped to have _their voices heard_. Well, this would be as good as that, especially when he _had_ to put an end to this at all costs…

"You so vigorously fight against the other accused, Vlad Plasmius," Clockwork continued, speaking to Danny with a calm voice. "And yet, everything we have seen here has shown you and him, _hand-in-hand_, tampering with Time's natural order. So, my next question is, are you truly fighting for a good cause? Or should I ask, what makes you better than Vlad Plasmius when it is apparent that you are both as equally involved in the evidence thus shown?"

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but still couldn't find how to reply. He was beyond confused and troubled, especially when the time spirit had actually showed a bit of concern just before his questioning. And now….now…

"By your silence," Clockwork spoke up again when the teen didn't. "I think the Council understands your answer…"

"No!" Vlad suddenly shouted, standing up. "The boy is not answering because the real answer is that he is _**completely**_ guilty of all these charges! We are not equally involved in these affairs because most of the fault falls on him!"

Danny stared wide-eyed at his arch-enemy, shocked by his words. But, suddenly, he became furious and all his previous doubts vanished from his mind as he quickly stood and shouted back, "My fault? You're the one who stole the map from me and made me chase you all over the place! You're the one who forced me into that other whole mess because of your stupid ecto-acne! And YOU are the one who agreed to rip out my humanity!"

"Order!" the judge demanded, only to be totally ignored.

"Oh, please, Daniel!" Vlad scoffed, though he was internally smirking. "All this time you have pretended to be some _hero_, but now I see that you are nothing but a hypocrite! You are not better than me. You are _worse_ than me! And your proof is in the formation of that horrid creature!"

"Yeah? Well he's HALF of YOU!" Danny screamed back to Vlad.

The billionaire was suddenly shocked by the fact; but he quickly pushed it aside and retorted to the teen's accusation. "Why don't you just admit the truth, Daniel? It would save us all the time. Whatever that creature may be, it is still _your_ future!"

"He is NOT my future! I promised them I would never turn evil and I will keep that promise!" Danny growled back with determination.

"I said, ORDER!" the judge continued to demand as he banged his gravel, but now, even the entire room was in an uproar.

"Keep it to whom? Your parents?" Vlad asked, a cruel smirk on his lips. "Because I think we both know that they are all you have left now…"

Danny finally snapped with the comment; and with a furious scream, he jumped over the witness stand and lunged at Vlad.

The man, not having expected the teen to move so quickly, gasped when he was suddenly falling back in his chair after Danny collided into him.

Spektanto yelped in terror and backed away from the squabbling half-ghosts.

"You heartless jerk!" Danny screamed as he swung at his enemy—or more like clobbered him with his tied hands.

But Vlad was grinning as he held his own tied hands up in order to provide himself with some protection against the furious teenager. "I told you I'd get you to do what I want…" he suddenly said smugly.

Danny instantly halted, his eyes shooting up in surprise. But then, his anger returned ten-fold. However, before he could do anything, a jolt of pain rushed down his spine and he screamed. Vlad soon followed him as the collar also electrocuted him.

But Danny was too fueled by rage to just sit there and take it anymore. In spite of the pain, the teen got to his feet and seeing Iluzisto coming at him, he charged at the spirit with all the hate he felt for him for what he had done to his loved ones.

**"Ahh!"** the boy screamed as he slammed into Iluzisto, actually knocking him down.

Everyone gasped, even Vlad, when the pain suddenly relented when the controls slipped out of the illusionist's hands.

"Wow…," Vlad muttered, genuinely surprised by the boy's ferocity.

But the boy didn't get very far in his attempt. Using his unique powers, Iluzisto forced a fake image of the boy's loved ones dead and covered in blood into his mind, which instantly got the boy to back off with a scream of horror.

The illusionist spirit wasted no time and got back up. He quickly dispelled the illusion, before picking up the remotes and pressing down on both of them without any hesitation.

Vlad and Danny found themselves writhing and screaming on the floor again until their throats were raw and they were an inch from unconsciousness.

A deep silence rang in the room once Iluzisto interrupted his punishment, leaving both half-ghosts panting on the ground.

It was the judge that broke the stillness.

"It is most unfortunate that your behavior forces us to bring this to such extremes. But the fault is your own. And for your misconduct, I am adjourning this trial until tomorrow. Take them away, Prison Head. And make sure they understand the severity of their misconduct," Justeco said coldly, before banging the gravel.

Iluzisto angrily called to the previous two guards who had escorted the two hybrids with him earlier and ordered them to lift Danny and Vlad to their feet. Without so much as a struggle from the two weakened and dazed half-ghosts, the two guards roughly grabbed each of them by an arm and dragged the hybrids out of the Council Room with Iluzisto leading the way.

Everyone just watched as the two prisoners were taken away.

By the time the two hybrids had returned to the prison, they had regained some of their senses. Vlad dazedly watched as Iluzisto grabbed the pair of keys hanging right next to the cell hall's entrance.

"I will take it from here," Iluzisto said to the two guards, who nodded before roughly letting go of Danny and Vlad.

"I told you two that your antics would only humor me for so long," the illusionist spirit said darkly, internally fuming from the embarrassment to which the two—especially the young one—had just subjected him.

They were going to pay dearly for this…

And Vlad and Danny knew that when the spirit raised his deadly staff towards them. Unfortunately, all they could do was take a step back and brace themselves.

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**A/N: Truephan here! Hope you liked the first day of the hybrids' trial. And to think, there are two days left of it! We shall have to wait and see what happens! Thanks for reading and for showing your support by pushing that little blue review button! It'll help you digest your Thanksgiving meal! Until next time! ****  
**

**Pearl: Ah, yes, two days left of trail... heh. But so much will happen in between and than some more! *evil laugh* Ahem. Uh, that was Vlad muse, not me! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and we did give it a slightly evil ending. But, you know, gotta keep you guys hooked! *grins***

**Well, while you guys reply to this chapter, I'll be looking over CM and will posting that late tonight! Until then, and thank you all for the support!**


	11. Chapter 11: Worse Than Reality

**Pearl: Merry Christmas. Heh! Look, you all get a twisted Christmas gift! Lol! Ah, well, what else can you expect from two writers with evil muses? Anyways, I hope you guys like it. I'll admit, I had fun with this one. But I would… and you'll see why. Heh! Well, enough said over to your other author!**

**A/N: truephan here: ****I agree with pearl, well, at least my muse does! **Merry Christmas to all you wonderful readers! And thank you for your patience with our being late with updating this story. I had some unexpected serious issues for the past few weeks which ate up most of my spare time. But things are in the healing process enough for us to get to back to the story. And, of course, I hope you find it worth the wait. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

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**Chapter 11: Worse than Reality **

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Vlad quickly turned into his ghost form just before Iluzisto's strong beam hit him in the abdomen. The man went flying back down the hallway and skidded to a halt about a yard from his jail cell.

Danny, on the other hand, did not turn ghost, but had managed to roll away from the attack. However, because the corridor was so small, the energy blast still had managed to graze his leg and the boy screamed in pain.

But seeing Iluzisto aim his staff at him again, the boy quickly got to his feet and finally morphed into Phantom.

However, when he saw the Prison Head's eye gleam with wickedness, Danny knew he had just made a big mistake.

The boy yelped as the spirit closed the distance between them faster than he could blink. Even so, Danny quickly moved when Iluzisto then attempted to jab the needle part of his weapon into his chest.

Now a bit panicked since he knew he was still defenseless and in the line of fire, Danny took off running as fast as his injured leg would let him in the only direction open to him: the opposite one. Too bad it would do him little good, for he was headed toward his prison cell—and, coincidentally, where the older hybrid had also ended up.

Iluzisto just chuckled at the sight. He knew he could easily subdue both crossbreeds with the press of a button; but letting them _think_ they had a chance of escaping his wrath just made things more interesting for him.

The illusionist spirit scanned over to where the older of his two victims was and saw that the man was still on the ground, a hand pressed firmly against his stomach. By the small drops of green blood falling in between the man's hands and his dulled ghostly aura, Iluzisto knew he had gotten a solid hit on him. The older crossbreed was smart, though. He had almost instantly turned into a ghost. He must have known that in his more vulnerable human form, the hit would have at the very least taken him completely out. Then again, to Iluzisto, what was the more vulnerable part, _the real prize_, was their ghost forms…

Meanwhile, Danny halted right in his tracks and gasped as soon as he saw Vlad's bleeding form. But he then quickly noticed that something else wasn't right about the older hybrid. Plasmius' ghostly aura was much dimmer than it usually was. Now more worried after seeing that, Danny reflexively hurried to the man's side.

The teen helped Vlad to his feet as he fearfully asked, "Are you okay?"

The man glared weakly at him, and the teen cringed and added, "Uh, standard question?"

Vlad was about to respond when he suddenly noticed Iluzisto was just a few yards from them.

Danny also gasped at the sight. How had the spirit moved so quickly from the other end of the hall to them? So not good!

"Drop your ghost form, Daniel! Now!" Vlad quickly exclaimed as he forced his injured and weak body to support his weight.

Danny turned human without hesitation; but seeing the man had not done the same, he quickly asked, "What about you?"

"I'm severely injured. It would be unwise to do so just yet…," Vlad nervously replied as he stumbled back a bit, before supporting his weight on the wall beside him.

The teen swallowed hard and choked a bit when he could see that Iluzisto was getting even closer. But then, why didn't the jerk just turn on their collars? Oh, yeah. He liked all that _other_ torture! Still, _he_ wasn't just going to wait for it! He hurriedly glanced back at their cells. Vlad's cell was left open! And that just gave him an idea.

He frantically, yet quietly, told the man, "Keep him busy. I'll be right back!"

"Sure, I'll talk to him about the weather," Vlad retorted with a roll of his eyes, even though the teen did not hear it.

Iluzisto just briefly glanced after the boy when he ran off towards the older crossbreed's open cell. Hmmm. The boy wasn't that impressive after all, since he just had run away like a pitiful scared animal. No matter. The younger crossbreed had nowhere to run and was defenseless. He had plenty of time to deal with him. But for now, it was time to make the older crossbreed regret everything he had done in the courtroom moments ago.

And seeing Iluzisto close in on the remaining distance between them, Plasmius grinned nervously at him as he asked, "So, how's the weather outside these walls, hmm?"

"It should not matter to you when you will never see anything _past_ these walls ever again," Iluzisto answered as he raised his staff.

But much to the surprise of the illusionist ghost, Vlad quickly darted forward and seized both of the spirit's wrists, stopping him from using that evil weapon to harm him even more. However, the man now knew that he was caught in a battle of strength; and with his powers impaired and with his injury, he was quickly losing. Still, he had no other choice at this point.

Iluzisto stared darkly at the grunting half-ghost as he slowly inched the needle closer to the man's chest in spite of his hold on him.

"Silly creature," he said with a chuckle. "I do not need my staff to take what I want from you…"

Vlad's eyes widened just as he saw his body begin to glow. His energy rapidly began to leave his body and then be absorbed into his attacker. But with a gasp, the man quickly let go of Iluzisto, only to have the illusionist spirit swing his staff right at his face.

"Ahh!" the older hybrid screamed as he spun from the hit before falling to the ground face first.

But before Vlad could even roll over to face his attacker—much less pull himself back up into a stand—Iluzisto jumped on top of him. He then quickly shoved his staff under the man's neck, grasped his staff firmly on either side of Vlad's neck, and yanked it upward.

Iluzisto didn't hesitate to push up against the man's windpipe…

Even as Vlad began to choke, his instincts took over. And knowing that his unfortunate position didn't allow him to push the spirit off of him, he grabbed the thick rod instead and tried to pull it away.

"How long can you crossbreeds go without air in your ghost forms?" Iluzisto whispered darkly in his ear.

"You're insane!" Plasmius shouted, only to hoarsely cough when the staff was pressed firmly against his wind pipe, effectively cutting of his oxygen supply completely.

But before Vlad could panic, he heard quiet footsteps coming towards them. And yet, Iluzisto was so entertained by what he was doing that he did not...

"Hey! Have some leftovers!" Danny, now back in his ghost form, suddenly yelled as he slammed the metal food tray he had grabbed from inside Vlad's cell against Iluzisto's head.

The spirit shouted in pain as he fell right on top of Vlad.

That was enough of a jolt to have energy surge through the man. He quickly jabbed his elbow back, slamming it right into the illusionist spirit's gut. Right then, he got out from under the spirit and got to his feet; but not before grabbing a hold of the staff that the spirit had accidently let slip from his hand.

"What are you doing?" Danny exclaimed when he saw Vlad raise the staff at Iluzisto, the pointed end aimed at his fallen form.

"Let's see how he likes it," the man replied darkly.

"Look, you're wasting time! But if you want to go all revenge-happy, then fine. _I'm_ using this small bit of luck to try to escape. See ya!" Danny quickly said, before sprinting down the cell hall as fast as his injured leg could carry him.

Vlad frowned as he looked up after the boy. And it was when he realized that the door at the end of the hallway was wide open. But hadn't the guards secured it?

No, something was wrong here.

"Daniel!" the man shouted as he realized the truth.

But it was too late.

Iluzisto, who in actuality had never moved from the doorway and had simply been in stealth mode the whole time, suddenly materialized in front of the teen just as he reached the open doorway. The Master Prison Head quickly seized the boy by the throat, and the teen yelped in alarm as he was lifted off his feet.

"You two are too easy," he said with a loud laugh before he used his hold on the boy to quickly absorb his energy.

Vlad gasped as Daniel was completely drained of energy. In fact, the teen unwillingly turned human; and with a fist to his face, compliments of the evil spirit, the boy was knocked right out.

The man instantly glanced down at the 'Iluzisto' on the ground that he and Daniel had supposedly beaten. And he now knew that it was all an illusion even before 'Iluzisto' dissolved before his very eyes, as did the staff from his hands and the appearance of the open door.

The spirit had been playing them from the beginning.

"Did you honestly think I would be that easy to defeat?" Iluzisto asked as he neared him with an unconscious Danny still being held by the throat.

Vlad reflexively became human and took several steps back. Still charged with adrenaline, he ignored the wet warmness still staining his abdomen from his previous injury. He could tell that he had now healed enough for it to not be deadly—but it was still pretty bad. Still, whatever happened, the man was determined to not allow this creature to take his ghost energy.

Not having any other choice, Vlad stood firm and waited for the inevitable. But just as Iluzisto stopped in front of him, the older hybrid briefly glanced at Danny, who still hadn't stirred.

However, it was at that moment that the billionaire finally noticed something about**—**or more precisely**—**_on_ Iluzisto. And now that he thought about it, up to now, he had only seen the spirit's hands during their dealings. But now, he could clearly see both of Iluzisto's wrists. And on the wrist holding Daniel—no, not one, but on _both_ of his wrists—he was wearing strange-looking black bands. And why were they pulsing and glowing?

Vlad quickly pushed aside the question, when he turned his gaze back to Iluzisto. But the spirit was just staring at him, as if sizing him up.

This greatly unnerved the billionaire, but he hid it and instead pursed his lips together, and coldly asked, "What is it that you want?"

Vlad was now sure that this spirit's plans had nothing to do with the Observants. He was after something; and whatever it was, Iluzisto believed he could use him and Daniel to obtain it.

"What I want?" Iluzisto repeated calmly. "It is the same thing that you both want…"

Before Vlad could even conclude what he meant, Iluzisto suddenly raised his staff and thrust it right into the man's abdomen. The older hybrid gasped as his healing wound was suddenly reopened by the attack; and as he staggered back and pressed a hand against his freely bleeding stomach again, he began to feel extremely light-headed.

His only chance of not passing out and not risking never waking again was to switch to his ghost form. But that was exactly what the evil spirit wanted.

And by the smug look on Iluzisto's face, he knew he was right.

"Come on, cross-breed. Are you going to chance dying?" he asked amused.

The color was quickly draining from Vlad's face and he shut his eyes, willing himself to not instinctively switch to his ghost form. He was done being manipulated and used by this spirit. And if it meant he was going to die in order to defy this creature, then so be it!

Iluzisto suddenly became angry when he realized just what the man was thinking. "Fool! Change your form, now!"

"I-I will no longer be your power supply, you wretched creature!" Vlad spat out with as much bravado as he could muster under the circumstances. "L-Let's see w-what you t-tell _your masters_, the Observants, w-when you are one h-hybrid short t-tomorrow."

The Prison Head suddenly yelled angrily and threw Danny's unconscious form at the billionaire. Vlad, too weak to even keep his own weight up, quickly was thrown back with the addition of the boy's weight. As he fell to a heap on the ground, with Danny on top of him, he began to gasp for air. Everything was quickly getting dark. But when he heard the sound of charging ghost energy, he looked up and his blurry eyes widened as he stared at the energy aimed right at him and the boy.

"I am my OWN Master, do you hear me? I answer to NO ONE; especially not the Observants!" Iluzisto shouted in fury.

Vlad managed a weak smirk. "Looks like the illusionist does not want to face his reality…"

"Why you conniving _freak!_" the spirit growled darkly as he stepped closer to the older hybrid. He quickly grabbed Vlad by the throat; then having no trouble shoving the unconscious boy off, wrenched Vlad up. "You think you can play with me? You dare anger me when I know your every weakness? I am going to make you break, crossbreed! And I'm going to start by pressing a sore spot you think you don't have."

Vlad gasped as Iluzisto raised his weapon again, but to his relief and horror, he did not fire it at him, he fired it at the unconscious younger hybrid on the ground.

"No!" the man screamed as he saw the boy's human body tumble a few feet away from the attack.

But Iluzisto just fired another beam of hot energy at the teen, sending him back even further.

The man suddenly forgot about the fact that he was still bleeding freely as he saw red liquid begin to spill from the teenager's fallen form. And when the evil Prison Head fired yet another shot, Vlad cried out, "Stop it! You're going to kill him!"

"Just your enemy, huh?" Iluzisto taunted evilly, before firing again.

Vlad squeezed his eyes close as he heard the boy's body thump once more. But then suddenly, he morphed to his ghost form and quietly said, "Enough. Please."

Iluzisto's large eye curved into a victorious grin. "You are too fun," he said, before the spirit quickly drained him of his ghost energy.

Vlad gasped softly; but to his surprise, he knew that Iluzisto had not drained him completely, or else he would not have been able to hold his ghost form. And that was in its own sick way, good. Had his energy been totally depleted, he would have unwittingly changed back into his human form, and because of the wound, that would only have meant disaster for his human form.

"We can't have you changing back until that large gash heals. But, since you are more tolerant to injury in this form, let's add a bit more…"

The older hybrid screamed as an energy blast at his chest sent him flying back; so much that he came to a stop only when his back slammed against Danny's closed cell door.

Iluzisto chuckled as he commented, "I wonder if the younger crossbreed knows of your care for him… Or, is it that he knows, and still rejects you? Such irony indeed."

Vlad ignored the comment and looked weakly up at Danny. But to his horror, the boy's motionless and very white body was in a large puddle of blood.

"You…You…" the man choked on his words, certain that the boy was dead.

But then before he could properly react, he saw the sight of Danny's dead lifeless body vanish before his eyes… It had all been an illusion. An illusion simply meant to trick him into changing forms.

Vlad's eyes slowly traveled down the hall and he found Daniel's real form, still motionless on the ground; but there was no blood or signs of any damage aside from his being drained of his ghost energy and his injured leg.

"Oh? Did I just trick you?" Iluzisto teased as he walked up to the man.

Still ghost, Vlad's teeth clenched just before he snapped. With a sudden cry of anger, he sprung to his feet and lunged at the spirit. But before he could even close in the distance between them, a wall of fire appeared in front of the man, quickly acting as a burning barrier.

But knowing it was an illusion, Vlad shut his eyes and willed his mind to mentally dissipate what his eyes perceived as true. It took him only a second; and when he opened his eyes again, the illusion was gone. He locked on his target, just a few feet away; and faster than Iluzisto could react, Vlad drew his right fist back and then swung at the spirit's one-eyed face as hard as he could.

There was a loud 'bam' before Iluzisto cried out in pain, and staggered back in surprise. But Vlad did not let him recover, and rapidly stalked forward, a deadly look in his eyes.

"I told you I did not need my ghost powers to make you pay," he whispered darkly as he brought his hand back, ready to land another punch.

But before he could, Iluzisto focused his now bloodshot eye on the man; and faster than he could react, the spirit pulled out the remote controlling Vlad's collar from his suit and pressed the button that activated it.

A charge traveled through Vlad's entire body, ripping out a scream of agony from his throat. But he somehow focused enough even as he was in pain to glare at Iluzisto and attempt to lunge at him again.

But now, the Prison Head was ready; and just as the older crossbreed came at him, Iluzisto fired another beam of energy at the man's chest, this time knocking him back into his own cell.

Suddenly clouded by his own fury, Iluzisto intensified the strength of the collar and the screaming man fell against the invisible shield in between his and Danny's cell, which strangely enough, intensified the shock going through Plasmius' body...

One of Vlad's hands grabbed against the assaulting collar, while his other hand was against the shield as he unsuccessfully tried to grasp onto something that would help him withstand the agony.

Iluzisto growled and turned from the writhing man to pick up the younger hybrid. As he did, Vlad's cry slowly fell away, and he suddenly passed out, his rings quickly changing him to his human form.

It was only until then that Iluzisto turned off the collar's attack. "Let's see you recover quickly from that one, freak," he spat at the man.

Angry from the pain throbbing through his injured eyeball, he threw Danny on his bed as soon as he had entered the boy's cell. But then he spied something nearby. And remembering he could not let the child keep his loved ones' possessions if he was to keep his personal doings a secret from the Observants, Iluzisto quickly grabbed the blood-stained bracelet and other items and slipped them in his pocket.

And just because he was feeling spiteful, he took Danny's remaining food away and would have done the same with the man's own if it had not been littering the ground in the hallway. They would not be eating anything else until he felt like it!

He quickly locked up the two half-ghost's cells, before storming down the hall. He then placed the pair of keys on their holder; and just before he left, he groaned in pain as he held his eye and thought, _"That older crossbreed can sure throw a punch..."_

As silence returned back to the cell rooms, the sound of a soft sizzling sound coming from the now flickering shield between the half-ghosts could be heard. And as the transparent barrier continued to turn on and off, the collar around Vlad's neck released a soft fume of white smoke…

* * *

Iluzisto was angrily cursing to himself as he stood in front of a mirror and nursed his swollen eye. "Wretched, crossbreeds! They both deserved the power of my wrath and more! In fact, I should have killed the older one instead of just leaving him with a festering wound! He should have known better than to trifle with me!"

He growled a bit more when he then thought of the other. He knew he had overdone it, but, ultimately, they had brought all of it on themselves! They had defied his patience and brought out his ire! However, even then, he had kept in mind that he couldn't kill them, which only had infuriated him more at the moment. They were _extremely_ lucky he needed them alive for his plans—at least, for now. But he knew they would recover enough for the next day of their trial. Still, he couldn't deny he had let his fury get the better of him when it came to the older crossbreed….

But Iluzisto suddenly paused as he muttered, "No matter, I needed to push them to their limits—and make sure that they fear me, anyways…And I am not being disappointed. I am also learning more about the two. I have to admit, the older hybrid's strength is impressive… Any lesser creature would have died with such a serious wound, even when he had been willing to do so…"

As he leaned closer to the mirror to examine his swollen eye, his thoughts turned to the younger crossbreed. The child had surprised him as well. Not only had he dared defy him, but the boy had come to the older one's defense even when he himself was vulnerable. Interesting.

"But not as interesting as his and the other crossbreed's very unique energy," Iluzisto said out loud with a hungry tone of voice. "Still, they indeed are as dangerous as the infernal Council believes…But as soon as I am sure of knowing the intensity of their strength and power, I will finally be able to acquire the needed energy from them to escape my own bonds. And then, I will do them both in with my own two hands!"

As he continued to grumble as he thought about all the ways he could still not only test their strength but bring more suffering on the half-ghosts for their defiance, a clock hand appeared to the left of the spirit and began to spin.

Iluzisto failed to notice it, though; so he also did not know he now had company until the being spoke.

"Having troubles?"

Iluzisto jolted, before whirling to face the new voice. "Clockwork!" he exclaimed in his surprise. But he quickly got over it, and suddenly reached for his staff nearby, and pointed it menacingly at the time spirit. "You are trying my patience, Time Master! You might be the Observants' _favorite_ but I will only take so much of your egotism! And I will only take so much of your barging into my prison without my consent!"

"Favorite?" Clockwork repeated as if it was the only thing he heard, while raising an eyebrow with the word. "I honestly doubt that. In any case, I did not come to measure my status with yours. Although, if it concerns you so much, you could always bow before their feet. I'm sure they will make you their _favorite_, then."

"Why you…" Iluzisto began, charging his weapon and suddenly firing it.

"Time out," Clockwork said calmly, pressing a button on his staff. He then took a step away from the beam coming at him, before looking back at the frozen Iluzisto.

"Time in."

The Prison Head gasped as his beam collided with the wall instead of the entity at which it had been aimed. But quickly realizing what had happened, he growled and raised his staff again.

But this time, Clockwork raised his own staff, the tip glowing blue as he warned, "Be careful, Iluzisto. I, too, will only take so much of your egotism."

"You come to provoke me, Clockwork, and you expect that I receive you with anything but hostility? Indeed that you have been surrounded by your little clocks for too long! I swear that if these bands on my wrists did not keep my powers suppressed and further allow your time powers to affect me, I would have long since destroyed you!"

"Yes, well, you would not be a prisoner inside your own prison if it were not for your greed, now would you?" But not giving the other spirit time to answer, Clockwork continued in the same serious voice, "I know what you plan to do, Iluzisto. As you said, those bands that the Observants have placed around your wrists for your crimes indeed keep you within the grasp of time. That means, I can see your _every_ move and even those you have yet to make."

Iluzisto quickly closed in the distance between them, his blood-shot eye narrowing at Clockwork. "What? Are you going to tell the Observants of my plans? Do they think they would believe you?"

"You used to be an Observant. Would _you_ believe me?" Clockwork retorted calmly, not making any move to step away from the other spirit.

Iluzisto's glare slightly relaxed, "Perhaps they would believe you. But then, their arrogance could just as easily blind them. After all, they believe their power is unquestionable. Such fools!"

"Indeed," Clockwork agreed, a hint of a smirk tugging on his lips.

Iluzisto studied the time spirit for a moment, before smirking himself. "You are not going to tell them. If you were, you already would have. Being that I am in the time stream thanks to these bands, that means that my actions can directly affect your precious time flow. And _that_ means, _you_ cannot directly interfere. So, then, what? Are you here to give me a choice, Time Master?" he mocked.

Clockwork did not react, and calmly replied, "You already know your choices. And allow me to remind you again that I did not come here to measure statuses, nor am I here to stop you. I simply came because the Observants asked me to help you change the collars on one of your _other_ prisoners for new, stronger ones.

Iluzisto looked confused. "Which prisoner?"

"I believe he is one of your more powerful prisoners. Kvargvid. If you recall, he has been in here for close to a century in Real World time."

"Not that I need help with my prisoners, but why send you?" Iluzisto asked, suddenly suspicious. "Isn't that why they have _Okulo_ as their liaison? Why didn't they send him as usual? Furthermore, why would Kvargvid need his collars changed at all?"

Clockwork replied with no inflation in his voice, "They didn't send Okulo because he does not have my powers. I suppose they believe there is less risk if I simply freeze Kvargvid in time to exchange his collars. And as for their reason, they said it was in order to prevent future problems…"

"And what 'future problems' could that possibly be? That creature's bindings have served their purpose thus far; and as you admitted yourself, he has been here without escaping for close to a human century," Iluzisto asked, still sounding skeptical.

"I never suppose what the Council defines as 'future problems'," Clockwork wearily replied. After all, he was used to the rigidity of the Observants. "So, I am sure that they have their reasons, such as they are."

Iluzisto's eye studied the Time Master before adding with a growl, "I do not like outside interference in my prison. The Council must know that I can easily restrain the creature and exchange his restraining collars myself."

"True, but you know how they are when they make a decision. No matter how petty, they have a proper way to carry it out, Iluzisto," Clockwork replied emotionlessly.

"I see… But since when do they ask _you_ to do _petty_ _work_?"

Clockwork shrugged. "Since they decided to involve me in one of their pointless trials. Besides, why should I object to carrying out any of their pettiness since I am forced to be here for a time?"

Iluzisto's eye curved into a smile. "Sometimes I wonder if you are as much a prisoner to them as I am."

"Well, every time you wonder that, Iluzisto, I suggest you look at your hands and remember it is you—and not I—who wear their restraints."

Iluzisto glared; but before he could say any more, the Time Master turned from him and headed to the door.

"I believe our time is precious," the time spirit intoned.

"Indeed," the Prison Head muttered as he followed after the time spirit, but he mentally added, _"However, I will see to it that you have less of it." _

They traveled in silence to the intended cell. Since the jail was split into different cell halls, each one holding about twelve cells, it took their passing of several halls and doors, to finally get to their destination.

As Iluzisto opened the door, Clockwork pulled out four sets of collars, looking like larger versions of the ones that Danny and Vlad wore.

They both stepped in and looked up at a gruesome four-headed creature. And although they could see that all its eyes were a greenish-yellow hue, its heads were all different in color and appearance. One of the heads—and its neck—was flaming red in color and covered in warts. Another was as green as bile, and its neck was dressed in thick scales of the same bile color, which was much tougher than the orange-green scales covering its body. The third was the color of oxygen-deprived human skin, its hideous blue hue playing tag with its many deep wrinkles on its head and along its neck. And lastly, the final head was a solid black with pockets of even blacker craters littering it and its neck, all of which dripped with a yellowish-gray substance, as if it were still recovering from a ravaging pox infection. All four heads shared a single body. And their massive, and tailless, orange-green scaly body took up half of the small cell, while its four legs, equipped with razor sharp claws dug into the slimy concrete it stood on.

But although the ghost known as Kvargvid looked fearsome, it only took another glance to realize the creature had a collar on each of its head and they all had chains that connected to the wall behind the creature.

"P-Prison Head…," the ebony head whispered, while its three other heads recoiled back, as if trying to hide behind the one speaking. But then they noticed the other spirit present and their eyes widened as the black head said in a louder but surprised voice, "You…"

"Silence!" Iluzisto demanded as he raised his staff menacingly at the large creature.

This time, even the ebony head recoiled, the sound of rattling chains revealing just how frightened the ghost was of the Prison Head.

Clockwork stared impassively at the interaction, before looking at Iluzisto with the same expression. "I will have to freeze time in order to do as the Observants have ordered. I think you know what that means…"

Iluzisto glanced down at the bands on his hands, before glaring back at the Time Master. "I do. But that also means you will have to do this on your own. That is, unless you have one of your time medallions."

"Why would I have one of them with me?" Clockwork retorted.

"Then, I'll wait outside," he all but growled before turning away. But then suddenly he turned back and fired a blast at the large creature, who cried out in pain and recoiled away some more as Iluzisto darkly said, "And you better not cause any trouble."

Clockwork watched the Prison Head leave at last before turning back to the shivering ghost. The time spirit stared around the cell for a moment, and then finally spoke, "You have nothing to fear right now."

But the four heads just squeezed their eyes closed while the ebony one whispered to itself and its other heads. "It's not real. It's not real."

"If you refer to my being here, I can assure you, this is real," Clockwork said patiently.

"How can we know? How do we know you are not some illusion meant to torment us?" the black head hissed, suddenly angry. "If you are the Time Master, then why are you here?"

"First thing first. Time out," Clockwork said and time froze. With a bit of levitation and the use of his staff, the time spirit quickly switched out the collars on the creature's four heads for the ones he had in his hands. They looked exactly the same, except they now had a blue glow instead of red; and yet, the collars still had the chains which connected to the wall behind it.

Clockwork tucked away the old collars in his coat and then pulled out a time medallion. He placed it on the ebony head, making the large creature instantly come back to life.

Kvargvid stared wide eyed at the time spirit, before looking down at the time medallion on his neck, while the other heads curved around to also look at the time object.

"I cannot prove to you that I am real, Kvargvid. But I think deep within, you know that I am no trick," Clockwork said seriously.

"Why are you here, Time Master?" the black ghost asked softly, his tired eyes almost glowing with defeat. "Have you finally come to show us mercy? Have the Observants asked you to end our suffering?"

"Your suffering will soon come to an end. That I can assure you," the time spirit spoke soberly. Clockwork looked around the cell walls again, and noticing what was on them, he asked, "Why have you written those things on the walls?"

"So we will not forget," Kvargvid said sadly, glancing at the words on the wall, written in green blood or engraved on the concrete walls by the usage of his claws.

The Time Master smiled calmly. "That is a wise choice."

"It has done us very little good," he replied bitterly, a brief glare on the ebony head's face, while the others gathered around it, as if trying to comfort it.

It was then that Kvargvid finally noticed that the collars on his four heads were new. "Why have you changed our bindings? Are they meant to bring us more agony?" he asked fearfully.

"You will know when the time comes, Kvargvid," Clockwork replied. "Until then, keep to your choices. Do not forget."

The creature looked unsure as the Time Master reached out to him to remove the time medallion. But then with a small sigh, he nodded, before lowering his head to allow the time object to be removed.

In an instant, the creature was frozen back in time. But instead of leaving, the time spirit looked over at a small unused bed at the corner of the jail. He smirked to himself as he floated over to it. And after a quick glance at the object in his hand, Clockwork unexpectedly phased it right into the mattress. However, he then reached into his cloak and pulled out another _smaller_ object. But, this one, he simply hid it right under the mattress….

The spirit glanced back at the symbols on the wall one last time before he finally turned and quietly stepped out of the cell. It was only when he was outside with a frozen Iluzisto that he clicked the button on his staff and said, "Time in."

The illusionist spirit looked over at the time spirit and seriously asked, "Are you done?"

"I am," Clockwork said calmly.

Iluzisto suddenly glared and sneered back, "Then get out of my prison."

The Time Master stared indifferently at the other spirit; but he then he smirked. "Of course. I have no right to interfere in your duties. You are obviously already having enough troubles fulfilling them as it is. I should not distract you any longer…"

The Prison Head's eye narrowed even more, but before he could say anything, the other spirit vanished with another spin of a clock.

"Arrogant fool!" Iluzisto growled, his hands fisting. He glared back at Kvargvid's cell and made a note to punish the ghost later. But remembering he was not finished addressing his injured eye, he turned and stalked down the hallway, in his anger forgetting to lock the large creature's cell room…

* * *

By the time Vlad came around, it was nearly night time—not that he knew that. He was actually surprised to even be alive. He had still been bleeding pretty badly when he had turned human and passed out. But as he slowly came around, he realized that there was something uncomfortable pressing against his abdomen.

It took him a moment, but he slowly managed to open his eyes. A soft groan escaped from his lips as all his aches quickly returned. Maybe he should have just stayed unconscious.

Vlad just stared up for a few more seconds as the only thing he saw was blurs of grey. But as his vision cleared, he began to see the colors meld into a light one, a brighter one. And the blurs suddenly turned blue, before he realized they were not blurs at all. But spheres. No, they were eyes…

"Daniel?" the man whispered, still confused.

Danny gave him a small, awkward smile. "Welcome back, Cheesehead." His smile faltered slightly as he muttered, "For a moment I thought you were…"

"Dead?" Vlad asked bitterly, before looking away from the teen as he said mostly to himself, "For a moment, I thought you were, too."

"Huh?" Danny asked. He knew he had passed out after being weakened and punched by Iluzisto—Heck, his head was still pounding him from the strength of the hit. But aside from his severe headache and wounded leg, nothing serious had happened to him. In fact, he had woken up shortly after Vlad passed out and Iluzisto left—not that either of them really knew that.

"Never mind," Vlad muttered as he tried to regain movement in his arms to sit up. But it was then that he remembered the pressure against his abdomen; and although it had let up some, it was still there. But when he realized that the pressure was actually Danny's hands resting on top of a thick bundle pressed against him, he looked up at the boy with a bewildered look.

Danny, having caught his gaze, quickly realized why Vlad was staring at him like that. And with a jolt, he quickly moved his hands away. "Oh, uh, sorry about that. I, uh, well, when I woke up, you were bleeding pretty badly. And I did not know what do to stop it, except for… Well, the bed sheet kinda worked. Or it _did _work, since you are finally awake and not bleeding."

Vlad just stared at him some more. He was honestly at a loss of what to say. So, Daniel had used his own bed sheet as a pressure gauze on his wound to keep him from bleeding to death? Didn't that mean that he had just saved his life? But why would the child care to do that?

"Why?" was all the man could think to ask.

Danny looked confused, not following the man's question. "Why, what?"

Vlad suddenly pushed himself to sit up; and with a bit of effort, he managed it. "Why did you save me? I'm your enemy, remember?" he said with a grunt of pain. His body was killing him!

Danny rolled his eyes. "Don't read too much into it, Plasmius. I just don't think twice about not letting someone just die. Besides, I'm supposed to be the hero, remember? It's my job to save people," he ended with a shrug.

But although he did try to toss it off as nothing big, the truth was that he had gotten very scared when he saw Vlad like that. He felt like his heart had stopped when he had thought the man was dead.

As much as he disliked the evil half-ghost, he could never imagine seeing the guy die. For some strange reason, it would be like losing an important part of his life. Not necessarily a good part. But, after all, after him, Vlad was the only other true half-ghost. Well, there was Danielle, but… if Plasmius died, things wouldn't be the same. Somehow, though Danny didn't understand why, that thought didn't sit well with him.

Still, a new thought surfaced. And this time, he couldn't deny that. Vlad had always been a sort of motivation for Danny. When he felt like giving up on the 'hero' thing, he remembered Vlad. He remembered how he never wanted to end up like him. And Vlad also made him remember that he had to keep practicing to become stronger, to become better than his arch-enemy. As much as Danny very often tried to deny it, Vlad really was an important figure in his life.

"Then, for once, I am honestly glad that you are that hero," Vlad said with a forced smile. He really did not want to think too much of this. After all, wasn't it bad enough that Daniel was more of a source of weakness for him than he wanted, let alone toy with the silly idea that the boy actually cared?

There was a moment of silence as Vlad removed his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt along his injury to inspect it. He almost cringed at the nasty gash on his abdomen as he pulled the soiled bed sheet from it. Blasted spirit! But Danny was right. It had stopped bleeding. Thank goodness for his ghostly healing powers—and… Daniel.

"Geez, Vlad! That still looks serious! What did you do this time to make Iluzisto so mad at you?" Danny all but exclaimed at the sight of the man's wound again.

Plasmius clenched his teeth at the thought of the illusionist spirit. "Since when has that blasted spirit needed reason to take us an inch from death?"

"Good point; but still. Are you going to be okay? That looks pretty bad. And I guess I should not be surprised, since you were bleeding pretty badly," Danny said seriously, before noticing a sudden dull ache that hadn't been there as badly when he was trying to get away from Iluzisto. Still, he ignored it and added, "But, now that I think about it, it took a little too long for you to stop bleeding… Is that normal for you? I mean, my ghost half helps me heal faster; isn't it the same for you?"

"Yes, It's the same for me, Daniel," Vlad replied, but then fell quiet as he was more focused on trying to tend to his wound. He saw that his clothing was stained with red and green, but mostly red liquid. And it was still wet, and even slightly warm. The man looked over at Danny and realized that because he had been trying to help him his white shirt was also stained red; but so were his hands. And it wasn't even dry yet, either.

"Time really has no influence here, does it?" Vlad said with a small sigh, before grabbing one of his sleeves by the shoulder and ripping it off.

"What do you mean? Is that why you're healing so slowly, then?" Danny pressed as the man began to rip the sleeve some more to make it longer and narrower, before knotting the two newly rented pieces together.

Yes, Daniel," the man calmly replied. "The fact that we are in a realm where time is irrelevant seems to slow down our healing abilities, and therefore, our physical wounds take a bit longer to heal in this realm. Not to mention that I'm sure that having these collars on is also a factor. In any case, since the bed sheet is already saturated, I need something to keep this gash covered until then," Vlad explained as he wrapped the cloth around his abdomen. And with a sharp hiss, he quickly tightened it and secured it.

Danny cringed. "Man, this is getting too much for me. Not only do we have a spirit torturing us for no apparent reason other than to make us suffer, now we also aren't healing as fast as we need to right now."

However, at that moment he felt a throb from his left leg and he remembered his own injury. He cringed again as he gripped it and muttered, "And speaking of slow-healing wounds, my leg is still hurting me…"

At that moment, Vlad glanced up at what the boy was doing and then could plainly see a red stain on the teen's blue jeans.

"Daniel!" Vlad scolded. "You are still bleeding, you foolish boy!"

Danny looked down at his leg and frowned. Even if he had yet to pull up his pant leg to look at it, he could _feel_ that the wound on his leg was pretty bad, especially when he was limping because of it. But when he had woken up and seen how badly Vlad had looked, he had really paid it little mind. After all, compared to the man, his own injury was nothing.

But Plasmius did not share his opinion.

Cursing something under his breath, Vlad ripped off his other sleeve, and Danny had to smirk at that. "Hey, Vlad, think you can afford another shirt after all this?"

Plasmius rolled his eyes. "How can you be even a bit amused while we have such serious threats over our heads?"

The boy's smile vanished with the man's words. He was right. How could he be here cracking jokes when they were being tortured and driven close to insanity or, worse, death? How could he be remotely happy when his friends and sister were… gone?

Seeing the teen lower his head in sadness, Plasmius sighed, suddenly realizing he should not have said that. But he decided not to comment on the matter, and addressed the one before. "Think you can lift up your pant leg without having to rip it? I doubt _you_ can afford another pair."

"How original," Danny muttered, now slightly annoyed how the man's jab was so hypocritical.

Vlad just shrugged humorlessly.

But Danny did not say anymore and did as he was asked. But when he saw his wound, the boy swallowed hard. Man, it was as bad as it had felt. And like Vlad's stomach wound, his leg wound also wasn't healing very fast.

The teen then noticed at that moment that the man was about to wrap the cloth around his now visible, bleeding wound. Danny tensed before he quickly muttered, "Wait. I can do it."

Vlad paused just slightly, before giving the cloth to the teen. But as he did, he advised the teen, "Try not to make too much noise. The last thing we need is to attract Iluzisto's attention again."

Danny frowned in confusion. Noise? How was wrapping his wound going to cause any noise? Still, Danny just nodded, before wrapping the cloth around his leg. He quickly tugged hard on it and, suddenly, wished he hadn't. Still, he closed his eyes and hitched his breath as he leaned slightly forward to withstand the pain and keep himself from crying out. Now, he understood about not making any noise!

Vlad said nothing as he grabbed what remained of the cloth and gave it to the boy. "Clean your hands, my boy. This is the third time I see blood on you; and I must say, it does not suit you."

Danny blinked at him. Third time? The man had seen him with red-stained hands only twice. With his friends' things and now that he had been applying pressure to the man's wound… So, what was the third time?

Of course, Danny did not know about Iluzisto's gruesome trick he had played on the man…

But the boy then remembered how he had felt at seeing the older hybrid in a puddle of his own blood, and a serious look fell back on his face as he answered back, "It doesn't suit you, either, Vlad."

The billionaire's eyebrow hitched before he shook his head in bewilderment. "That's a funny statement coming from the boy who never forgets I want to kill his father."

Danny's face slightly hardened as he watched Vlad slowly slip his suit jacket back on, "It's hard to forget it when you are always saying you will."

"So I am," Vlad muttered more to himself. Now that he thought about it, he really was always saying that. But it was not so much saying it that bothered him, but that he was now realizing that in all this time, he had yet to make that a reality. In fact, he had stopped trying to kill Jack all together. And when he thought about why that was, only one reason came to mind: that boy named Danny Fenton.

Iluzisto was right. The young hybrid was more of a 'sore spot' than he himself really thought. And to his misfortune, that evil spirit had noticed it. But he refused to let it be a trump card against him any longer. He had to start thinking more of himself than the boy again. It was the only way he was going to make it out of here in one piece… and with his sanity.

The billionaire sighed as he turned his gaze back to the teen, who was currently looking down the hallway with a sad—or more like fretful—look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Vlad asked, more from curiosity than concern—or so he told himself.

"Nothing. It's just that… Well, he took them," he answered quietly, not looking at the man. "He took my friends and sister's things. I… wanted to keep them…"

Vlad's eyebrows creased as he looked over at Danny's cell; but the moment he did, he realized something.

"Daniel?" he said, turning his gaze slowly to the boy. "How did you get into my cell?"

The teen quickly looked up at the man in slight confusion, "I thought that Iluzisto lowered the barrier for some reason. When I woke up and I saw you passed out, I kinda panicked because I thought I wouldn't be able to get close enough to you to do something about the bleeding. But it was then that I realized that the barrier was gone. I guess I was too relieved to really question it."

Vlad just stared at the teen for a moment, before suddenly looking back where the supposed barrier was. He then slowly stood and slightly staggered towards the area. He was certain that the barrier had been there before he had passed out. After all, he had slammed and fell against it.

The man lifted a hand towards the barrier. And to his and Danny's shock, Vlad's hand met a solid wall.

"What? But it was not there before!" Danny exclaimed, standing up and limping towards the barrier to touch it. And like the billionaire, he touched an invisible solid wall.

"Strange," Vlad muttered as his mind whirled with what this could mean. Was it some other trick from Iluzisto? Or had the boy done something that he was not aware of?

But before he could question the boy, a gasp fell from both his and Daniel's lips as the barrier suddenly vanished and they stumbled forward, just barely avoiding falling face first on the floor.

"It's gone," Danny said in shock, as he and Vlad were now standing within Danny's cell.

Vlad's eyebrows creased as he silently stared ahead. Could it be that…? The man's eyes widened when the barrier suddenly reappeared under his still raised hand.

"It's damaged," he whispered, but Danny heard him.

"But how?" the teen asked, completely clueless.

Vlad searched his mind trying to recall in more detail at what had happened when he had slammed into the shield. He knew he had been shocked by the collar. But…there was more. The pain. It had intensified from not just Iluzisto increasing the strength of the attack, but also from the moment he had placed his hand against the invisible shield. He had not thought anything of it then. But, now, he realized what had happened.

"The device on my neck short-circuited the barrier, Daniel," Vlad said, a smile curving his mouth.

"Wait, what? How did that happen?" Danny asked, his eyes wide.

But Vlad did not answer him, and his smile slightly widened as he touched the collar on his neck. He thought it had been his imagination, but in spite of the fact that Iluzisto had taken much of his ghost energy, he felt… energized. In fact, for how large the gash on his stomach was, it really should have still been bleeding in spite of Daniel's efforts. Could it be…?

Vlad looked down at his hands; and holding his breath, he concentrated on his powers, which he could now slightly feel under his fingertips.

Danny's mouth gaped open when he saw blue energy appear in the man's hands. "No way…"

The man could no longer contain his grin. "Yes way," he replied as he tried to focus on his powers to intensify them. But when he suddenly hit a barrier that left him unable to push anymore energy out, he grunted in frustration.

"It seems that like the barrier, my collar was only partially damaged. Even so, I think our chances of escaping have just gone up, little badger," Vlad said with a smirk.

Now filled with hope, Vlad all but forgot about his aching body and quickly walked over to the locked cell door. Changing into Plasmius, the man suddenly let his ghost energy increase. Being in ghost form indeed allowed him to make his ghost energy stronger, but it was still limited.

However, Plasmius suddenly frowned with mixed emotions as he suddenly remembered how Iluzisto had directly drained him and Daniel of their energy instead of using that horrible weapon. It most definitely was not a pleasant experience in and of itself, but, in a perverted way, he _preferred_ _that_ method as oppose to Iluzisto's infernal weapon.

Otherwise, there was no way he could be in ghost form right now without first having to take the time to repair his core like right after Iluzisto had impaled it that one time.

But since that was not the case…

Vlad quickly placed his hand around the lock and focused on creating his ghost energy in his hands. All he could manage was blue energy, but it would be enough for what he wanted to do. But just when he was about to melt off the lock, he paused. No, this was not the best move. If he was going to attempt to escape, he had to make sure that if they failed, he could try again. And if he destroyed the lock, Iluzisto would know he had somehow accessed his powers. No, he needed a better strategy.

Vlad turned to look at Danny, who had been staring intently at him the whole time. He was obviously as ready to get out of here as he was.

"Daniel, I'm going to need your help," he told him, though his eyes were more on the boy's collar.

"What do you mean? My collar isn't damaged like yours, remember?" he said, noticing the man's gaze.

"Not yet," he told him with a clever smirk.

Before Danny could question him, Vlad walked over to the barrier and to his delight, it was back on. He then glanced down the hallway, searching within himself. At least it looked—and felt—like the coast was clear. Now would be their chance.

"If the shock from the collar combined with the barrier's energy managed to damage the device around my neck, then we simply need to do the same to yours," he told the teen, but then frowned when the barrier vanished again. "And it will have to be quick, since the barrier is already weak."

"But where are you going to get the electricity to do that? I mean, only Iluzisto can turn on the collars," Danny said, a small flutter of fear in his stomach. He was looking forward to escaping, but he was definitely not liking the idea of having to get shocked in order to get that opportunity.

Vlad grinned at him. "Dear boy, have you forgotten that one of my abilities is the willing of electricity?" he asked, as his hands began to spark with blue electrical energy. "It is considerably weak compared to what I can really do, but it should be enough to tamper with that device on your neck."

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Danny said with a deep, but surrendering sigh. This was so not something he would have planned, but if it meant getting his powers back and escaping…

"Possibly," the man replied, his grin growing into an evil one as he approached the boy, who was standing with his back a few feet from the currently non-functional barrier.

"Yeah, and looks like you're getting a kick out of that fact," Danny muttered, glaring slightly as the man grabbed his collar with both his hands.

"Dear boy," Vlad said in a mocking sweet voice. "I would never take pleasure in causing pain to my future son…"

Before the teen could reply, Vlad's hands lit up with electrical blue energy, and the boy tensed in preparation for the pain. But to his surprise, it did not come. The man was somehow keeping the electricity focused solely on the collar. Danny could feel a hot tingle against his neck, but other than that there was no pain.

However, Danny soon realized he had hoped too soon.

The billionaire was trying to surge as much of his energy into the collar; but it was not so easy. With the device around his own neck pushing against his actions, it was actually weakening him to use his powers for too long. But he kept it going as he waited for the barrier behind the boy to come back on; and just when the man thought it never would, he saw a barely visible flicker of energy that had to be the barrier.

"This is where it might hurt, but maybe less if you tuck your head in," Vlad said, instantly tightening both of his hands on Danny's collar before pushing him into the barrier. And anticipating the teen's reaction, Vlad moved one of his hands away from the collar; and dispelling his electrical energy, pressed the hand against the boy's mouth, just as he screamed in pain.

Danny was barely able to pull his chin to his chest like Vlad suggested before his energized collar hit the barrier. The surge of electricity around his collar had suddenly shot down his spine until it reached the other energy his back was pressed against. It felt like he was on fire, but then the pain only intensified as Vlad's electrical energy was suddenly enhanced by the barrier's own energy. It reminded him of the time when he had fought Vortex and his energy barrier had reacted with Vortex's electrical powers, creating an even more powerful surge of pain.

But as Danny continued to feel the onslaught surging through his body, Vlad grunted with the effort. He was quickly weakening from his efforts and Danny's collar had yet to give any indication of being affected enough to be damaged. It was then Vlad realized Danny was in human form and an idea quickly came to his mind.

"Daniel, you need to morph!" he told him with another grunt.

Danny gasped as he felt his vision blurring, but hearing the man's almost desperate command, he forced himself to focus. And he quickly let his energy rings wash over him. Another muffled cry came from the boy's throat as the pain intensified. But suddenly fed up, Danny gripped his own collar himself and he used all his will power to make his powers work.

Vlad's breath hitched in his throat as he soon saw puffs of smoke begin to rise off Danny's collar. "It's working, Daniel!" he exclaimed, no longer able to contain his joy.

But just as Danny's mind began to shut down, the barrier behind the teen finally gave out and the boy fell back; and since Vlad had been pushing against him, the man tripped himself and fell to the ground, only barely managing to not fall right on top of the teen.

Vlad, quickly turning onto his back, just laid there as he waited for his heavy breathing to slow down. He could hear Danny's own hard intake of air right beside him.

"Did it… work?" Vlad asked through his breathing, draping a hand over his eyes as he suddenly felt really tired. Yet, he also felt like his abdomen was healing thanks to having regained some control of his powers again!

Danny, who was also lying on his back with his eyes squeezed close, said nothing for a moment. He was trying really hard not to pass out. That had really been painful and weakening. And it did not help matters that he had been feeling weak from Iluzisto's energy drain. But as he began to feel a little better, in fact, he was recovering a bit quicker than he had lately, Danny began to realize something had changed within him.

And when he slowly opened his eyes and raised a hand, watching how he was able to make sparks of green energy come out of it, he grinned. It took him some more effort, but he soon had his entire hand encased in his energy.

"I gotta admit, Cheese Head. You sure have your moments," he said to the man as he turned his eyes to him.

Vlad looked over at him as well, and smirked. "And I have to admit, your stubbornness sometimes pays off, you little rat," he answered, though his smirk betrayed him, and only confirmed that there was never any real insult behind his remark.

Danny knew the man was referring to the effort he had put to make his powers work again; but he just rolled his eyes.

The two didn't even bother to get off the ground; and for Vlad to do that, Danny was sure the man had to be exhausted, maybe more than he was.

But after a few moments of silence, Plasmius suddenly spoke again.

"Daniel, if you could have anything you want at this precise moment, what would it be?"

Danny looked over at the man, confused. "Why?"

"Just answer me," he replied seriously, looking at the boy as well.

Danny looked back up at the ceiling, as sadness shrouded his eyes. "I want to get out of here so that I can at least save my parents…"

"Freedom," Vlad said soberly, his mind suddenly drifting to another thought. And now, he was sure that what he thought was true. The man quickly sat up, and looked down at the teen, "Daniel, I asked Iluzisto something along those lines. And you know what he told me? He said he wanted the same thing we did. Daniel, Iluzisto is not just another of the Observants' workers. He's a prisoner. He is a prisoner like us. And he wants freedom."

Danny sat up, looking at Vlad in disbelief. "But why would the Observants let someone as powerful as that guy be in charge of this place? Why would they risk letting him do whatever he wants?"

"The Observants are arrogant at best," Vlad said bitterly. "It seems that even when one of their own kind has committed a crime for which they had to condemn him, they still believe him to be worthy of special treatments."

"It's hard to believe Iluzisto's actually an Observant. Then again, he's a big a jerk as all of them. It seems _all_ spirits are evil jerks," Danny muttered angrily, thinking of Clockwork as well.

"That is not what concerns me, Daniel. You see, after you fell unconscious, you know I had another tussle with Iluzisto. And one of the things I noticed was that he wears these glowing bands around his wrists. And every time he uses his powers, they glow brighter. I do not think he can do as wants as he lets on. I… _painfully_ confirmed that when I told him that the Observants were his masters."

"Oh, now I see why he beat you to a pulp," Danny muttered, almost shivering as he imagined how ticked off Iluzisto would have been from that comment.

Vlad looked away for a moment, as the image of the dead young hybrid came to his mind. But he quickly forced his mind to focus again, and continued, "He wants his freedom, Daniel. And he believes he can use us to obtain it. And I understand why now. Iluzisto is much more powerful than I originally believed. Those bands must be keeping him from using his powers to their fullest. So, you see, I think he needs to be at full power to escape those bindings. And with his ability to extract others' ghost energy, he has the chance of doing so."

"So, then why did he not escape before?" Danny asked. "From what I heard, we are not the only two in here."

"That's because the others in here are not _half-ghosts._ Isn't it obvious, my boy? It only takes so much to defeat a ghost. You fight them all the time. Have you not notice how once you have defeated them, they do not return for a few days or so?"

"Yeah…," Danny mumbled, as he thought of all the ghosts he fought. Vlad was right. They did not show their faces for a while after they were defeated—well, except for the Box Ghost. But Danny did not exactly 'defeat him'. He would just suck him into the thermos…

"It's because ghosts cannot regenerate their lost energy," Plasmius continued. "They have to wait for their bodies to absorb it from the ambient energy in the Ghost Zone. And the process takes some time. That is also why ghosts cannot just stay in our world indefinitely. They need the energy in their natural home to stay strong and keep themselves from fading out of existence."

"Wow…," Danny muttered as he thought about how much Vlad knew that he did not.

"But do you see now? Because we are half-ghosts, because we have the ability to keep our ghost half's dormant while our cores have the capability of regenerating our own energy, we do not have such a flaw. If Iluzisto attempted to extract the energy from other ghosts, he would only be able to do it once, and most likely that ghost would be so drained that it would fade from existence. But when it comes to us…"

"He has an unlimited supply of power," Danny finished, glaring slightly. "But then, why hurt us if he wants our energy? Why doesn't he, uhm, just take what he wants when we are at nearly full strength? If we are too weak, it'll be like, uhm, him getting a salad instead of a steak."

Vlad squinted one eye and half-frowned with the allusion.

Danny cringed at the older hybrid's response and added, "Uh, sorry about that. I'm just still so friggin' hungry!"

Vlad rolled his eyes, but still replied, "Well, besides the fact that I think he's a very sadistic spirit, that's a good question." He paused a bit in thought before adding, "Maybe he's testing us. You know, seeing how much bang he's going to get for his buck."

This time, Danny rolled his eyes, "Hey, at least my food comment was about something we could use here!"

"Very funny, you little rat," Vlad dryly said. "But I could say at least that he's hurting _you_ because of that infernal stubbornness of yours!"

"Yeah, as if you were the model of cooperation!" Danny quipped back. "Still, if you're right about the testing thing and the fact that he wants unlimited energy, that just gives me even more reason to high-tail it out of here."

Danny got to his own feet as Vlad did the same. He could feel his now slightly reawakened powers helping him recover a bit quicker, and by the look of Vlad's quick movements, he felt the same.

"I'm surprised you told me all of that," Danny said as they stopped in front of Vlad's cell door.

"I did not plan to do so," the man admitted. "But I decided it was best to tell you, so that you will have all the more motivation to keep Iluzisto from draining your powers. You give in too easily."

"Hey!" Danny protested. "You just said that I was the stubborn-type! Besides, the guy is nuts! I can't help that I get too close to him by accident!"

"Yes, well, try harder not to have any 'accidents'," Vlad said dryly.

The teen scowled slightly, but decided to drop the topic and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"We get out of this cell, and then we get out of this prison without being caught," Vlad said simply.

Danny blinked in surprise, before sarcastically replying, "Oh, really? That's all? Why didn't I think of that?"

Vlad shot him a dry look. "We only have limited access to our powers. We barely know where we are. And we have a deranged spirit trying to use us for his own gain. Do you have a better idea?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, I never said I didn't agree with whatever the plan really is, you know."

"Good," Vlad said as he went over to the still nonfunctional barrier and crossed over to Danny's cell. He glanced down the hallway again and still saw it was empty. Still, he squatted down in front of the small door that Iluzisto had used to slide in the food. And finding the small latch that held it closed, he quickly zapped it with a bit of his ghostly power. It did not damage the lock or small door, but it had loosened it enough for Vlad to open the food door.

"Daniel, do you think you can access your ice powers?" the man suddenly asked, before standing up and heading back over to his cell again.

Danny looked down at his hand and concentrated. It took him a moment, but he suddenly felt his cold power travel towards his hand and leak out. "Yeah, but not enough to use it in a fight," he told him.

"How about enough to mold it into something small, say a key?" Vlad asked.

Danny frowned. He had never tried to mold his ice powers into something so detailed. "I can try," he replied with a small shrug. "But how am I going to do that exactly?"

Vlad gestured the boy to come closer to the man's cell door. They pressed their heads against the bars, allowing them to just barely see the keyhole on the other side of the door. "If you can get your ice energy to mold into the shape of the lock, I should be able to hold a barrier around your ice energy long enough to turn it without it breaking."

Danny nodded in understanding. "Okay, let's give it a try, then." He took a deep breath before pressing his body against the bars and sticking his right arm out. Using his pointer finger, he forced his ice energy out, quickly freezing the lock.

"No, Daniel, try to keep your energy from hardening until it is molded inside the keyhole, otherwise, you will just freeze the lock," Vlad said, as he looked at the boy's actions, before occasionally glancing towards the dark hallway.

Danny didn't reply as he used his ghost energy to melt the ice covering the lock and then tried again. He tried several times, each one making him more frustrated when he failed.

Vlad was beginning to doubt this would work. The boy obviously did not have such subtle control over his powers. But just when he was about to try something else, he saw Danny suddenly manage it.

His ice powers traveled slowly into the keyhole, looking more like plain energy than ice. And it was only when his energy had filled the hole completely that he allowed it to freeze inside. He let the ice form a little further out so that Vlad could grip it as he would a key.

"Not too shabby, Daniel," Vlad said with a smirk. "But you could have gotten it on your first try if you would simply join me."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Geez, Vlad. Even when we are trapped in a cell, you still can't resist, can you?"

"I believe in grasping each opportunity, my boy," Vlad quipped back.

"Whatever, Plasmius. Just hurry up and do your part."

"So, that's a 'no' then?" Vlad asked with dramatic sigh.

"Unless you want to train me out of the kindness of your heart instead of wanting to do it in exchange for me renouncing my father?" Danny replied, a slightly hopeful smile on his lips.

Vlad let out a small, mocking laugh, before he turned his attention to what they were doing.

"I guess that's a 'no'," Danny muttered, slightly annoyed.

Vlad used just a bit of his power, for once looking like he was deeply concentrating to accomplish his feat. But as the blue energy encased the ice-made key, it began to melt. The man cursed, realizing that the ice was just not thick enough to withstand even his weaker energy.

"Quick, Danny, use your ice powers to oppose my energy," Vlad said, and Danny quickly obeyed.

They heard a slightly hissing sound as Danny's ice energy met Vlad's hot energy, a small amount of steam forming from it. But as they heard the cracking of the ice as Vlad turned the key, both half-ghosts cringed, fearing that it would give before the latch was unlocked.

But just before it gave way, a 'click' echoed in their ears and the door slightly creaked open.

"Yes!" Danny and Vlad exclaimed at the same time, only to quickly stare at each other at how alike they sounded.

"Okay, that was creepy. Don't do that again," Danny said seriously.

"Agreed," Vlad replied, thankful that his ghost form hid the blush on his face from having sounded so childish.

The two sobered up as Vlad pushed the cell door opened and they stared down at the eerie hallway.

But then the billionaire spoke, "Wait here for a moment." And before Danny could protest, the man quickly walked down the hall, soon vanishing where the light of candles on the walls ended and darkness began.

Danny shifted nervously as the seconds began to mount up and Vlad did not return. But just when the teen was about to go after him, the man returned, with a set of keys —the ones belonging to their cells that Iluzisto hung beside the door.

"Before we do this, there are two things I need you to remember, Daniel," Vlad said, before Danny could question him. The teen did not understand why the man needed those keys when they were already out of the cells.

"Okay, but can't it wait until we get out of here? And why do you have those keys?" Danny asked, confused and eager to just get this over with.

"You have to understand that even now the odds are against us," Vlad said seriously, before turning and heading over to Danny's locked cell door and opening it with the key. Now, both their cells were wide open with the small door for the food trays on Danny's side opened as well.

"That is why I am taking precautions," the older hybrid continued, as he left the key in Danny's door and looked back at the boy. "If we fail to escape, we have to make sure we will have the chance to try again. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Danny looked down at the open door for the food tray, and then at the open cell doors. It clicked almost instantly. That door for the food tray was large enough. Well, then, that was more like Vlad. Even when there was nothing for which to plan, the man still found something to plan. But he had to admit Plasmius had a good point and he could now see what he was trying to do. If they did fail, Iluzisto would just believe that he had left the food door open on Danny's end and that the teen had somehow slipped through it. Or something like that. The point was that it would at the very least deter the Prison Head from finding out that the way they had gotten out of the cells was because they now had some control of their ghost powers again.

"Okay, I get it. And what you're trying to say is that no matter what happens, we cannot let anyone know we can use some of our powers again," Danny concluded, looking back at the man.

"Yes," the man replied, a small smile on his face from how quick the boy had picked up on everything. But he sobered again as he then said, "Our limited use of our powers is the only thing we have to our advantage right now. And we have to make sure it stays that way. So, if by misfortune we do get caught trying to escape, _no matter what happens_, Daniel, do not use your ghost powers."

Danny nodded, his lips firm with determination as one part of Vlad's words engraved in his mind:

No matter what happens.

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**Pearl: Wow… Vlad and Danny working together. That is always shocking, isn't it? But, heh, knowing the hybrids… well, let's see how long it lasts. In any case, I hope you all liked this one! Thank you for your support! And… ehm… my muse would like his x-mas gift now… *glances down at review button and giggles* Merry Christmas and God bless on this joyous day!**

**A/N: truephan here: Well, dear readers, did you enjoy having us knock you out of whack after all that waiting? Isn't that called getting a lump of coal rather than a toy today? Well, of course, we would **_**rather**_** you think that you were happy that we messed with you as much as Iluzisto messed with the two hybrids—even it that means that you're, well, a bit creepy! So then, join the club, because we enjoyed messing with you and giving you this unusual Christmas present! Until next time, and don't forget to give us our present and push that blue button down there!**


	12. Chapter 12: Escape is only an Illusion

**Pearl: Hello everyone! Welcome to 2011 and to a new chapter of 'Seeing is DisBelieving'! Thank you all for your support and we hope you all will continue to enjoy this story to the very end! Well, I don't have anything else to say except to hold on to your seats and keep your eyes open, less you get captured by our own muses' illusions… heh-heh.**

**A/N: Truephan here: Happy New Year, everybodee…I truly wish only blessings in this new year for every one of you wonderful readers. Having you made _last_ year just as nice, too!**

**Ah, yes, a new year…In fact, it's a nice feeling to have a clean slate again, isn't it? That way pearl's and my muses can use up all our 'get out of jail' cards all at once, right? Well, that's the only way I can explain our getting away with writing this chapter, especially with causing all that squirming we might get out of ya. So, then *hands over fist full of cards* get ready….and, oh, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But the OCs are our own.**

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**Chapter 12: Escape is only an Illusion**

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The two hybrids turned human as a precaution. But even as they did, Vlad felt differently and was extremely glad now that the power-inhibiting collar was partly damaged and that he could reach part of his powers. It was definitely helping him heal a lot quicker than he should be within this timeless realm. In fact, he had all but forgotten about his nasty wound received from Iluzisto.

And the older hybrid was sure that good fortune was stilling following him and the boy when they made it to the end of the cell hall and saw that the closed door had a small window, one that he could peek at anyone who could be on the other side before opening it—without detection.

He slid the cover back from the window and peered through it. The man barely held back a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no one guarding the door on the other side.

He placed his hand on the door, before looking back at the human teen and noticing that he was no longer limping. "Looks like you've pretty much healed, too, so keep your steps light, Daniel. And we stay together at all times. That way, if we run into Iluzisto, there is less of a chance that he can trick us."

"How are we going to find a way out, Vlad?" Danny asked, suddenly realizing that Vlad was right about one thing. He _was_ feeling better. But that didn't squelch his feeling dread begin to bubble in his stomach. "From the times we have been out of the cells, this place looks like a maze."

Vlad, who was about to open the door, paused and frowned. "The truth is, we are going to need a bit of luck."

"I'd say a lot of luck," the teen corrected him seriously.

The older hybrid paused, a tense, but brief silence passing over them before he said, "The wisest thing we can do is attempt to make our way back to the High Council room. As you know from the Vortex fiasco, I have infiltrated the Observants' council room before, so, of course, I know and have seen the way out of there, as well as, the path that leads out into the Ghost Zone."

"I guess that sounds as good as it's gonna get. So, let's quit stalling and just get this over with," Danny replied.

"So impatient," the man murmured with a roll of his eyes.

Danny returned the gesture, but then he turned his attention back to the matter at hand when Vlad finally opened the door.

As they hesitantly stepped through the door, the teen carefully closed it behind them, just in case anyone came by and noticed an opened door. But right then, the boy noticed something on the door himself, and frowned. There were some odd symbols on it.

"Hey, Vlad?" Danny whispered.

The man turned to look at him, and seeing the boy pointing to the symbols on the door, he nodded, and whispered back. "Yes, they are everywhere around here. But what they mean, I have yet to discover, nor do we have the time to do it now. Come."

The teen hesitated slightly as he stared at the strange symbols a moment longer. But he soon followed the man, quickly coming up along side of him. There were so many doors; and the teen could only conclude that they each led to another section of the prison.

"Daniel," Vlad suddenly called quietly, startling the teen out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" the teen replied, a curious frown on his face. The man's voice sounded… weird.

The billionaire didn't look at the teen as he continued to carefully lead them to where they needed to go. However, he still replied, "…Speaking about strange findings like those symbols, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. And this might not be the best time, but… I just need to know… About that alternate future…"

Vlad suddenly paused and looked at the teen with an unreadable frown as he asked, "That creature… You said he was also part of me… What did you mean? What happened in that future, Daniel?"

The teenager had frozen with dread the instant the man had started talking about his evil future self. He knew the man would question him eventually, but he had hoped it wouldn't be anytime soon—actually, he had hoped the man would have forgotten all about it. Of course, that was wishful thinking. Such a revelation wasn't something anyone would just forget.

Still…

Danny looked away, but then he shook his head and muttered, "Nothing happened. That never happened, so it doesn't matter." The teen looked back at the man and seriously added, "Besides, you said it yourself, this isn't the time to talk about it, anyways. We need to keep going…"

Plasmius opened his mouth to argue, but the boy just moved past him and continued on. In spite of their more pressing matters, the older hybrid just could not forget what he had discovered. And it honestly disconcerted him quite a bit.

Unfortunately, Daniel clearly wasn't going to tell him anything; and to his further misfortune, this wasn't the time for it, either…

With a quiet sigh, Vlad dropped the topic all together and quickly followed after the boy. Even if Daniel wouldn't tell him, the man was now determined to find out about that 'alternate future' and about 'Evil Phantom.' But it would have to wait until this whole mess with the Observants and Iluzisto was done with…

Having taken the lead once more after he caught up to Danny, Vlad then slowed his pace a bit just before they reached a doorway ahead. He hoped he was right. Still, he led them onward and just as they passed through the threshold, he sighed a bit in relief. They had finally reached a circular foyer, which was, as he remembered it, the central part of the prison.

He paused, scanning the numerous doors surrounding him and the boy. However, the man didn't stall for very long. After all, he remembered exactly what door the guards had taken when they had led them to the trial room yesterday. From there, they would have to pass through two more doors before they would reach the High Council. Once they made it there, it would be very easy to get out of this horrid place and take the exit there that lead to the Ghost Zone…

The man moved to the door he knew they needed to go through. He then carefully grabbed the handle and began to open it; but when he did, the man's eyes widened when he saw two guards on the other side.

The older hybrid jolted when the spirits turned their eyes in his direction. But before they could see him, he quickly darted out of the way, grabbing Danny by the elbow and yanking him back.

"Hey, who opened the door?" one of the guards asked, noticing the slightly gaping door.

The two half-ghosts stared at each other as they heard the two guards' footsteps coming towards them, clearly about to investigate what or who was on the other side of the door. But as if reading each others' thoughts, Vlad and Danny concentrated; and since Vlad was still holding Danny's elbow, they combined their efforts, and quickly managed to cloak themselves under invisibility.

And just as they had succeeded, the guards opened the door fully and stepped out. They looked around in bewilderment when they saw no one there.

"Odd. How did the door open when there is no one here?" one of them said.

"Maybe you just forgot to close it properly," the other pointed out blandly.

"Me? You are the one that came in last!" the first quickly snapped back.

Since they were both invisible, the two half-ghost could see each other and they rolled their eyes at the two guards. But then the teen smirked and gestured with his head towards the now fully open, unguarded entry. The man just smirked back, before they both quietly moved pass the two guards and entered the hallway which they had initially intended to go.

As the sound of the arguing spirits faded behind them, the hybrids' invisibility began to fade away and soon left them completely in full view.

"Seems we cannot hold any power for very long," Vlad whispered to Danny, slight concern in the man's voice as he released the boy's elbow.

The teen didn't reply, and instead glanced around the area. There were even more doors here!

"Um, do you remember which way now?" Danny asked.

Vlad nodded and headed straight for the door on the far right, which should be the correct one. But the man suddenly paused and frowned when he finally noticed that the symbol on the door was not the same as it had been when he had first seen it.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked when Vlad hesitated to go through the door he had shown so much confidence of going into just a moment ago.

The man creased his eyebrows as he remained silent and glanced around. He wasn't sure what these symbols meant. But he had been paying attention to all of his surroundings during this entire affair, and he was certain that Iluzisto had led them through this door when they first were brought to the High Tribunal. So, why was the symbol now different?

In reality, the 'changing symbols' was part of a spell surrounding the prison conjured up by Iluzisto to prevent any escape. But he and the boy also didn't know that it wasn't the _symbols_ which changed, but, rather, the _doors_… Each door within the prison kept the same symbol on it; but all of the various doors were never in the same order for long. That way, anyone familiar with the prison merely followed the 'code' on the doors rather than the placement of those doors. And any one who did not know that would usually….become lost…

Vlad sighed, knowing he had no way of finding that out, and finally replied, "It's nothing, Daniel. Come on," he said, finally opening the door and going in.

Danny frowned uncertainly, but still followed the man inside. He really hoped Vlad knew where he was going…

* * *

If Iluzisto had a mouth, it would have been gaped right open as he stared at the two crossbreeds' empty cells. But, instead, his eye had opened completely in his shock.

How? It was impossible! How did they get out? Iluzisto had come by to check on them to make sure that they had recovered enough from his attack on them for the next part of their trial tomorrow. But by the fact that they were gone, it was clear to the spirit that they had done a little more than recover!

Still in disbelief, Iluzisto stared between the empty cells as he tried to figure out how they had done it. And the answer came to him when he saw the small food door on the young hybrid's side wide open. No. Could it be that he had forgotten to close the latch? He was so angry when he left, he did not even look to check! So, he wasn't sure! But it was the only explanation by the looks of things.

The younger crossbreed must have somehow squeezed out through the opening and grabbed the set of keys at the end of the hall to get the older crossbreed out. And when Iluzisto noticed the set of keys still inside the older crossbreed's cell door, he quickly realized he was right!

Iluzisto growled in anger as his hand tightened on his dark staff. Why those conniving freaks! Did they think they could outwit him? Did they actually believe they were going to escape from _him_?

The Prison Head spun on his heal and began to storm back down the hallway. He didn't care about the fact that it was his own fault that they had gotten a chance to escape. He was still going to find them and make them regret even trying!

"They could not have gotten far with my illusion spell over this place!" he muttered angrily.

But, suddenly, he paused with a sudden thought, a thought that slowly curved his eye in what look like an evil smile.

"So, they want to try their luck, do they? Alright. I do not mind a bit of a challenge…," he said wickedly, but then his voice turned dark as he said, "But when they lose, I will make sure they never forget it!"

It was time to break those two crossbreeds.

* * *

"Are you still sure you know where you're going?" Danny asked dryly as they came to a dead end.

Vlad frowned deeply as he gazed at their surroundings. This made no sense! He was certain that had been the right door! But nothing here looked familiar. It was a completely new area he had never been in.

"I don't understand…," he muttered, this time sounding worried. He glanced over at a nearby door and frowned at the symbol on it. Could these symbols have something to do with their being lost…?

"Vlad?"

"What, Daniel?" he suddenly snapped, his frustration over this whole thing evident in his voice.

Danny instantly scowled. "Hey, don't get mad at me because you stink at directions!"

"I don't 'stink' at directions, you blasted child!" he growled through gritted teeth. "Something is going on here! I'm sure that that door should have taken us towards the council room!"

"Well, obviously, it didn't," Danny muttered, before looking around. He suddenly walked over to a random door and carefully opened it. No guards. Good.

"What are you doing, Daniel?" Vlad quickly asked when he saw the boy's intention of going through it.

Pausing and looking back annoyingly at his arch-enemy, Danny replied, "I'm going to find a way out, Vlad. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you are about to get us further lost!" Vlad snapped. "You have no idea where that door leads to!"

"Yeah, well, looks like you didn't, either, Plasmius, so we won't be worse off than now!" the boy retorted angrily.

"Don't go through that door, Daniel! Let's just retrace our steps. Perhaps I misjudged how far to the right the door we previously took was."

"Oh, so what happened with 'I'm sure it was this door?'" Danny retorted. But when Vlad opened his mouth to argue again, the teen quickly cut him off. "Forget it, Vlad. You don't know where we are and neither do I. But I'm not going to stand here and wait for you to analyze and plot some way out. Face it, you can't always plan out everything. And certainly not now."

The billionaire glared as he growled, "That does not mean you have to ignore the fact that you have a brain, Daniel. Why don't you use it for once and realize that heading into some unknown direction is a bad idea?"

"You want to talk about bad ideas, you jerk?" Danny exploded, stomping over to the man. He was sick of the guy making him out to be stupid or something!

"It was a 'bad idea' that I ever came to you for help!" the teen continued, his anger growing with every word. "It was a 'bad idea' for me to think you would not take advantage of the situation. And it was a _very bad idea_ when **you** let in Iluzisto, which resulted in both of us being here; and worse, my friends and sister are gone! And all thanks to _your_ bad idea! So, do what you want! I'm going that way. I don't care if you agree or not!"

Before Vlad could even get past his shock over the boy's sudden verbal barrage, Danny whipped around and stomped furiously towards the open door he had randomly picked.

The older hybrid just stared after him, still in disbelief. But suddenly, he exploded in fury, too. "Fine!" he whispered harshly as he whirled around and began to retrace his steps. "Get lost, you little rat! Why the blazes should I care?"

Yes, why should he care? After all, it was _he_ who had gotten them this far. All the blasted child had done since he got here was be a dead weight to him! He was better off without him—especially now that he could feel that his wound had finally completely healed; and, of course, he had control of some of his powers again. Yes. It was going to be easier to find his own way without the boy's foolishness being a hindrance to his escape! Besides, if the little rat was going to blame him for everything, then, they had no business trying to work together. You couldn't work with someone you didn't trust. And in their case the feeling—or non-feeling—was mutual.

"I never asked him to come to my doorstep, anyways," Vlad muttered, though his previous anger had deflated with his comment.

The man stopped in front of the door that he knew he and Daniel had taken earlier, only to find the symbol was different—again! The man's eyebrows creased, fearful now that he was alone. He carefully opened the door and glanced out of it, only for his eyes to widen when he saw it was not the same place they had come from.

"What is this?" he whispered anxiously. He closed the door again and took a step back. As he stared at the symbol, a terrifying thought came to his mind. Could it be that…that the doors changed their locations…? It sounded plausible by the ever changing areas; but then… then… that meant he was utterly lost!

Vlad swallowed hard, now completely unsure what to do. But before he could even figure out what to do next, the sound of a voice behind him all but made him jump out of his skin.

"Hey, Vlad?"

The man gasped as he turned around, a hand pressed against his chest as he barely resisted the instinct to lift his hand and fire an attack. He could not be seen using his powers. It was his only life line.

But the man quickly calmed down when he saw Danny staring back at him with a somewhat bewildered and amused look on his face. "What's wrong with you? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

Vlad quickly scowled. "Blasted, Daniel! Don't sneak up on me like that! I mean, not when we have Iluzisto and his guards to worry about! And what are you doing here? I thought you were adamant about _finding your own way out_?"

Danny frowned. But then he stuck his hands in his pocket and shrugged. "I thought it would be wiser to remain together. Plus, I found something. Come."

Vlad hesitated as the boy walked off, expecting him to follow without question. And although at any other time his pride would have refused to do as the boy wanted, especially when he had just blamed him for everything, he truly had no choice. He was utterly lost.

Growling under his breath, the man reluctantly followed. "So what is this 'something', Daniel?" he asked, displeasure in his voice.

"It's through this door," Danny calmly replied, opening a door to the left of the one he had originally left opened.

The billionaire frowned in confusion. When had the boy gone through that door? But remembering his theory about the doors changing locations, he remained quiet as the teen went in.

Vlad's eyebrows creased even more in confusion as he entered a dimly lit hallway, containing several cells. This was another cell hall. How could this be the way out?

"Daniel, what is this? I highly doubt this is a way out. And it most certainly is not anywhere I've seen, so it cannot lead us to the council room."

The boy didn't look at him as he continued forward, but still answered, "I know. I found another door just to the right. I think it might take us to the High Tribunal's room."

Vlad remained unsure, but decided to go along with the boy. It's not like he had any better ideas. Soon enough, though, they reached the door, and the teen opened it again.

Vlad was just about to follow him in, when a soft whisper, coming from one of the cells caught his attention.

"_Help…"_

The man froze in place as he turned towards the quiet pleading voice.

"_Someone… help me…"_

Perhaps at any other instance, he would have ignored the desperate pleas. But, this time, he could not. He could not because the voice sounded so familiar…

Vlad slowly made his way towards the cell where the voice originated. And finding it, he noticed it was not like his cell. All he could see was its lone, heavy door, which was made of thick steel. But he would be able to peer into it through a small barred window just at his eye level.

The man did just that as the voice continued to plea for help. But when his eyes dimly caught sight of a blue hazmat suit in the darkness, his worst fear became a reality.

There in the corner, curled up, was his dear Maddie. Bruised, shivering, and frightened.

His thoughts exploded. Iluzisto had captured her!

But he was jolted out of his thoughts when Danny's mother looked up at him, her purple eyes filled with utter terror. That is, until she saw Vlad.

"Vlad?" she whispered, hopeful.

"Maddie," was all the man could reply back in an anxious hush.

* * *

After having told Vlad off and stormed out on him, Danny continued to scowl and grumble angrily. Forget that jerk! He had never needed him before to get out of his situations; so why should it be any different now? He would find his own way out and if Vlad was stuck in here for the rest of his life, it would just be what he deserved! No more fruit loop to worry about!

He ignored the pang of guilt at thinking that and just continued forward. His anger, though, slowly melted as he looked around and found even more doors and nothing hinting at a way out.

Still human, the boy glanced back in the direction he had come from; but from how deep he had already ventured, he could not really see the door he had left open anymore. Internally, Danny had hoped Vlad would have followed after him. But obviously the man's pride got in the way of having them 'stick together'.

Danny sighed as he looked forward again. He hated how bossy Vlad was. The man always thought he knew everything…But was it so hard to let him try something out this time? He could come up with good ideas, too! Why did the fruit loop have to be so stubborn?

Now, feeling at a lost on what to do, the teen went over to a random door again and placed his hand against the symbol. What _were _these things?

But before he could ponder any more on the thought, the sound of a door in the not-too-far distance opening jolted him and he had to choke down a gasp when he saw two guards come through it. He quietly sighed when it looked as if they hadn't seen him yet. But knowing that he would probably get caught at any moment, especially since his powers alone would not let him turn invisible fast enough without Vlad, he grabbed the handle of the door that was beside him and darted in.

He then quickly and quietly closed it behind him, suddenly noticing that his leg was all better now since he had felt no pain with his quick action. With a soft exhale, he took several steps back as he stared at the closed door, afraid that the guards had seen him anyways, or had heard the sound of the opening and closing door. But before he could worry about that, he gasped as another door to his right opened and a guard stepped in.

"You! How did you get out?" the guard demanded, pulling out his weapon.

Danny yelped and took off down the hall; but then, suddenly, another guard appeared through a door in front of the boy. Now being left with just one door from which to escape, Danny darted to his left, opened the door, and ran in.

But the moment he did, he froze at the sight before him. There, walking out of a cell, was Clockwork. The spirit turned to look at him, but said nothing.

"Clockwork…?" Danny asked in disbelief; but just as he said his name, the spirit abruptly vanished. "Clockwork!" he shouted angrily. What was that traitor up to now?

Danny quickly ran over to the cell from which the time spirit had just left and realized the older spirit had left it unlocked. The boy looked uncertainly into the cell, which was nothing like his. This one was completely solid, equipped with a steal door that only had a small window to peer through…

Danny swallowed and lifting up on his toes, he looked through the window. But the cell was too dark to really see anything. Actually, it looked empty…

But right then, he heard the door he had ran through click open; and believing it was the guards, he quickly did the only thing he could. He opened the cell door and jumped in, closing it behind him.

For a moment, he just stared at the cell door, afraid that he was going to be found out. However, he suddenly got a glimpse of a wall to his left and he slowly turned to look at it. He frowned in confusion when he saw those _same_ strange symbols written all over the walls. But what had caught his attention the most was how two groups of symbols were repeated more often than any other group of symbols…and they were glowing…

ð-ζ-ǿ-ς

Ћ-Ж- ǿ- П- Д

Of course, the teen had no clue what they were or meant. He looked at them more closely and this time, he hoped he was wrong. The symbols appeared as if they were written with…_some ghost's own_ _ectoplasm_…

The thought sent a shiver down his spine and he finally looked down the long cell. It was strange, actually. The cell was narrow, but long. So long in fact, that he could not see the end of it that remained hidden by the darkness. And most of the walls still were littered with all those symbols. But then, Danny startled when he saw something even more surprising...

There, partially obscured in the shadows, he could see some other kind of writing—_human_ kind of writing—and it was written under some of those same symbols! But why would human writing be here? He looked again. But he couldn't make out everything. He saw a 'v' and an 'i', but the rest of the scrawl was hidden by the shadows.

Below and to the left of the other letters, however, he saw some kind of 'human-written' word, though it made no sense. He had no idea what the word 'Thera' meant. He stepped forward, now both anxious and curious. He wondered if he could see some more of those human that were still hidden in the shadows;and whether they would make more sense than what the rest of those other human letters he first saw did.

But that was not meant to be. For then all of the sudden, Danny felt himself shiver just before his ghost sense went off.

"Oh-o," he whispered in dread. But the sound of voices outside caught his attention and looked towards the door.

"Find him! He has to be here somewhere!" one of the guards commanded angrily.

But at that instant, something else turned his attention back to the unseen end of the cell. A dark chuckle that had plagued him with nightmares from the moment he first heard it had echoed behind him.

Danny's blue eyes widened as he watched his future-evil-self step from out of the shadows, a sadistic grin on his face. Suddenly, Clockwork'a brief appearance made sense. He must have brought his future evil self here! That's why he was in here a moment ago!

"You…," the boy whispered.

"Hello, Danny. Sounds like you're in trouble again. Too bad it's not my doing…"

But before the boy could get his brain to function, a moan rang from a corner of the room. And when at the next instant, Evil Phantom lit his hand with ghost energy finally lighting up the room completely, Danny gasped at the sight of a terribly beaten and tied up Vlad in the corner. But that wasn't all. Also, lying on the ground was the unmoving and bloodied forms of his sister and his two friends!

"Welcome to reality," his dark self said, before his evil laugh echoed through the room.

* * *

"Daniel!" Vlad shouted, throwing all precaution to the wind as he whipped his head to where he had last seen the boy.

But the boy was no longer there.

Anxious, the man's eyes traveled towards the door through which he had been about to follow the boy and found it open. But he could not see much past it. Did the boy continue on without him? Did he not see hear the pleading voice of his mother like he had?

"Daniel!" he hissed a bit less forcefully, now remembering to be a bit cautious again.

But getting no response, Vlad turned back to Maddie still trapped inside. "Do not fear, my dear. I will get you out," he assured her, before turning his attention to the locked door. He cursed at his rotten luck. Even if he used his powers, he probably would not be able to break it. He gazed back at his love, only to jolt when her beautiful, but bruised, face was now right up to the cell window.

"Are you hurt, Maddie?" Vlad asked worriedly. He would maim that blasted Iluzisto for this! How had he even managed to capture her? Wasn't she out of town with Jack?

Hold on...

"Maddie… where's Jack?" the man questioned before she could respond to his first question as a small frown fell on the man's face. Not that he cared about his former friend; but he was curious about how she had ended up in here and where that oaf was.

Maddie stared at him for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. "I don't know… One minute we were both at home watching television and the next…this powerful spirit attacked us! We did not stand a chance. And when I woke up I was here."

Vlad's eyebrows creased in uncertainty. "But your son said you were out of town."

Maddie suddenly gasped in pain and leaned up against the door.

"Maddie! What's wrong?" Vlad asked fretfully.

"I was just a bit hurt by that spirit. I will be fine. As for your question, We… We came home early."

Vlad barely heard her last comment, now more interested again in getting her out of there. He glanced around, trying to find a solution to this. But when he found nothing, he bit his lip and looked up at Maddie again. He would have to use his powers. But… that meant he would expose himself to Maddie.

Vlad swallowed hard.

"Maddie… I…"

But before he could decide on what to say or do, Maddie's cell suddenly lit up as small flames began to sprout from the ground.

The older hybrid and the woman's eyes widened, but it was the man who whispered in terror, "Oh my…it's a furnace!"

Maddie began to breathe heavily as the flames slowly began to intensify and the walls and ceiling also began to sprout hot flames. "Vlad. Vlad, please! Get me out! Please!" she whimpered as she pressed against the door even as the mounting flames licked at her.

Vlad's heart was now thumping full strength. And throwing all hesitation aside, he changed into his ghost form. He quickly gripped the door handle and tried to will his ghost powers. But to his dismay, he was both too panicked and more drained than he thought after combining his energy with Danny to escape from their cells.

The man actually whimpered in frustration when he found himself unable to get his powers to work.

"VLAD!" Maddie suddenly screamed as the flames finally reached her and began to attack her mercilessly.

"No," Vlad whispered, his eyes glued to the horrible scene, before he suddenly screamed again, "NO!" He suddenly fisted his hands and began to pound savagely at the metal door, before he tried to ram through it with his entire body. And all the while, Maddie's agonizing screams intensified as the entire room was incased in green flames.

"MADDIE!" Vlad cried out, his black gloves and shirt now torn from viciously attacking the metal door. But his blue hands and shoulder were now also streaked with his ectoplasm from his forceful efforts.

Now even more desperate, he assaulted the door again. But no matter what the man did, the door did not budge and he suddenly felt helplessness grip his entire being even as he pounded one last time on the door and pressed his head against it. He could no longer bear to see his dying love within the inferno…

The man shook violently as he heard Maddie's cries fade away and the smell of burning flesh surround him. With a sudden cry of pain, the man fell to his knees, giving up his ghost form in defeat when he realized that none of his ghostly powers could do anything for him at the moment.

He was so overwhelmed by grief that he didn't even see when Danny walked up to him, an evil smile on his face and a triumphant gleam in his now silvery-purple eyes…

* * *

"No, this can't be real. You can't be here," Danny denied.

The boy's evil self laughed. "Oh, come now, Danny! You didn't think the Observants would really trust Clockwork to keep me in that thermos, did you? They made him bring me here, under Iluzisto's _care_ to make sure I could never escape. Still, they have to keep me entertained somehow…" he added, gesturing to the dead forms of the teen's sister and friends.

Danny's gaze followed his movements, before his eyes lowered to his loved ones. He gasped in horror. This just couldn't be true! That couldn't be them! And why were they in here with this, this _monster_?

This had to be an… illusion. But Iluzisto was nowhere around here—or was he? Every time in the past, the spirit had been around to make his illusions. Of course, Danny did not always spot him right away, but he was around no less. So he might be here. Or not. In fact, it was perfectly possible that what his dark self said was…true…and that the Observants had Clockwork bring Evil Phantom here…

"What are you doing? Why must you torment us?" Vlad's voice suddenly moaned out angrily, quickly pulling the boy from his thoughts.

Danny's eyes widened when he remembered Vlad. How had he ended up in here?

"Don't worry, Freak, I'll end your torment very soon; just like I did these humans right here," Evil Phantom said with dark mirth, as he briefly looked at the older hybrid.

Danny was now sure. His evil self was responsible for his loved ones' death! He didn't know how, but Iluzisto had to have brought them here and for some reason had given them to his evil self to… to…

"Don't touch them!" Danny screamed when his evil self leaned down to inspect the dead bodies. At that moment, the teen lunged at his evil self, quickly turning into his ghost form.

"No! Stay back! Just leave us alone!" Plasmius shouted out in a panic, now fighting against his bindings…

Danny did not really hear his comment and just swung at his enemy. But Evil Phantom easily dodged it; and with a cruel laugh, released a blast, hitting the teen squarely in the stomach, sending him clear across the room.

The boy grunted as he slammed into the concrete wall, before hitting the ground face first. He had forgotten how strong his evil self was! As he tried to recover, however, the evil male ghost had walked up to him, a sneer on his demonic face.

Danny cried out in pain as a large hand grabbed onto his white hair and forced him to his feet. "You really are pathetic, freak. You can't even save yourself, so what made you think you had any chance of escaping?"

The teen could only cry out as he was punched in the face, before it was followed by another fist to his stomach. The boy crumpled to the ground, but he was given no time to rest as another ectoplasmic beam was shot at him, followed by another and another…

Meanwhile, Plasmius watched on in horror, though there seemed to be some realization in his eyes now; and he suddenly screamed, "No, stop! Leave that poor boy alone!"

But the man could say no more as Evil Phantom turned around and fired a wicked beam at the tied up older hybrid. Plasmius screamed in pain, but it quickly cut off as he was left barely clinging to unconsciousness from the attack.

Danny now covered in bruises and bleeding cuts, struggled to get to his feet. Suddenly, he didn't care about what happened to him. He needed to get to his loved ones. He needed to make sure this wasn't some cruel illusion; and he knew just how to find out…

Phantom paused in his assault when he realized what the child was hoping to do; and strangely enough he allowed Danny to get to them. He watched as the boy became human and grabbed his sister's lifeless form.

Plasmius gasped weakly and pleaded in a whisper, "No, don't touch him…"

But Danny didn't even hear him, let alone notice how his arch-enemy had called his sister a 'him'….

"Jazz?" he whimpered upon discovering he was still able to touch her even when he was human. He knew Iluzisto's illusions only fully worked on his ghost half. But in his human form, the ghost's tricks could not harm him, because they would not be tangible. But here he was, as his human self _touching_ what he so desperately had needed to be just an illusion.

But it wasn't. He could feel his sister's cold dead skin, feel the gooey blood in between his fingers.

No longer caring about anything anymore, Danny brought his sister's body closer and began to weep against her chest. His entire body shook as the truth of it all finally overcame him. His sister and his friends really were gone.

Evil Phantom just stood there watching, an evil grin on his face. But suddenly, the ghost vanished, leaving the weeping boy alone with his dead loved ones and a tied Plasmius. But the teen was too consumed by grief to notice the ghost was gone, and that Plasmius and his dead loved ones' bodies briefly flickered to what looked like snake-like heads…

* * *

Vlad buried his face in his hands, as Danny stopped a few feet from him and his form suddenly blurred and then morphed into… Iluzisto.

"Tsk-tsk. You two crossbreeds are easier to break than I thought," the Prison Head said with fake disappointment.

The man looked up, his blue eyes shrouded with grief. But at the sight of Iluzisto a small flicker of hope returned to Vlad; and no longer caring about his pride, he shakily whispered, "Please. Please tell me that was just an illusion. Tell me you… you didn't…" The man couldn't finish as his breathing turned even more shaky and shallow.

But Iluzisto just laughed at the sight. "An illusion? I could tell you that it was an illusion… but then… I would be lying, wouldn't I?" he said wickedly, before his tone of voice darkened as he added, "If I managed to do away with the other crossbreed's human companions, you did not really think I could not just as easily find this woman and dispose of her, too? I only brought her here, so you could see her die."

Iluzisto smirked again as the man began to breathe even shallower with his every word, "What's pathetic was that I gave you the chance to save her and you could not. Shows how weak you are, crossbreed. So, take this as a lesson. You have no hope of escaping your fate. But try to again, and it will be the other crossbreed that I kill in front of your eyes," he assured darkly, before he snapped his fingers.

Vlad barely heard anything the spirit said, nor did he notice the appearance of several guards. He just sat there against the metal doorway, though he had turned a bit to press his hand against the door. His body was still shaking and his head was lowered, looking on the verge of losing what dignity he had left.

But the man did not seem to care anymore; in fact, he did not struggle in the slightest as he was roughly forced to his feet and restrained.

"Tie him up," Iluzisto ordered his guards. "I'll be there in a moment."

With that, he vanished once more, leaving his guards to take the older hybrid back to his cell.

* * *

Iluzisto appeared back inside the cell where Danny was. His eyes gleamed with smugness when he saw the boy look up at him, and understanding shrouded the boy's eyes. But it did not bring any relief to the teen.

After Evil Phantom had vanished, the teen had grabbed his friends' bodies**, **mourning their loss once more, and it had been then that he had noticed his evil self was gone from the room. And when he looked back to Vlad, he had seen how the man's form dissolved away, revealing an unconscious ghost with a black, snake-like head in its place. But most of its body was in the shadows.

It had been an illusion! And the appearance of Iluzisto at the moment had confirmed it. His evil self had also been an illusion. But…was it all 'just an illusion'? He could **still** see _and_ touch the lifeless bodies of his sister and friends just beyond that black, snake-like ghostly head...Then it hit the boy. Iluzisto just wanted to get him here, so he could show him his loved one's dead bodies! And Clockwork had had no trouble in helping him do it, too…

But Danny had been wrong about one thing. And that was that seeing Clockwork had also been an illusion. Rather, Iluzisto had tricked the boy's mind into seeing him as Clockwork and then Evil Phantom; just like he had earlier made Vlad see him as Danny to lure him into his own trap…

However, the boy's ending up in the _same_ cell of the ghost that the real Clockwork had visited several moments earlier was indeed pure coincidence. Indeed, Iluzisto even found it ironical. But he had dismissed it when it turned out to work for his advantage.

"Consider yourself lucky that you and that other freak have to attend your trial again tomorrow," Iluzisto finally spoke, his voice dark. "Otherwise, I would relieve you of every drop of your strength and energy at this very moment for your attempt to escape. However, you both are going to be severely punished for this."

Danny's eyes just glazed with more tears, but he still spoke, his voice barely audible, "W-Why? Why did you hurt t-them? I-It is me y-you want; s-so why? They d-didn't d-deserve this. They… THEY DIDN'T DESERVE THIS, YOU MONSTER!" the boy suddenly screamed, though he sounded more in pain than angry.

Iluzisto suddenly raised his staff and hit the boy across the face with the end of it, the force throwing the teen away from his loved ones and slamming him against the back wall.

"You brought this on yourself, freak!" the spirit growled out. "You should have accepted your fate from the beginning. But, no, you and that other freak wanted to be difficult and defiant. Well, THIS is what I do to those who don't learn when to quit!"

Danny cried out as the spirit quickly moved over to him and wrenched him up by his hair again. He quickly dragged him out of the cell and forced him out of the door where several guards were waiting.

He all but threw the teen at them, and angrily commanded, "Take this freak back to his cell. I will be there shortly to show him what we do to those who try to escape."

With that, Iluzisto turned away and headed back inside the cell.

Danny suddenly screamed when he saw the spirit go back inside where his loved ones were.

"NO! Leave them alone!" he cried out as he struggled against the guards holding him, obviously past all logic at this point. But no matter how much he screamed or struggled, he was taken back to his cell.

Meanwhile, Iluzisto glanced down at the unconscious ghost in the cell. But this time, the dead forms of Jazz, Tucker, and Sam were not there. In their place was the _other_ three unconscious heads of Kvargvid.

The black head, which Iluzisto had tricked the boy into believing it was a restrained Plasmius, was now finally stirring. Indeed, it was sheer luck for Iluzisto that the boy had ended up in Kvargvid 's cell by mistake. But it didn't matter in the end to Iluzisto. It turned out to be the perfect trap to finally make the boy completely believe he had killed those three pathetic human children.

It had simply been a matter of knocking out three of the four heads and creating an illusion over them to have the young crossbreed see them as his loved ones. And because there was something really there, the boy, even in his human form, could touch 'them'. The young crossbreed just had not known he had been touching Kvargvid's unconscious heads.

But it had been tricky to deal with both crossbreeds since they had been in different areas and Iluzisto could only sustain an illusion without physically being there for only a few minutes. But it had worked. He had led them both into their own unique but make-believe trap and had broken them by aiming straight for their hearts.

So, yes, Iluzisto was quite proud of himself. The woman's death had also been an illusion. After all, he had not had any time to leave the prison, nor did he know where she was. But when he had seen what she looked like at the trial earlier today, he knew he did not need to really find her to make the older crossbreed believe he really had captured her and killed her in front of him.

A groan from Kvargvid quickly brought Iluzisto out of his triumphant thoughts, and he focused back on the black head. The ghost looked up at him, looking dazed and distraught.

"Why? Why must you torment us so? We have done nothing wrong?" Kvargvid said sorrowfully. "And you tormented that other young ghost, even when I had kept pleading for your mercy before I fell unconscious."

Iluzisto shrugged. "Nothing personal, but I needed your brothers and you to teach one of my newer prisoners that lesson that everyone who is under my hand must learn."

The black head gazed sadly at its other unconscious heads as he shuddered then whispered, "Escape is only an illusion."

"I see you remember it well," Iluzisto said smugly. The Prison Head glanced briefly at the walls, noticing the symbols, 'human' letters, and other drawings. "Hmm. And yet you still have hope… pity that it does you no good. Oh, well."

Without another word, Iluzisto turned from the ghost, leaving it to tend to its other heads, while he headed back to the crossbreeds cells.

* * *

Danny had grown too tired to struggle any longer, especially after he gotten a particularly painful punch to his abdomen for his actions.

But when the guards finally brought him back to his cell, and his eyes caught sight of Vlad, in his human form inside his own cell, the teen's eyes widened with horror.

The man, who, for some reason, was naked from the waist up, had metal clasps on both his wrists that were connected to metal chains that in turn were connected to the ceiling, actually suspending the man by his arms a few feet off the ground. Even so, there was still two metal clasps on the billionaire's ankles; but although they were also connected to metal chains, these chains were attached to an iron ball, with the dark purpose to increase the strain on the man's arms…

Danny had been sure that Vlad was unconscious from how terribly pale and limp he was. But when the man slowly lifted his head up to look at him, the teen suddenly wished that his arch-enemy had truly been unconscious. The utter defeated look in his eyes was something he had never thought to see in the stubborn man's eyes. But it was the emptiness, as if something had been taken from him, that sent a shiver of fear racing down the boy's body.

"Vlad?" he asked shakily, realizing that he had recognized that look after all. It was the same look that he had seen on the alternate Vlad when he told him about the death of his loved ones…

"Remove his shirt," a guard suddenly said, pushing the boy out of his thoughts.

Danny gasped as he felt his shirt vanish from his body from the guard's intangibility power. And realizing what they were about to do to him, the teen screamed, and his struggles returned.

"No, NO! Let me go!" he shouted at them as they dragged him to his cell. But there was no getting out of this. All too soon, he felt cold metal touch his wrist and a painful weight add to his ankles.

"Vlad!" Danny suddenly shouted, focusing back on his arch-enemy; but the man didn't even look at him.

The teen didn't even know how to react to that; but it soon didn't matter when he felt his body being lifted up and a strong force began to bite at his arms; but it quickly intensified and a scream of agony escaped the boy's throat, echoing all through the cell hall.

Danny didn't see Vlad squeeze his eyes closed and clench his teeth as he continued to hear the teen's cries of pain. He was so close to losing it that he didn't dare utter a single word. Instead, he tried to focus on his own physical pain in order to avoid focusing on his emotional pain…

Danny was panting heavily by the time he found himself in the same position as Vlad. It hurt! It hurt SO bad!

He knew he was crying in spite of himself; but even so, he inexplicably, felt a spark of determination burn within him. True, he was devastated by the confirmation of his sister and friends' death. And he was in pain right now. But through it all, he was focused. Somehow, thinking of his loved ones also gave him strength. He would **not** let their deaths be in vain. He would not give up, no matter what Iluzisto did to him.

He would escape. Somehow. Someday. He would escape and he would make Iluzisto pay. Him. Those Observants. And especially, Clockwork.

Danny clenched his hands against the metal chains keeping him suspended as he looked at his arch-enemy. He didn't know what Iluzisto had done to him to get him like this. But Danny was not about to let him give up—just as the man had not let him when he first found out about his friends and sister. The teen know understood they were in this together. And it was only together that they were going to make it out of this.

He suddenly groaned in pain and guilt. He should have never left Vlad alone in those halls. It had been his mistake. It had been **their** mistake—one that they both had paid—and still were paying—dearly for.

But Danny would not let this deter him from trying again. Vlad and he still had an ace up their sleeves. They still had control of their powers. All they needed to do was push away their differences and own wants to bring their heads together to get out of this place.

But the question now was: Was Vlad even willing to do that anymore, especially now?

"Vlad?" Danny called again, barely able to talk because of the pain shooting through his arms.

But when the older hybrid still did not respond, he growled, and shouted, "Darn it, Vlad! Look at me! What's wrong? Darn it! Just snap out of it! Look, whatever happen it wasn't—"

"Real?" Vlad suddenly shouted, glaring lifelessly at the boy. "How would you know? You weren't there! You left! You didn't SEE WHAT I SAW! I TOLD you that we could not separate! You… You…"

But the man suddenly trailed off, no longer trusting his voice… But then, looking away, he shakily whispered, "Just be quiet, Danny. Leave me alone…"

The teen's eyes widened at the sound of his arch-enemy's broken voice; but before he could say any more, Iluzisto finally appeared, and walked over to their cells.

"I must say that in all my time, I haven't seen such a well-crafted—or bold—escape attempt such as yours," the spirit said calmly as he looked between both half-ghosts.

Vlad did not even look at Iluzisto as he spoke; but Danny did, Still, the teen looked all but defeated at the moment.

"However," the Prison Head continued. "I must also say that in the end, your attempt was no different than the rest. You see, crossbreeds, no one has ever escaped my prison. So, then, I hope that fact allows you to understand how slim your chances of ever leaving this place are. In other words, it is impossible. But just in case you still do not believe me…"

Iluzisto snapped his fingers and on cue two guards stepped forward with large buckets in their hands.

Vlad finally looked up, only to wish he had not. At that moment, the guards threw ice-cold water at him and the boy, leaving them completely soaked and gasping for air.

"Let's add insult to injury. Or, is it the other way around?" Iluzisto asked, evil amusement now in his eye.

Danny and Vlad's eyes widened as four of the guards suddenly held slick long green staffs in their hands. But when they saw the sticks light up with cackles of electricity, their hearts began to race as the prospect of what was about to happen next bore into their minds.

"Danny Phantom… Vlad Plasmius…," Iluzisto said casually, though the half-ghosts could only really focus on the guards with those painful-looking weapons. "Your transgressions today will reach the court's ears tomorrow. Until then, however, I am entitled to punish you for it as I see fit. You will remain chained as you are until your hearing tomorrow. Your punishment, however, begins right now…"

As if realizing at the same time that their ghost halves would better withstand what was to come, Vlad and Danny morphed, though much to their surprise and mounting horror, the top part of their jumpsuits were also gone—somehow, phased off their bodies at the same time their human shirts had been removed…

Still, it hardly mattered now. They were too focused on the guards who were opening the cell doors and stepping inside with their evil weapons.

The hybrids' shivering intensified, now that it was due to more than just being immensely cold. And as the guards looked at Iluzisto for further approval, the half-ghosts mentally braced themselves.

Vlad decided that there was nothing worse that the illusionist spirit could to him after having killed the love of his life. So, whatever happened next, did not matter. Still, he told himself that he would keep whatever dignity he had left. He would not plea for mercy. He would rather die first.

As for Danny, he was thinking along the same lines. Any sort of physical pain could never be worse than the emotional agony he was in. But he would not give Iluzisto the satisfaction of breaking him down. He owed Jazz, Sam, and Tucker that much. The spirit said it was impossible to escape. But he would prove him wrong. And even if it took being tortured over and over again, he would do it. He **would** escape.

The teen closed his eyes and focused on his goal so that no matter what happened next, he would not break. He would not plea.

Iluzisto briefly stared between the cross-breeds; and although neither of them were glaring defiantly or showing any kind of bravado, the spirit could tell that neither was completely broken just yet. Still, he had hit them both where it hurt the most, and he could also see that it had impacted the two greatly. They might still have some fight left in them, but now all it would take was a few more small—and painful— shoves from him for them to shatter permanently.

"Beat them into submission," Iluzisto finally commanded. "Or unconsciousness. Whichever comes first."

"Gladly," one of the guards said, before they raised their electric sticks to begin their assault on the half-ghosts' wet and half-clothed bodies.

As Iluzisto turned around to leave, he heard the sound of slick hard metal against flesh and the cackling of electricity intensified by the water's natural polar charge. But it was the gasps, grunts, and screams chasing after him as the Prison Head left the cell hall that curved his eye into a satisfied and evil smile.

**

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**

Pearl: No, I'm not on a torturing streak or anything like that. It is pure coincidence that this chapter ended up coming out on the same week as that dark chapter in 'Dawning of a Sun.' So, yeah, I didn't plan that and I

_**hope**_** my muse didn't, either... Besides, Truephan and her muse had equal say in this chapter. In fact, I think her muse liked working on this one… or so, my muse told me… Heh-heh. In all seriousness, though, I hope you guys enjoyed it! In any case, you know we love to hear your thoughts! Until next time, dear readers!**

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**A/N: Truephan here: I did _not like all of this. __Did, too! Did __not. Tsk-tsk, silly dearie…Hey, how about we ask our wonderful readers? Well, what did you think? No, really. What did you think? Isn't this a great way to start off the New Year or what? Uh, never mind the 'or what' part. In any case, may we suggest your starting off the New Year with a resolution to review what you read from now on. And we can help you. Just push that blue button. You'll be off to a good start and won't have to give us back those 'get out jail' cards! _**

**____**


	13. Chapter 13: Toward the Realm Beyond Time

**A/N: Truephan here: Well, well. Two weeks just flew by, didn't they? And this New Year is rapidly aging….Hmmm… But, hey, speaking of flying, were y'all wondering what was happening with the Specter Speeder and its rescue team? Well, how about that? So did pearl and I! And guess what? After all that intensity happening to the hybrids, we felt it was time to let things cool off and tune in with that rescue team. Did we say cool off? Well, I guess it all depends on your perspective… And, oh, before we forget, we like to thank you all for all of your reviews so far. They have been terrific! We would also want to make sure we thanked 'Wooooww' and 'Liz' right now because we couldn't send you a personal one since neither of you have an email listed... Anyhoo, pearl? Any other thoughts?**

**Pearl: As Truephan said, we're back with a new chapter and with Team Phantom and Skulker… Heh-heh. We're having so much fun forcing them to work together… But, I won't keep you from reading onward! Enjoy and see ya at the bottom!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But the OCs are our own.**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Toward the Realm Beyond Time**

* * *

Now in his new suit, courtesy of his employer, Skulker had arrived at Fenton Works in no time. But when he had, Danny's friends and sister, who had been gathering as much ghost weapons and equipment as they could think of, plus the tools they thought they would need to fix the Specter Speeder, had instantly paused in what they were doing at the sight of the newly improved hunter.

Skulker had been almost tempted to ask them if they liked his new outfit, but refrained from doing so. After all, he didn't need their approval, nor did he care what they thought. Still, he had shown them a few of its new features that he believed would be useful against 'level nine' ghosts. Skulker wasn't sure why his previous suit had registered Iluzisto at a 'level seven', but the hunter believed in being prepared. And if the books and residue left behind by that creature's weapon said that the spirit was a 'level nine' then the hunter was going to prepare for that.

However, the Ghost Child's helpers' reaction to his new suit was odd. And he couldn't help but wonder why the two younger humans had glanced warily at each other at the sight of it…

Of course, the hunter had no idea Sam and Tucker recognized it as the one the '_future_ Skulker' had worn—minus Technus as his operating system. Jazz, on the other hand, had just frowned at the hunter's upgrade, disliking the fact that when this was all over, Skulker was going to have even more weapons and technology to harm her brother.

Ultimately though, the teens felt that it would certainly be of help to them in their current quest, especially when it was equipped to handle 'level nine' ghosts. They didn't know if his new equipment would be as effective on _spirits—_which was what they knew Iluzisto was—but Skulker had assured them it would at least keep their dangerous foe at bay.

Once over their surprise with the hunter's upgrade, the teens all went back to work, including Skulker who had moved right away to the Specter Speeder to begin its repairs.

Tucker had soon joined him, and also helped him out as much as he could since the boy's expertise, of course, didn't include being a 'ship mechanic'. Still, he was a fast learner and what he had to suggest during the repair was often time the right choice—not that Skulker would admit that. But thanks to their teamwork, they got the speeder in working order in under an hour.

However, in all that time, all the parties—especially Tucker and Skulker—had filled in all the others on all the details of each of their experiences with Iluzisto while working on repairing the Specter Speeder. Or, in the girls case, finishing gathering and prepping the ghost equipment they believed could be useful for their journey.

After hearing from Tucker and Skulker about how hideous and vicious the illusionist spirit had been, Sam and Jazz had muffed their horrified gasps about their dangerous foe. They were also secretly glad that they hadn't had as much contact with him as the males had—or had the chance to look at him up close and personal.

They were just finishing up repairing the console, during which the girls had joined in as 'assistants', when they began to talk about Iluzisto's odd powers…

"I didn't say that Iluzisto wasn't real, I said that somehow he was able to create fake things," Sam said, handing Tucker a wretch.

"I-I agree with you, Sam," Tucker replied, as he tugged on the stubborn nut on the badly damage console of the Specter Speeder. "Those bats suddenly disappeared when I thought they were going to eat me alive."

Skulker reached over and grabbed the wretch from Tucker, easily loosening the nut. Handing the wretch back to the whelp, he then growled, "Well, they really almost ate me after-alive! My old suit still has lots of scratches and dents to prove it!"

"Well, then maybe it could be real for ghosts," Jazz piped in as she handed Skulker a welding kit.

The Ghost Hunter shook his head, refusing the kit. But as he whipped out his own large ang glowing welder from within his armor, he replied, "I also highly suspected that as well. What I have yet to comprehend, however, is why the volcano was not real for me? If Iluzisto's illusions can indeed harm ghosts, as we believe, then _I_, at least, should have collided with that illusion of the volcano. Instead, by the time I looked at it, I could not even react before we plowed right _through_ it and ended up in empty space—_unharmed_."

"He has a point," Tucker agreed, and all four of them paused again, trying to make sense of it all.

"Wait a minute," Jazz finally said and the other three stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "When we first went out to help you, Skulker, you said you were fighting some kind of big squid. But we didn't see anything…"

"Are you saying that I was making that all up, whelp? My eyes still sting a little from its ink!" Skulker challenged, tensing and coming to a stand, his stance now ready for attack.

Not at all frightened by his apparent threat, Jazz frowned instead in irritation and impatiently replied, "No! I didn't say that! What I mean is that the volcano might not have been real unless you were seeing it yourself _and then_ thought it might be real."

"Well, I certainly thought those bats were very real and yet they didn't hurt me," Tucker replied, struggling with another tough nut.

"Me, too, Jazz," Sam added. "I shot them several times and then when that didn't work, I tried to fight them off with my fists, but then, suddenly, they weren't there anymore. They vanished."

"But that's my point," the red-hair girl insisted. "Like you said, Sam, you, Tucker and I never got hurt by those things, but Skulker did. So, maybe that ghost's power really works only on _ghosts_, not humans, like Skulker said."

"That still does not explain the 'volcano' thing," Skulker challenged. "And Iluzisto is not a ghost, he is a _spirit_, human," he corrected her before resuming his work on the Speeder.

Jazz scowled, but before she could say anything, Sam's face brightened at her next thought. "Or, maybe it does!"

Again, her three companions stopped their work and now looked at the raven-haired girl.

"Maybe it works on ghosts only if _ghosts_ want it to! Maybe the 'volcano thing' didn't work on Skulker because he _didn't _have time to react and therefore didn't believe it was _real_. Think about it: this ghost—_spirit_—obviously has the power to make illusions. Well, what if they don't become real for ghosts _unless_ they _believe_ it?"

Skulker and the teens fell to silence again.

Then the Ghost Hunter said, "That is a good theory. At least, it does explain everything. But, of course, we cannot be certain. Also, I have heard many rumors about Iluzisto, but that was not one of them."

"Okay, then," Tucker concluded as he unloosened another nut, "But, we all agree that this 'Iluzisto' dude can play tricks on all of us, even if we're not certain whether they are real for ghosts only if they want it to be, right?"

The other three nodded, but then Sam said with a little excitement in her voice, "But if our guess is right and Iluzisto _is _able to trick other ghosts and make things even real for them, then that might explain how that spirit captured Danny."

"And Plasmius," Skulker added.

"Sounds plausible," Jazz agreed with a light shrug.

Sam handed a tool to Tucker before saying, "I think it's the most logical conclusion. "But at least if we come upon that spirit again—"

"Which I hope we won't," Tucker interrupted.

Sam frowned in slight irritation and insisted, "I'm sure _we all_ hope we don't either, Tucker, but it's very possible that we _might_ —so, we'll have to keep that in mind so that he won't have the advantage over us like he wants if it should happen again."

"Good point," Skulker replied with an amused and satisfied grin. "You three just might make decent prey one day!"

The three teens smiled weakly at his back-handed comment, but said nothing, and went back to fixing the Speeder, spending the rest of the time in silence.

However, when it came time to finally depart, Jazz insisted on checking, double-checking, _and re-checking_ her self-made checklists to make sure they had everything for their precarious trip.

Needless to say, after an hour of this, everyone was already testy and getting impatient with Danny's sister…

"Okay, since we're going to be gone for at least two to three days by Tucker's estimate and work, then—," Jazz began to say to her three companions before she was interrupted.

"And by _my _estimate and work, too, human!" Skulker objected, crossing his arms with a defiant and indignant huff. "After all, the technology-savvy pup here did need my help with that; and do not forget that _I _was the one who modified this flying machine to get it to run as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Tucker was about to object himself to remind the hunter that it was the _both of them_ that had fixed the speeder when Jazz quickly butted in.

"Okay, by _your _and Tucker's estimate and work! Is that better for you?" she asked sarcastically. But not giving the ghost a chance to answer, she rolled her eyes and added just as annoyed, "I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that, for a high and mighty hunter, you were _way_ too sensitive about things."

"I _am not_ getting emotional over this, if that is what you are implying, human!" Skulker growled, this time putting his fisted hands on his hips. "As a matter of fact, _emotions_ are for the weak, which I am not! I am, however, indeed a high and mighty hunter, and being sensitive to my entire **surroundings** _is what_ makes me the greatest of my craft!"

"Okay! Okay! You've made your point!" Jazz said with a little exasperation. "Now, can we get back to our plans?—And notice that I said '_our_'?"

Skulker ignored her sarcasm and merely decreed, "Now that we hav cleared that matter up, of course! But make haste, you have taken enough time with all your… _proceedings_ as it is!"

Sam rolled her eyes before looking at Jazz, waiting for anything of significance that the red-head would want to say.

Jazz continued after a deep calming sigh, "Like I was saying, since we're going to be gone for a while, then I wanted to make sure that everyone is sure that we have everything we need… So, do we?"

This time, all three of her companions looked at her in disbelief, before frowning.

Not again!

Finally, Sam dryly said, "That's about the millionth time you've asked that, Jazz! We're about as ready as we'll ever be!"

"Yeah, Jazz," Tucker said, finally able to object to something. "You've only made us check and re-check everything to the point that now I think I know things about the Specter Speeder that I never wanted to know about! I might get nightmares about that, you know!"

"I, too, agree, this time," Skulker echoed firmly, crossing his arms again in exasperation. "Your obsessive repetitiveness is beginning to disturb me, whelp. I would know about that, since I am a ghost!"

But not only was the Ghost Boy's sister troubling him, she was also quickly becoming the annoying little helper again!

Jazz rolled her eyes at their lackluster response and went right back once more to doing a quick once-over at her well check-marked checklist. She walked inside the speeder and began to go through the storage units, checking off things on her list as she went. But then when she came back out, she proceeded to walk around the speeder and check even more things off…

At first, her three companions remained silent, watching her as she did what seemed to be her millionth inspection.

However, after a few more minutes of tense silence on at least Sam, Tucker and Skulker's parts, Skulker couldn't take it any longer. At last, his eyes and hair flared and he growled at Jazz, "Human? I am about to tie you up and drag you into that flying contraption if you do not put down those papers and that writing utensil so that we can _leave_!"

Jazz was startled from concentrating on her checklist and looked at the ghost with widened eyes. But then, she quickly composed herself and said with a terse voice, "And I thought hunters were supposed to be the most patient people in the world!"

"They are—when they're _hunting_—_not_ waiting to _start_ hunting—and most certainly not when waiting for _some human pup_ _to finish her checklist_ so they _can_ start hunting!" Skulker spat back, just before he glowered at her.

Jazz, in turn, huffed and rolled her eyes.

Sam and Tucker tried to stifle their amused snickers at the scene in front of them. The red-head and the hunter almost looked like Danny and Jazz did when the siblings were arguing. Almost. Still, they were with Skulker on this one—just like they would probably be with Danny if he had a similar argument with his sometimes over-bearing sister.

But then Sam impatiently said, "We could spend the rest of today and tomorrow re-checking everything and still miss something, Jazz. Let's just get going, okay? We can discuss all about our final plans on the way so that we can be as ready as we can be once we get to our designation; that is,_ if_ we know _exactly _where that is…"

"Hey, _I know_!" Skulker and Tucker objected at the same time, both feeling very insulted by her remark.

"I mean, we're not sure exactly where the _entrance _of the Observants' realm is," she corrected herself throwing a slight scowl to the males.

"That's better!" the two males smugly replied, reflexively closing their eyes in self-satisfaction, and not at all bothered this time that they had accidentally agreed with her.

But then Skulker added just as smugly, "Of course, I am certain I will have absolutely no trouble finding said entrance. But…," The hunter shot Danny's sister a pointed look. "If you are all done with this droning nonsense then I say we _leave_."

'Team Phantom' rolled their eyes but agreed nonetheless. But just as Skulker took a step towards the speeder to board it, followed by the two younger teenagers, they were delayed yet again…

"Wait. Uh, guys?" Jazz began.

Danny's friends and the hunter reluctantly looked at her—though the latter also looked ready to pull out one of his cannons and blast the older girl for keeping them from leaving yet again.

Jazz frowned at the looks on the younger kids' and ghost's faces, but still said, " I know we're all very uptight about everything, but can we just try to muddle through everything and get along until we get back to normal?"

All three of her companions arched up one of their eyebrows in an 'are-you-kidding-when-are-things-ever-normal?' kind of look.

When the older teen saw that response, she sheepishly added, "Okay, _near_ normal, anyhow. But you know what I mean, right?"

This time, Sam and Tucker nodded and weakly smiled.

Skulker, on the other hand, did not offer any other comment—or objection. Instead, he snorted a tiny bit before turning back around and finally walking off to board the speeder.

Jazz, in turn, grinned back, before following her brother's friends to the speeder as well. Once boarded, the older girl placed her checklist down and headed for the pilot's seat, which had already been in their plans.

The three humans had already agreed on a rotation schedule of duties for the trip. But it hadn't included Skulker because the ghost was adamant about refusing to pilot the Speeder, or to follow any human regiment for that matter. So, the human trio took that as a definite hint to do it themselves. For a two-hour shift apiece, one of them would be the pilot, the other would be the navigator, and the last would be getting rest.

They had decided that Jazz would be the one behind the controls for the first leg of this trip, with Sam as the navigator. And Tucker would be 'off duty', which for him would include snoozing or messing around with his PDA.

Once settled at the controls, Jazz turned and asked, "Tucker, are the coordinates…"

"Yes!" all three of her companions instantly said in exasperation. They had already anticipated her re-checking if the coordinates to where they thought the entrance to Observants' realm was had been put into the Speeder's computer.

"GEEZ! Okay! I'm pushing the 'go' button now! Happy?" she sarcastically added before activating the command.

And they were finally on their way…

As the Ghost Zone's purple, green and black surroundings flew past them, the three humans and the ghost settled down; but their thoughts had returned to their conversation while repairing the Speeder. Now that the kids had a theory of how Danny and Plasmius had been captured, they knew that they needed to work on a plan to get them out before they got to the entrance of the Observants' realm—**if **Tucker and Skulker's estimate was correct.

Exactly that was still bothering them. Although they knew about the realm's having some kind of entrance, the problem was that there seemed to be an endless supply of false rumors about where exactly that entrance was.

In fact, the Observants had generated those false pieces of information themselves in order to protect the entry into their own unique—and timeless—dimension. And it had worked, since it was very rare for any **ghost** to stumble upon it from the 'in time' side of the Ghost Zone; or for any 'unauthorized personnel' to accidentally discover it on the 'outside time' side.

But in his many hunter travels throughout the Ghost Zone in search of unique creatures, Skulker had narrowed down that possible entrance to the Realm Beyond Time to, really, the most obvious choice—the Forbidden Region, which was, coincidentally, also the furthermost one!

Tucker had also cross-referenced the possibilities based on the Ghost Zone Global Position System—or GZGPS, for short—program in his PDA, and had to agree with the cyber ghost that his conclusions had made the most sense.

And it was to those coordinates that the humans and the Ghost Hunter were headed.

So as they traveled, they talked about all sorts of scenarios on what they were going to do once they found the entrance. None of the plans were great, but they all unanimously agreed that no matter what they finally came up with, they were going to get Danny and Vlad out of that realm. Besides, since they had lots of time until they got there, they knew that they would eventually come up with that plan.

Ultimately, though, since none of them had ever been to the Realm Beyond Time, there was only so much they could plan. So the fact of the matter was that 'the most likely scenario' was that they would have to make up their 'rescue plan' as they went along…

Luckily, the first part of their trip was a relatively calm one after they had their fill of battering around a few preliminary plans. The teens had already shifted pilots twice by this time and the teens' system of duties was working very well so far.

Skulker, too, though not admitting it to the humans, was also doing his part. Though he had been silent since their earlier conversations, he had kept his eyes peeled to their surroundings, checking them to confirm as to where they were—and for any signs of trouble.

When it was about noon in the Real World, and shortly after the teens had had their simple lunches, Skulker finally said something. And when he did, Jazz, Sam and Tucker gave him their immediate attention.

"This area that we are approaching is very dangerous. I think it wise if we have everyone on alert," he said, tensing and pulling himself up to a more erect position.

The three humans didn't need to be told twice and immediately sat up, anxiously scanning the area of the Specter Speeder.

All seemed well for the next few minutes and everyone unconsciously relaxed.

Suddenly, Skulker yelled, "Look out!"

Fortunately, Tucker was at the wheel and he also had seen what the ghost warned him about almost at the same time. He reacted instantly; and just as quickly, deftly jerked the Speeder to a hard left and then to a hard right, just missing the large herd of Pegasus ghosts that had suddenly flew into their path from below the ship.

Fortunately, all the parties except Skulker had been strapped into their seats. But Skulker had avoided any mishaps by floating upward off the floor of the speeder, riding the violent shifts like a surfer on a wave.

Sam and Jazz stared back at the herd as it became rapidly smaller in the distance. Their presence hadn't even startled the ghostly group of winged horses as it continued on its calm, graceful way.

"That wasn't too bad," Tucker said with a smirk, as the Speeder auto-corrected its course.

"Don't say that!" Jazz objected with a gasp.

"Yeah, Tucker, we don't want any bad karma here. We've already had enough of it so far!" Sam dryly added, as she continued to scan the horizon. But then she jolted at the next sight. "Too late!" she yelled as she pointed desperately just to the left of the ship.

A very large herd of giant ghost bulls was headed right their way! But it wasn't just any herd of bulls…it was a stampeding herd! And it was not only stampeding, their flight path was wide and extremely erratic! There was simply no way of knowing where it would go. And that was definitely not good for them!

"Haven't they heard that bulls don't run except in Pamplona and in the summer?" Tucker shouted in exasperation as he slowed the Speeder. There seemed to be no escape and it looked as if their ship would be crushed within the next few moments!

So much for the Speeder being fixed!

Suddenly, the ship began to shake at the sound of the loud pounding of ghost hooves upon an unseen ground, echoing throughout the atmosphere. The teens reflexively cringed as the same din pounded their ears.

"Can't you make us and the whole ship intangible, Skulker?" Jazz desperately yelled out.

But before the ghost hunter could answer her, Tucker piped in, "Wait a minute! We're human and the Speeder is a 'Human-World item'! We should be able to just phase right through these beasts!"

"No, that will not work this time, pup!" Skulker argued back.

But then, Sam had an unexpected thought. She yelled, "We don't have time to argue! Quick, Tucker, remember what you did when we were in that fish's belly? Do you think it might work again?"

"It can't hurt! And hopefully, we'll avoid getting hurt, too!" he cried as he immediately stopped the ship and hooked up his PDA to the console. In no time, he executed the commands and an electrical field instantly surrounded the exterior of the ship. But this time, it was different than the one he had produced inside the giant angler fish. It expanded more outward from the ship, like it had several layers of electrical bands, as if the Speeder was surrounded by concentric electrical springs.

And it wasn't a moment too soon, because in the next instant, the lead bull was zapped by the outermost band of the Speeder's electrical field. The ghostly beast roared in anger at the sting and pulled himself partially upward on his hind legs, splaying his front hooves as he did. But this time, when his forelegs came down, his hooves struck the Speeder, plowing through multiple bands of electricity as he did. And when he did, both the beast and the ship felt their respective jolts! The beast snorted in more anger at the intense electrical bite and the Speeder was pushed backward from the blow.

But instead of charging the ship in protest, the lead bull roared his command and the other bulls took flight right behind him. They all lowed from the electrical jolts emanating from the Speeder as the sides of their ghostly bodies brushed past the ship when they turned abrupt tail and continued their stampede in the opposite direction.

The foursome sat momentarily stunned at the close call. But Tucker was the first to react; well, really, there was no choice to that. His PDA had commanded his attention when it began to overheat in his hands after exerting all that power to maintain the electrical force field. He quickly punched the 'disconnect' command—that is, as quickly as he could, considering that he was now juggling the PDA as it were a very hot potato!

A few moments after that and the PDA was cool enough for Tucker to hold it more firmly. He then sighed in relief after he gave it a quick inspection, and saw that no significant harm had been done to it again. He quickly shoved it back into his pants and was about to say something to break the silence when Skulker beat him to it.

"Looks like you know a thing or two about cattle prods, whelp! Glad you had one handy!" The Ghost Hunter said with a smirk.

This time, the three humans laughed in response, though their laughs were more in relief than anything else.

Still smiling, Tucker then shifted the Speeder into 'forward' and they were back on their way.

Shortly afterward, however, Jazz thought about what happened when they were almost trampled and asked the ghost hunter, "Just what was that all about back there, Skulker? Why couldn't you have made us intangible?"

"Yeah, come to think of it, why couldn't we have just phased through it all like I thought? After all, we're the ghosts here in the Ghost Zone," Tucker added, though he kept his eyes forward the entire time.

The two girls looked at the ghost hunter just as Skulker frowned. Two very good questions. And the ghost hunter had two very good answers. He hesitated to reveal them, however. He really didn't want these humans to have any more knowledge than they had to in order for them to accomplish their goals. And he would not want to be the instrument of their having any future advantage here in the Ghost Zone. Still, he knew that under the agreed upon terms of this mission—that is, that he would cooperate as much as possible with the whelps in order to help his employer—he would have to give them some sort of an answer… Or did he?

He tersely replied, "I do not know."

But Sam had seen the change in his eyes when the ghost said that and challenged, "Yes, you _do_ know. Why won't you tell us?"

The ghost hunter's eyes and hair flared angrily at her; but then, he calmed a bit. He knew that he never was very good at lying unless he had prepared himself mentally to do so. And the truth was that the human's questions had taken him slightly by surprise. Still, the whelp's tenacity was annoying.

He paused at a decision to answer truthfully or not. But when he could see that the younger female human still had her eyes locked on him, expecting an answer, he rolled his eyes and relented. "Okay, I will explain this only once, so even if you do not understand it, I will **not** elaborate. Take it or leave it!"

The three teens glanced briefly at the cyborg ghost before silently checking with each other. They nodded when they could tell that they all had agreed to the ghost's terms.

Her face still lined with gravity, Sam finally said, "Okay, we're ready."

Skulker huffed a bit before he said, "I will answer the first question. I could have made us intangible. However, there is no guarantee it would have protected us. Intangibility doesn't always work well in the Ghost Zone when it comes to the interaction between ghost or human _things_. And even though I think this new suit of mine had made the necessary adjustments to do so, I thought it best not to risk it. After all, I have not had a chance to properly test it, and I would not be a worthy hunter if I had done so at such a precarious and very risky moment."

The three teens blinked in his answer. They, of course, still had questions, but had agreed not to ask. But their thoughts were stolen away by Skulker's next response.

"And as for the second question, the one made by the techno-savvy whelp, that is," Skulker began with a frown. "That has a more complicated answer."

He paused a bit, trying to gather his thoughts. Even _he_ wasn't too sure of that explanation. But then again, it wasn't the first time that the human and ghost worlds both complemented and contradicted each other. He internally smiled in more understanding in what he was about to say. After all, separately, each of the two worlds' laws made sense within each of their dimensions. However, when it came to each of the two worlds' crossing paths, then, anything could happen to thoroughly mix up each of their laws.

Finally, he replied, "Normally, you and your flying machine should have phased through any obstacles here just as easily as we ghosts phase through the things and creatures of the human world. However, by your own admission, you have been in the ghost world many times."

"I haven't," Jazz was quick to point out.

Skulker's hair flared a bit at her interruption and he growled, "I'm getting to that, whelp!"

"Sorry," the oldest teen said in chagrin, wincing a bit. "Go on."

"That's better!" the ghost said triumphantly before clearing his throat. "Like I was saying, you have been in the ghost world many times. And the Ghost Zone's laws governing physics and the like are very inconsistent when it comes to humans, because this isn't your…_normal habitat_. In other words, humans were never meant to come here."

The teens frowned at his answer, but kept silent as Skulker continued.

"However, in this case, the problem is this flying machine. Or, rather the fact that it has been personally fixed by me. I used my tools and my materials to repair and enhance it. Therefore, it is now a thing equally human and ghostly. Or, as ghost hunters would put it, I have left 'ghostly contaminants and residue' on it; and therefore, it can no longer just phase through everything in here as before. In short, this machine is now subjected to the same laws here as any other ghostly thing."

The three teens' eyes went wide in fear. Did the ghost purposely sabotage the Speeder then?

But seeing their response and guessing their thoughts, Skulker grunted, "Calm yourselves, humans! I did not repair this flying machine to make it less effective here! What I did had to be done for us to pursue our quest without a waste of time or resources. You may be able to undo all that I have done at a later time and regain its original properties."

Jazz, Sam and even Tucker sat a bit stunned at what Skulker had just told them. Even still, what else could they have done? They would not have acted any differently for Danny's sake. They glanced at each other again and instantly knew that even if they were aware of all of this before they had gone into the Ghost Zone again, in the end, they would have not have changed anything that they had done so far. After all, too much was at stake.

Even so, they understood enough of what Skulker had said not to question him—in spite of having promised they wouldn't in the first place. Instead, they mulled it all over in silence for quite a long time….

Finally, it was time to change positions, and Jazz was now at the controls and Tucker was navigator. But no sooner had they been back on schedule and had tried to relax, Tucker gasped and quickly pointed forward.

"What's that?" he blurted out, rising to his feet when he spied the large purplish glowing thing just appearing on the edge of the horizon.

The other three pairs of eyes immediately shot toward the direction in which Tucker had pointed. But because it was hard to make out, Sam, too, stood up a bit, trying to get closer to the window to make out what was approaching them.

Meanwhile, Skulker frowned in worry as he squinted his eyes, trying to analyze what that object could be. But then, he noticed in his side vision that a few small floating pieces of rock were being pulled a little ahead of the ship—and towards the unknown thing ahead.

That wasn't right!

He checked his instruments, scanning the area with concern. The purple glow was getting bigger! But there was more bad news.

The hunter's eyes widened in slight fear when he read the conclusions of his scan, before he unconsciously blurted out, "This is not good!"

"You mean that it's _not bad_, right?" Tucker squeamishly offered, desperately hoping that he had heard what the hunter had said in error.

"No, it's exactly what I said! **Not** good! That's a _Suĉanta vermo __**(1)**_out there!"

Confused, the three teens blinked silently back at him.

When he saw their reaction, he added with more annoyance in his voice, "I think your human version would be a lot smaller and be called a blood-sucking worm…or _leech_. But _our_ kind is very large, very dangerous and equally as hard to escape from its attack."

The girls and boy felt a sickening knot in each of their stomachs when they heard that.

"I think I liked it better when you called it a 'something _vermo'!" _Tucker finally whined_. _

Then Sam was able to pipe in. Addressing Skulker, she asked, "But if it's all that hard to escape from them, how do you know about them?"

Skulker frowned a bit at her apparent, but unintentional, insult. He still answered her just the same. "I captured a couple in the past. But they both were just babies. They are much smaller and easier to handle when they're that young because they are only the size of this flying machine."

The three teens gulped.

"Then, I hope it's a newborn," Tucker sheepishly uttered.

Skulker replied, "If we are lucky! But, we are still pretty far from it. Maybe we can chart an alternate course around it."

Before anyone could say anymore, however, the Specter Speeder suddenly jerked forward, as if it were being pulled in by a tractor beam; which, in fact, it kind of was.

Slight embarrassment suddenly painted Skulker's face as he commented, "Or maybe we are even closer and it is an adult!"

This time, the Speeder made its own comment to the cyborg's remark. It lunged forward, shaking with the sucking force that now fully engulfed it and unnaturally increased its speed.

"We can never get a break, can we?" Tucker whined some more to himself.

"Maybe I can throw it into reverse," Jazz hurriedly suggested, ignoring the boy. And before anyone could reply, she did just that.

The sudden effort of Speeder to obey Jazz's command jerked the ship so violently that the other occupants slammed right into the floor, and even Jazz was momentarily pinned against the steering wheel.

"Jazz!" "Whelp!" the three immediately screamed.

"Sorry," Jazz began, grunting in her struggle to gain control over the steering wheel again. She then added with a slightly reprimanding tone, "But you should've had your seat belts on, you know!"

Before Sam and Tucker could say anything, the Speeder spewed out a very unnatural sound.

Skulker was about to comment, but before he could get a word in edgewise, the three teens had already gone into their 'figuring-things-out-quick' mode.

"That definitely doesn't sound right," Tucker said with dread. He ran over to the console and looked at the readings. He gasped, "You have to stop commanding the ship to go in reverse, Jazz! The engines can't take it!"

"But we can't just fly right into that thing and let it eat us!" the red-head objected, still trying to maintain a hold on the controls.

But in spite of her efforts, the Speeder was now shaking in agony—and still inching forward.

"That's a great idea, Jazz!" Sam suddenly countered. "Maybe we should just ram ourselves right down its throat—literally!"

Grunting out her words, Jazz responded, "Remember what happened the last time we did that!" She was referring, of course, to the ghost angler fish and how they had unwittingly ended up _inside_ of it.

"No, Jazz, I agree with Sam!" Tucker piped in.

"Huh?" all three of his companions reflexively uttered.

Tucker smirked in self-confidence as he explained, "But only if we ram _more _than ourselves down its throat. How about a 'level nine' energy beam thrown in for good measure—and insurance?"

"I am beginning to like the way you think, whelp!" Skulker smugly replied.

"Uh, gee, thanks—I think!" Tucker sheepishly said. But he went right into his calculating mode and added, "Just hold it off as long as possible, Jazz!"

Her voice straining from her continued struggle to control the wheel with both hands, Jazz grunted, "As if I weren't trying before!"

Without another word, Tucker and Skulker went right to work.

In the meantime, Sam saw how Jazz was tiring from the effort to control the ship. Jumping to the red-head's side, the goth girl said, "Here, let me help you, Jazz!" Sam immediately grabbed part of the steering wheel and helped steady it.

As the girls fought the controls, feeling that each second was an eternity, Tucker and Skulker concentrated on working as quickly as they could.

Finally, just when the males were ready, the Speeder began to convulse more violently.

Tucker and Skulker looked up and gasped in surprise.

The _Suĉanta vermo _was growing uncomfortably larger by the second as the Speeder unwittingly neared it. They weren't particularly relieved to see the adult creature's humongous shadowed mouth, lined with concentric rings of razor sharp teeth, as it pulled the bucking Speeder and other debris toward it.

Tucker finally snapped out of it and swallowed hard before saying, "Okay, Jazz! On my mark!" He pushed the commands on his PDA immediately afterward and just before he pushed the last button, he yelled, "Okay… ready…. three… two… one… Put all the power into ramming it—**NOW**!"

"Okay!" Jazz loudly grunted before releasing the steering wheel with one hand and shifting the controls to 'forward' with the other, gasping when the steering wheel jerked wildly when she had let go of it, even with Sam's help to steady it.

And then, several things happened in very quick order: the ship thrust forward; the unbuckled Sam, Tucker and Skulker were pushed to the floor from the sudden, violent change in speed; a large orange beam leapt outward from the Specter Speeder; and the mouth of the _Suĉanta vermo _was just moments from inhaling its morsel flying straight at it.

Sam, Tucker and Skulker struggled back to their feet and anxiously peered out of the glass nose of the ship at the sight.

But just as the creature opened its mouth wider to welcome its larger meal—and the orange beam— Skulker did a double-take when the creature came into more focus and yelled, "NOOO!"

The three teens jumped in fear. Why was the hunter so upset when the beam was a second away from hitting its mark?

But before they could ask, the large orange beam struck its target with a disgusting-sounding splat. All that was left of the purple_ Suĉanta vermo —_green mouth and all—was now coating the outside of the Specter Speeder.

"Yech!" the humans instantly uttered in disgust, just as Jazz slowed the machine to a stop and they all looked at the pieces of worm goo floating in the atmosphere.

All three humans were now aware of their very rapid heart rates and breathing from the ordeal; and each of them tried to calm themselves.

But right then Skulker exclaimed, "I cannot believe that I just let you whelps destroy a **green-mouth** _Suĉanta vermo! _I have not gotten one of those in my collection yet!"

The teens stared at the hunter in disbelief, though now they understood why he had suddenly cried out in alarm just before the beam had struck the creature.

But then Tucker snapped out of it and said slightly annoyed, "Are you, kidding, dude? That thing almost ate us! It's better its green guts splattering onto us instead of us being splattered into its green guts!"

"And, besides, it looks like it'll still be around for you to 'hunt another day'. Look," Sam said dryly, half-heartedly pointing a thumb back towards the side mirror on the door.

Skulker quickly looked in its direction and just as quickly perked up at the sight of the pieces of goo moving together and shuddering as they slowly began to reform into the ghost worm. Apparently, it hadn't been destroyed, after all!

Tempted, the hunter reached back to grab his hunting sword. However, Jazz quickly saw his intentions and got them moving again, finally leaving the ghost worm behind.

Skulker quickly protested. "What are you doing, whelp? I was just about to—"

"Sorry, Skulker. you'll have to do without _that_ unique prey. There's no time for it when we have other _prey_ to find, remember?"

But Jazz readily blinked when she realized what she had just called her brother and Vlad.

Sam and Tucker shot her a creeped out look, and she smiled sheepishly back. It seemed the hunter's antics were already beginning rub off on Danny's sister…

But still smarting over the fact that he had lost a very unique prey, Skulker hadn't heard Jazz's comment and just pouted.

Finally, the three teens were calm enough to push onward. Tucker inputted the next command, and the ship returned to its original course. And it was only then that the three humans could resume their duty roster.

A couple of hours later, and after the kids had been able to squeeze in their simple dinner, Skulker suddenly announced with a bit of pride that they had just left the most dangerous part of their journey behind 'without much incident'.

The teens' eyes widened in slight surprise at the ghost's comments. Each of them could only think how they had had more than enough of that 'without-much-incident' thing than they had ever wanted.

Still, as they traveled on, Sam, Jazz and Tucker kept to their duty rotation, encouraging Skulker to rest with each change. But the hunter had refused each time. Finally, the teens shrugged and gave up asking. They had concluded that Skulker must not have needed much sleep, especially since he kept insisting upon that point.

But when it was Sam's turn to pilot the Speeder, all three of the teens noticed something different about Skulker. The Ghost Hunter was beginning to sway in his stance, his robotic eyes drooping uncontrollably. A moment later, he even lost his balance and just caught himself after almost falling on top of Tucker.

The boy gasped and jumped out of the way before glaring in irritation at the ghost.

But Skulker didn't notice.

After the second time the Ghost Hunter had just missed squishing him, Tucker said with exasperation, "Will you _please_ go to sleep?"

Skulker's ghostly green eyes immediately flared and he said—quite crankily, of course—"I am not tired!"

Tucker just as crankily insisted, "Yes, you are!"

"No, I am not!"

"YES, you ARE!"

"NO, I AM—"

"ENOUGH!" Jazz firmly said, interrupting the two. "We're all getting cabin fever and we still have several hours of travel to go! Can't you get along until then?"

Skulker then glared at her and growled, "I do not have to get along with any of you! I am here only to help Plasmius!"

"Fine!" Jazz hotly replied, surprising the ghost when she marched right up to him. She wagged her index finger and firmly continued, "But until we're out of this agreed upon 'neutral zone' that thankfully was created so that _you_ _could_ _rescue Plasmius_, and _we_ could help Danny, we need you to stay _in it_ until we've accomplished our mission! Now, will you do us all a favor and just go to sleep?"

"You are all in on this, aren't you?" Skulker challenged.

"In on what?" Jazz asked, totally bewildered by his remark. "What are you talking about?"

"About wanting to see me sleep!" He countered, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "How do I know you and the rest of the Ghost Child's helpers will not try something against me? At least, that is what I see here with your and their _insistence_ that I drop my guard!"

"Okay, why in the world would we be 'trying something against you', especially under these circumstances?" Sam asked in exasperation.

"Yeah, dude, we kinda need you right now," Tucker added, but quickly cringed when Skulker glared, clearly taking the comment the wrong way.

"Are you saying you are going to try something against me when I am _dispensable_?" the hunter hissed, reaching behind his back for his sword.

"Whoa!" the red-haired girl said. But seeing the hunter still on the defense, she sighed and said with as much calmness as she could muster with the annoying ghost, "Look, your nerves are obviously edgy because of your lack of sleep. And if your reason for not getting the rest you need is because you think we're going to _try something,_ then you're worried over nothing. As you put it, 'we are 'Danny's helpers', so why would we do anything to risk saving him?"

But seeing the hunter was not completely convinced, she quickly thought of another approach. "And, besides, what kind of hunter would you be if when we finally get to the final hunt for Plasmius and Danny, you're no good to any of us—including _your employer_?"

Skulker's eyes flared at her words and Tucker shuddered a little. But then, the Ghost Hunter calmed a little and replied to Jazz, "You know, I liked you better when you were seen and not heard before all of this. But I cannot deny that you do have a point…" He paused and then made his decision. "However, if you all truly wish me to rest then I require some kind of…private area. I do not want an audience while I sleep."

In truth, however, Skulker just wanted to preserve his dignity. After all, no respectable hunter ever let down his guard around others, especially around potential prey. That, and… he had to do something in specific when he slept…

"_Why would we want to watch him sleep?"_ Tucker thought, not getting the hunter's logic at all, let alone where exactly they were going to get him a 'private area' on a small ship.

Sam, who was still steering the Speeder, just rolled her eyes and groaned under her breath.

Jazz, however, had gone right to farthest part of the cabin and started pulling things out of the largest storage compartment that had been built into the ship. That compartment should be large enough to accommodate the ghost.

Skulker let a small smile of triumph escape his robotic lips and quickly entered the area.

The teens heard a lot of noise coming from behind the closed door of the makeshift bedroom, including occasional bumping on the door. The final smack into the door pushed the door slightly ajar, but the three humans didn't dare suggest to close it again. After that, it grew quiet; and the three left awake assumed that Skulker had finally settled down for a much needed rest.

Not too long afterward, Jazz and Tucker noticed that the door had swung open even more. They whispered to the other whether they should close the door. But what happened next helped them make a decision.

The Specter Speeder hit some turbulence and the jolt was enough to cause the door to swing totally open. But, oddly, that did not wake Skulker.

Another jolt later, and the door threatened to swing violently back. Fearful of the noise that would result at its loud closing, Tucker and Jazz both instinctively ran to the door and caught it before it could achieve its goal.

But, of course, they couldn't help but steer their eyes into the compartment when they did. And in the next instant, they were silently closing the door while gagging their snickers at what both of them had deduced from the quaint little scene behind the door.

Now they could understand why Skulker had objected to sleeping in front of them. He had to sleep _outside_ of his armor!

Clearly, he had not wanted to be teased about that, or the fact that he would be sleeping in his favorite polka-dot pajamas…

_**

* * *

**_Skulker had been asleep several hours after that, and the teens had still stayed on their path and schedule. None of them had dared to wake the ghost in all that time, especially since they seemed to not have encountered anything pressing that had required his attention. In fact, most of those hours of travel had been spent in silence—and 'without incidents'.

They had readily avoided the 'River of Revulsion' and 'Carnivorous Canyon' on the way. They nearly plowed right into the 'Pit of Despair' which hadn't even been on the map. But luckily, Sam had been driving the ship at that point and had instinctively steered away from all the fluffy flowers and other pastel-colored cutesy things that the ghost monster which had lived within the 'Pit of Despair' had lined on the outside of the pit to lure unsuspecting victims.

And Tucker had spotted another _Suĉanta vermo_ while he was the navigator and successfully plotted a course to avoid it.

Finally, Sam, who was now in the pilot seat again, yawned before saying to Jazz, "We can't be too far from that entrance we're looking for." She pointed ahead and added, "Because there's the 'Hanging Cliff Heads' Skulker mentioned we'd be passing."

"Yeah, hard to miss those," Jazz said with a small cringe, seeing how the floating cliffs they were just passing really had green skeleton heads literally hanging from them.

The break in silence had jolted Tucker from his sleep and he got up and silently went up to the two other teens. When he scanned the horizon ahead, he was quick to see that they were passing the 'Hanging Cliff Heads', and knew that they were close to their designation.

With another yawn, he mumbled to Sam, "My turn!"

"Okay," the goth girl replied as Jazz yawned, ready to take her nap.

Sam and Tucker exchanged positions and Sam dutifully resumed the task as navigator and look-out while Tucker positioned himself behind the pilot's wheel.

Meanwhile, Jazz had just settled in her seat when the door to the small compartment opened and Skulker emerged within his robotic suit, looking a bit sleepy-eyed, but only in slightly better spirits.

"Why did you not wake me?" he growled a bit, making Jazz jolt a little.

Since she was tired from all that driving, Sam reflexively growled back, "From the way you just said that, I think I'll ask, 'Why didn't you just stay asleep?'"

Skulker's eyes flared, but that was the extent of his irritation with the girl. After all, he admired her spunk. Besides, she was right again—annoyingly so! Still, he growled back, "Better watch it, whelp! You are unique enough that I might start hunting you when this is all over."

Sam rolled her eyes, but grumbled, "All right! Sorry! But you could be a little more pleasant until that time!"

Skulker huffed a little at her quip; but smiled underneath at the small triumph at getting her to apologize.

They had traveled for a few hours past the 'Hanging Cliff Heads'; and the teens had rotated once more during that time. Jazz was now piloting the ship; Tucker was navigating and Sam was trying to sleep.

Skulker was busy comparing his calculations within the PDA in his suit against the map, and Tucker was helping him analyze the data when suddenly, the Speeder was riveted by a large purple beam.

Jazz gasped at the completely unexpected assault.

And since Sam had been too tired to have even buckled herself into her seat, she was jolted right out of her chair and landed with a thud onto the floor.

As the raven-haired girl got up, Skulker looked ahead in the distance and immediately knew what had happened.

"That is a _Gimnoto!" __**(2)**_he cried.

"Not another icky-sounding sucky thing!" Tucker lamented, as he frantically searched the horizon. He then glanced down at the instruments and gasped, "And our power's down to sixty percent!"

"I am not surprised. That creature out there is what you humans would call an 'electric eel'! But, of course, this is a ghostly one. Very rare. Very dangerous!"

Tucker whined, "And very big, of course! They're pretty bad in the Real World, too!"

But Skulker didn't hear what the boy said and commented out loud, "And what is it doing way out here?"

Another violent jolt to the ship answered him and this time, Tucker was thrown to the ground.

As he pulled himself up, Tucker yelled, "Now, I'm wondering why _we're_ way out here, too. I don't want us to join that 'very rare' list!"

The ship shook abruptly once again when it was hit by another purple beam.

"Oh, no! What did that thing do? Now we're down to thirty percent power!" Tucker yelled as he checked the monitors again.

No sooner had the boy announced the grim news when the Specter Speeder slowed down without being commanded to do so.

"No time to talk about it anymore! Let's just get out of here!" Jazz firmly said as she tried to pour more power into the ship.

But the Speeder barely responded.

"Don't do that!" Skulker commanded. "It lives off energy and you are just feeding it more when you powered on the juice!"

"Any suggestions, then?" Sam sarcastically quipped back as Jazz decreased the power.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do!" he growled back. "First of all, shut down all power!"

"What?" Tucker cried in disbelief.

But then, the boy and two girls gagged their gasps when they finally saw the large _Gimnoto_ nearing their ship. It was more hideous and, of course, as Tucker said, much, _much_ bigger than the ones in the Real World. Its electrically-charged, ghostly-green body charged right at them, snapping its craggily purple teeth in anticipation of sinking them into the ship's hide.

"Do it, whelp," Skulker whispered urgently to Sam.

Although she wasn't sure if that was the best thing right now, Sam still obeyed Skulker and hurried to turn off all the power.

The Speeder instantly glided to a fast halt and floated helplessly.

And at the next second, the ghost eel slowed, confused by the sudden loss of power from the Speeder. It closed its mouth, ignoring the green saliva that oozed out of its mouth as it inspected what had been its more-than-ready prey. Then, suddenly, it was curling itself upon the ship, as if it were the cloth of a wizard polishing his magic crystal ball.

"I guess it's sizing us up for where it should bite into first," Tucker quietly gulped.

"Shh! Stay quiet," Skulker hissed as he pulled out a metal cube from a compartment on his new suit's right arm. With a press of a button, a connecting window opened at the bottom of the cube and he then calmly hooked up his 'new toy' to the console. The hunter was internally glad he had taken the time to check out his suit's new features, so he was fairly confident this would work…

After pushing a few buttons, he harshly whispered to Sam, "Now, on my command, turn the ship back on, got it, whelp?"

"Yeah, got it," Sam grumbled, wanting to call him a jerk for his brusque command. But she stopped short of it because this was no time to argue. She kept her hand on the main power switch and waited.

As the giant _Gimnoto_ slinked its body more tightly around the ship, and the teens heard the pained metal screech of the ship's hull in response, they all grew more anxious, wondering what was delaying Skulker in giving Sam the cue. But then, all of the sudden, the _Gimnoto_ let go; and at first, the teens sighed in relief. But their relief was short-lived because the ghostly eel then attacked the Speeder's glass nose, clamping down upon it with its vise-like jaws.

The glass began to split, and the humans immediately slapped their hands over their mouths to firmly gag their screams of terror when all of the sudden, Skulker yelled, "NOW!"

Sam startled at his commanding voice but immediately flipped the power switch. At that moment, Skulker activated a second button on the cube, making it instantly glow a bright red before the console absorbed the energy, which traveled straight into the ship's defense system.

Suddenly, the creature, which moments before was breathing down their throats, was engulfed in a large red beam which had emanated from the Speeder. In less time it took for the three teens to bring their hands off of their mouths, awed by the sight, the _Gimnoto_ shriveled into a red wisp.

Tucker glanced down at the console and gleefully announced, "Now we have one-hundred and ten percent power!"

Skulker then disconnected the cube and said with some disappointment, "What a pity!" But then he readily smirked as he lifted the deactivated metal cube up to his eyes level. "Still, I am glad that my employer added this useful little device with the feature of being able to absorb the power of my victims into my suit—or, to whatever I connect it to, which, in this case, was this flying machine."

The hunter stored the cube back into his suit compartment as he added, "Then again, it was_ I_ who had the foresight to run a complete check through on this suit's new features. After all, it would do no good to get an upgrade and not know how to use it, especially when I have to be ready for all sorts of creatures like the _Gimnoto_. Plus, we did need the power it stole back!"

Sam finally sat back into her chair and Jazz and Tucker plopped down on theirs, all of them sighing with relief.

"No time for that, whelps!" Skulker insisted. "Let us be on our way!"

The threesome frowned, but knew he was right. The teens hurriedly changed their positions. Sam took over the controls and immediately shifted the Speeder into the 'forward' position; Jazz took over as navigator; Skulker turned his attention to the control panel on his arm; and Tucker sat down, trying to get some sleep.

And they were back on their way toward their designation.

* * *

After about another hour, Tucker's eyes opened ahead of schedule. The Speeder had slowed down and that change had pulled him out of him sleep.

Besides, now that the Speeder's engines weren't roaring, he couldn't help hearing the tense discussion among his other companions just as the ship stopped.

"You said this was an accurate map!" Jazz said in irritation, speaking to Skulker.

"It is. We are in the Forbidden Region and this is where the entrance should be!" he countered.

"And according to the readings, these are the correct coordinates that Tucker had inputted. It _should_ be here!" Sam reported, her face taut from concentrating on the instruments.

Tucker got up and walked up to the Specter's windshield. Just then, Sam inched the Speeder closer to where the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time should have been. Neither he nor any one else could see any markings or any sign that an entrance had been there—ever.

In fact, only wide open space greeted them.

Sam then remarked, "This doesn't even look like anyone has ever been here." But then she had a wild hunch. "Hey, there might be an explanation for that!"

"What are you talking about, Sam?" Jazz asked while the two males turned their attention toward her as well.

"Don't you remember, guys? All that stuff that happened to us at Skulker's Island? And how we agreed that it was both real and not real?"

"And what's that got to do with us now?" Tucker inquired, not getting her point at all.

Sam frowned in annoyance but continued, "If that Iluzisto jerk can do all those illusionary tricks at Skulker's Island, who's to say that maybe he can do it here? He's an Observant, right? So, maybe he did something to keep anyone from entering the Observant Realm."

"You might be right, Sam," Jazz said, approaching the girl. "But how could he do that and not be here?"

"I don't know, I'm just guessing," the goth girl defensively replied.

"You don't think he's here, then?" Tucker gulped, jumping to conclusions.

"Of course not, whelp! We would have already been fried if he was!" Skulker growled.

Tucker gulped again.

So, don't you think we should check to see if there's some illusion at work here or if there _really_ isn't anything here?" Jazz piped in, pointing at the empty vastness just outside the window.

"Now I can properly test this new suit! Let me check it out!" Skulker volunteered, instantly activating his suit. A moment later, he was intangible and phased through the hatch before the teens could object. Once outside, he rematerialized, a huge triumphant grin on his face.

The three humans watched as the Ghost Hunter moved cautiously toward where the entrance should have been, but all he found was empty space.

Disappointed, he was just about to turn back to return to the Speeder when he noticed something odd in the area just to the left of him. It seemed to project outward slightly. He floated toward it and finally hit a small barrier. He was both confused and intrigued about it because on the outside, the area looked just like the rest of the swirls of the open purple, green and black atmosphere. He pushed on the barrier a little with both of his hands this time, inspecting it. He grunted, dissatisfied that in spite of his search, there was no opening. He felt more thoroughly this time, when suddenly, he got an electrical shock.

He shook the sting from his arm and frowned before pushing some buttons on his arm. His face scrunched up in frustration again at the results; and this time, he returned to the ship.

When Skulker had rephased through and then rematerialized in the cabin, the three teens looked anxiously for him to speak. They had seen by all of his reactions out there that he had found some sort of evidence.

Skulker looked at the three and said with a disappointed voice, "Well, I think we had the right coordinates. But someone has placed a shield here to keep anyone from traveling any further into the Forbidden Region. We could blast through it, but, of course, that would mean that every Observant in the realm would know that we are at their front door."

"Couldn't you just use that special feature about your suit and phase us all through the barrier?" Tucker asked.

"Don't you think I thought about that, whelp?" he growled before adding, "But these Observants are not to be underestimated. That shield is very advanced. I don't think we could get through it with our technology. And even if we could, it would do us little good. If there is an entrance past that shield, it is very well hidden because there is no visible proof of one, as you all can clearly see. I can only assume that the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time is not your typical door or portal. It's something… unseen… Perhaps only _observable and obvious_ to the Observants and others who have authorization to enter their spirit realm…"

"Are there any other entrances?" Jazz asked, pressing the issue.

"Maybe, but probably not," The Ghost Hunter replied. "This was the only rumored one I know of, but apparently they no longer want that to be an option. So, I am sure that they must use their advanced technology to enter our world. And it looks as if they may have indeed used Iluzisto's skills to hide the fact from the casual traveler."

The humans' shoulders instantly dropped with defeat at his report. How were they going to help Danny if they couldn't even get in and get a fighting chance?"

"There's got to be another way," Jazz mumbled, doggedly gritting her teeth.

Knowing that it was really not an option, but desperate to get in, Tucker asked, "Maybe we could just blast it in after all?"

He cringed when his companions frowned in irritation at his remark.

"Did you not hear me, whelp?" Skulker said in a threatening voice. "It would take some kind of magic that we obviously do not have to get through! And, _as I said before,_ we cannot use an entrance we _cannot see_!"

"Sorry!" Tucker immediately said and dropped his head in defeat.

But hearing the word 'magic' joggled Sam's memory. "Wait! That's it!" she replied, her voice oozing with excitement.

The other three startled a little at her seemingly random outburst.

She smiled sheepishly before elaborating, "Sorry, guys. But I just thought of a way to get in!"

"You have?" Skulker gulped incredulously.

"Yes, but we have to go back to the Far Frozen and—"

"Get the Infi-Map!" Tucker said, excitedly completing the sentence for her.

"The Infi-Map?" Skulker repeated, his eyes widened in surprise and confusion. "What about that old myth?"

In all his time here, the hunter had heard many stories about the mysterious map, but everything he heard had hardly been substantial. In fact, he didn't even know _why_ this map was so special and powerful—which had been the _only_ consistent part of the myth he had heard from all the rumors.

"The Infi-Map isn't a myth!" Sam hurriedly corrected him. "We've seen it. It's an ancient and powerful map that Frostbite keeps that not only tells us where all the hidden portals are, but—"

"—can also take us anywhere we want to go!" Tucker again interrupted his friend.

Both Sam and Tucker looked hopefully at the other two, searching their eyes for their reaction.

Skulker was a bit embarrassed that he had just been corrected, and even more so with that fact that these _humans_ knew more about this ghostly relic than he. But quickly hiding his humiliation under thick annoyance, he asked, "If it is ancient and powerful, then why would Frostbite give it to you?"

"We _don't_ know if he will," Sam admitted.

But she hadn't realized—though her companions had—that her jaw was set in determination and her hands were fisted and shaking slightly at her sides as she spoke. At least Jazz and Tucker knew from her stance that nothing was going to keep her from that map.

Then Sam added, "But he _has_ to! We have to try!"

At first, no one answered her. They honestly thought it was a risky plan at best.

But then, Jazz said, "I agree with Sam. We should try to get the map."

"I agree, too!" Tucker replied in all seriousness.

Sam smiled weakly in appreciation and then all three teens turned to Skulker.

An eyebrow arched at the sudden attention and the ghost said, "What? Obviously, I am out-voted, and you are certain you can obtain what we need. Signs of determined hunters, for sure. And I should know!"

The others sighed in relief and Tucker immediately started plotting their course to the Far Frozen. But it was then he suddenly remembered something.

He turned to face his companions with a worried frown. "There is one small, or more like, _serious_ problem…"

Sam and Jazz quickly frowned back, though it was the goth girl who warily replied, "What problem?"

Tucker sighed. "All this time, we've been traveling East bound in the Ghost Zone."

"And…?" Jazz asked, not following since neither she nor Sam had plotted their route.

"And the Far Frozen is at the _North_ side—actually it's _very_ far North. Trying to get there from here would take us at least two days!" Tucker exclaimed in his sudden distress.

Sam and Jazz's eyes widened in alarm, but before they could respond, Skulker finally spoke up.

"Not if we take the shortcut," the hunter said, a smug smile growing on his lips. Now, it was _his_ turn to correct and educate these humans…

"There's a shortcut?" Tucker gasped out loud, though a hopeful smile slowly grew on his and the girls' faces.

"Of course, whelps! There are shortcuts to almost any place in the Ghost Zone. One just has to know how to find them," Skulker replied arrogantly.

But then he smiled as he added, "And, luckily, the shortcut _we_ need, is just about half-an-hour back—near the 'Hanging Cliff Heads'. It is a sure ticket to the North side of the Ghost Zone. Of course, once we get there, you whelps will have to lead the way to the Far Frozen…I must reluctantly admit that I have never traveled there…"

"Dude, we got that part covered. Just get us to that shortcut!" Tucker beamed.

Skulker smirked, but didn't reply as he took charge of the navigational system and typed in where they needed to go. Once he was finished, the Specter Speeder immediately obeyed his last command and started turning on its own axis to reverse its direction.

But as it slowly turned away from the shielded and unseen entrance to the Realm Beyond Time, Sam's body silently and unconsciously moved toward it as her eyes kept glued to the empty area where they had hoped to find an entrance. When the angle of seeing it became steeper, her hands and face went up and flattened against the glass nose until she could see it no more. She then let her arms fall to her sides in sorrow as she lowered her head, desperately trying to stop her quivering jaw.

They had been so close, and now getting to Danny was even farther away…..

_**

* * *

**_

**(1) **_**Suĉanta vermo**_** —Esperanto for 'a sucking worm'.**

**(2)**_** Gimnoto**_** —Esperanto for 'electric eel'.**

**Pearl: What? You didn't think our evil muses would make it this easy for them, did ya? *Vlad muse laughs wickedly***

**Anyways, on a personal note, I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I was bummed the last past weeks because of my wrist. It's hard to focus on writing when your wrist is hurting with every letter you type; so my 'writing spirit' had drastically been affected. But, I'm doing **_**a lot**_** better now. And I am very close to finishing with the editing for the next chapter of CM. So, you will have that to you in a couple of days—gotta get it over to Truephan, first, though… heh-heh! Anyhow, thanks for your patience and get wells! Also, thank you for your support with this story and the others. We hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter! Ta for now!**

**Truephan here: Doncha know! I have been driving Pearl crazy with all my nagging for her to rest her wrist. But, heh-heh, look at the result! We got to get another chapter of this story for y'all! *winks*. In any case, we sure hope y'all liked this chapter and will sprinkle us with some of your wonderful reviews! And, my, just look below! A bright blue button to push! Can't wait to hear from you and have Pearl completely fixed up for some of her other story chapters, of course! Until next time, then!**


	14. Chapter 14: Back to Square Infinity

**Pearl: Well, hello folks! Welcome back to another chapter of 'Sid'! I'd like to thank you all for your continuing support and those wonderful reviews! Enjoy this next piece. I have a few things to say, but I'll leave them for the end! Happy Reading!**

**Truephan here: Hey, it IS time for another chappie! Yahoo! And we also hope to get you cheering at the end. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Back to Square Infinity**

* * *

Trying to ignore their mounting exhaustion as the Specter Speeder raced back towards the shortcut to the Far Frozen, Jazz, Sam and Tucker, immediately went back to their same roster of duties. After all, even when their rotation made the most sense, none of them had been able to get the sleep that they needed.

Still, this time Tucker was in the pilot seat, which meant that Sam was the navigator and Jazz was 'off duty'. Bit it still hadn't occurred to any of the teens at this point to ask Skulker to reconsider helping with these necessary duties.

And even though Skulker could see that the humans were getting to a breaking point with their obvious fatigue, he hadn't exactly volunteered to help in the routine duties. Besides, he felt he was much more invaluable as a scout through their journey back through any hostile territory. And, of course, he was irreplaceable as co-navigator—especially now that he was the only one who knew where the shortcut to the Far Frozen was, so he had to be the one to always be checking their coordinates remained on course.

"Looks like we're back to 'square one'," Tucker groaned as he scanned the horizon. He had already recalculated their position in relation to the shortcut Skulker told them about near the Hanging Cliff Heads, but it was still a bit discouraging. They still had about three hours to go to get there. And Skulker had told them that the journey to Frostbite's would still take at least a day even with the shortcut. True, that shortened their trip by at least three days, but that also meant that he was still a day _longer_ away from helping his best friend—not including the way back should they not get the Infi-Map.

In fact, Tucker was right about the time. Not only would they be having to take more time in getting to their final designation, but they were also at this point unknowingly on the same day as the second part of the hybrids' trial….

Nevertheless, Sam knew what her friend meant by his comment from what the navigational charts had been telling her.

"By the looks of everything, I think you mean, 'back to square infinity'!" Sam dryly commented.

"Hey, good one, Sam!" Tucker suddenly chuckled. But then he frowned when he saw her scowl. He then stammered, "I-I m-mean, you know, the Infi-Map goes…to infinite…realms, which is like, you know, infinity….and we're going _back_ to…"

This time, he stopped when she growled. He now unquestionably knew she had not meant to make that kind of pun. He cleared his throat and turned back to piloting the ship without another word.

Sam then sighed. She shouldn't have jumped on him like that, but she was still very upset over their failure. He had really done _more _than his best in this entire thing. "Hey, look, Tucker…I'm sorry…," she began.

"That's okay, Sam. It's cool!" her friend gently interrupted her.

She smiled weakly and nodded before looking back down at the instruments. She checked the route that Tucker, under Skulker's directions, had plotted for about the millionth time to see if it was the quickest way to the shortcut to the Far Frozen in her estimate. Deciding that it was—for the millionth time—she still sighed in disappointment.

Both of the friends said no more as the Specter Speeder flew onward. Every once in a while, they would see a group of ghost animals near their path, but so far, during this rotation of their duties, nothing significant came their way.

Finally, it was time to change shifts again, and Tucker knew to take over as navigator, while Jazz, who was trying to stretch off her sleep, manned the controls. And now that her friends had settled in their new roles, it was Sam's turn to get as much rest as she could.

But as she finally settled down in the back seat, the goth girl found that hard to do. She just couldn't relax. Still, she knew that she wouldn't be any good to anyone if she didn't get some rest. She jammed her eyes closed and tried to concentrate on nothing. But she just couldn't. All she could think of was Danny. She groaned, knowing she had to get some sleep. She closed her eyes more lightly this time and tried to focus on the blackness that she saw directly under her closed eyelids. She ignored the occasional grey hair-like lines that randomly floated within that dark mire even if it in a way seemed to churn with her turmoil, like a boiling pool of tar. Instead, she tried to fall into that blackness, hoping to block out the haunting images that kept pressing her mind.

Finally, Sam succeeded in falling asleep—sort of. She was able to doze, but it was not completely restful. All she could see—and, strangely, _feel_— in her fitful dreams was that Danny was in pain and danger, and that his peril was only worsening as the seconds passed.

In spite of Sam's fitfulness, the last hour leg of the trip back to the shortcut to Far Frozen was becoming a relatively quiet one. Jazz was still piloting; but then something odd appeared on the horizon. She brightened when she saw all those brilliant colors and what looked like a myriad of flowers—and balloons!— hovering over a thick floating shelf just ahead and a bit out of their way to the right.

Jazz glanced at Tucker and he didn't seem too particularly worried about this development, because he was still monitoring the navigational screen and calculating the plot of the rest of their trip. She figured that she must have been asleep when they had first passed this part of their trip on the way to the Realm Beyond Time. And now, her natural curiosity had gotten the better of her. She didn't think it would be too far from their path to steer a bit closer to the anomaly—not to stop, of course, just to look.

However, in reality, when they had first encountered this strange land mass, they had indirectly avoided this 'bright and cheerful' anomaly because Sam had been at the helm at that time and had steered clear of it way before Jazz had noticed it the first time, as she had been distracted with checking other instruments. But, also, Tucker had not originally noticed it because he had been asleep. Skulker hadn't said anything about it, either, because he had noticed that the goth girl had deftly turned the ship away from it before he needed to say anything.

However, none of the kids knew how this 'place' was not on the map. More than that, this oddity hadn't been on the map because unlike most of the other strange places in the Ghost Zone, it was not stationery. It _moved_ throughout the region, and therefore would not appear on any map…just as planned.

But fortunately for them all, Tucker finally looked up from all the navigational instruments and steered his eyes toward the path of their flight. He wanted to check to see if they had indeed drifted just to the right of the planned flight path. He gasped a bit when he didn't expect to see what he was seeing.

Still, he uttered, "What is that?" But thinking that it really was irrelevant what that was, he corrected himself, "I mean, you've drifted off the path, Jazz."

"Yeah, I know," Jazz said, not at all bothered by his tone as they continued toward the shelf that was growing in size now that they were nearing it. "We're not that much off, and I just wanted to get a better look at this place here and…"

But Tucker, more skittish about the ghostly land mass after rechecking the navigational instruments, interrupted her, "I really don't think we should stray off of the course, Jazz. That thing is not on the map."

Still, he, too, suddenly wanted to investigate the phenomenon.

"It isn't?" Jazz asked, perplexed, now not wanting to take her eyes off of it for some reason.

"No, it isn't!" Skulker forcefully emphasized, startling Sam out of her sleep. He had not been paying attention to the horizon for the past few minutes because his suit had alerted him that it had been time to check on all of its components and then shortly thereafter, monitor their flight path. In fact, just as his suit had indicated that he check their position, he had heard the last thing that Tucker had said and glanced upward before moving quickly toward the two teens.

Still keeping her eyes glued to the pretty flowers —and now the fluffy stuffed animals!—Jazz said with a slight pout, "Geez, you don't have to overreact, Skulker. What's the harm…?"

But before she could continue, she felt his robotic hands over hers and the steering wheel was jerked sharply to the left, while her foot was just as quickly pressed forcefully on the accelerator by human hands.

The instant they made that jerk away from the apparently harmless landmass, Jazz and Tucker's dazed looks instantly disappeared and they both gasped and placed a hand on their heads, asking, "Whoa… What happened? Did we fall asleep?"

"You guys could say that," Sam muttered with a slightly worried frown, pulling herself off of her knees and away from the accelerator that she had just pressed.

Tucker added, "Man, for a moment, I felt this empty feeling inside me and it was like it would never go away unless I got to that weird-looking place."

Jazz shuddered. "I felt that, too. It looked so bright and full of hope that I wanted nothing else but to reach it!"

"And it's a good thing you didn't," Skulker snapped. And crossing his arms, he added, "Honestly, whelps. I cannot take my eyes off of you for even a minute because at the next second you're about to drive us to our doom!"

"Well, I didn't know!" Jazz defended, though she felt bad because she obviously had done something very wrong.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Skulker and asked, "What was that anyways? I saw that creepy cheerful place before. But… I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the place it was now…"

"It's called the Pit of Despair, human," Skulker explained to Sam, though Jazz and Tucker were also listening. "And we are lucky that you and I acted quickly. If we would have even brushed against that border, we would not have been able to pull away and would have met certain disaster within that place, which, in fact is a creature that lures its victims with false hope; and once it has them in its hold its victims will actually willingly stay for their own demise!"

The kids cringed, but Jazz then sighed and said, "I'm really sorry. I guess I just..."

"Look, don't worry about it, Jazz," Sam interrupted her, briefly frowning at Skulker for being so hard on Danny's sister.

"Yeah," Tucker added, "Everything is back on track, so let's just move on, okay?"

Jazz smiled at the younger teens and nodded. "Thanks, guys."

Skulker just rolled his eyes at the three and went back to the navigational system and quickly got them back on course. Though not without muttering something about his employer owing him big time for making him put up with these 'whelps'…

As Jazz and Tucker returned to their duties, Sam went to try to get more sleep, but she really couldn't after being charged with adrenaline from that last incidence. She then offered to take over the piloting from Jazz a little ahead of schedule.

Jazz had readily agreed, since she was still kind of spooked from what happened. She then took over Tucker's position while he went back for a break, promptly falling asleep after sitting down.

Skulker, however, said no more and situated himself closer to the navigational system for the rest of the leg to the shortcut to the Far Frozen. In fact, the Ghost Hunter didn't move from the spot he had chosen because he knew that this area closest to the Hanging Cliff Heads was really the most dangerous, and could have possibly included the Pit of Despair had they not encountered it when they did. So, he wanted to stay alert and ready to intervene if he had to—especially after the stunt the oldest whelp had pulled. In all that while, then, he constantly monitored the horizon or his own instruments as they hurried to that shortcut to the Far Frozen. As the minutes passed, nothing was brewing, but he didn't let his guard down.

Yet, a few minutes later, it would be obvious why he had not relaxed. He was about to say something about what had already registered on his arm band monitor when Sam and Jazz both blurted out, "What's THAT?"

Skulker glanced up, only to visually confirm what his monitors had already told him.

"Oh, no!" the ghost loudly answered them, pressing on some more of the buttons on his arm band.

His yell startled Tucker out of his sleep. The boy immediately pulled himself from his chair and rushed to the nose of the ship. He gasped when he finally saw what his companions had seen.

"What is THAT?" he repeated, looking at the girls and then Skulker.

This time, Skulker finally answered the three humans. "That's a phenomenon that only occurs in this part of the Ghost Zone. But then, even if it means that we are close to the Hanging Cliff Heads, it's NOT good news!"

"You just _had_ to say that, didn't you?" Sam dryly said, already making plans to try to avoid that 'phenomenon'. She turned the steering wheel to a hard left trying to steer way away from it.

"And I bet it has a weird-sounding name, too, huh?" Tucker whined.

"Not to us," Skulker said, feeling very insulted, of course. "But we call it a _salboŝtormo__**.(1)**_"Seeing the blank stares of the teens, the ghost added, "A ghostly sandstorm! It sometimes happens when the ghostly winds stir around the Hanging Cliff Heads."

"I just knew it would have that kind of name!" Tucker moaned.

"What's so bad about that?" Jazz piped in, looking at the navigational instruments. "Can't we just avoid it?"

"Or just go through it?" Sam added.

"It's not like the ones in your world—" Skulker began.

"Of course, not!" Sam sarcastically interjected.

Skulker frowned in irritation and firmly replied, "Like I was saying, it's not exactly like the ones in your world. The ones here always start off small, as the wind only looks like it takes only a thin layer of sand off of the cliffs. And like the ones in the Real World, they can be avoided at that point. And though your kind of sandstorms then grow and expand, they can still be avoided if you can fly over it. But because they are from the cliffs, the _salboŝtormoj_ **(1)** here expand exponentially and pervasively until there is no avoiding them no matter what your means of transportation is. And from what I can see what's coming at us right now, we won't be able to avoid it! But there's more!"

"Does there _have_ to be?" Sam commented with a fretful scowl, her eyes frantically scanning for any way to avoid the mass of sand growing frightfully larger.

Ignoring her comment once again, Skulker replied, "We ghosts can weather _salboŝtormoj _because we can turn intangible until it passes. However, we are pure ectoplasmic energy and this ship —even with all the ghostly residue within it —is not. Even if I could turn it intangible, its basic molecular structure is not ectoplasmic energy and is still susceptible to the effects of the _salboŝtormo. _The storm could ruin the engines because the ghost kind of sand particles that make up this storm are made-up of charged energy, which will react at a molecular level with the structure of this machine. And _when_—not _if_ —it gets into the system, it'll clog and then permanently short out every single wire in this vehicle!"

"T-Then, what can we do?" Jazz yelled in fear, her eyes still glued on the _salboŝtormo _heading right to them_._

Suddenly, the Specter Speeder slowed and finally stopped.

"What are you doing?" Skulker asked Sam. "You're just delaying the inevitable."

"No, she's not!" Tucker uttered. "She's giving us time to come up with something!"

"I told you —" Skulker began with a scowl.

But this time Tucker interrupted him, and his voice didn't hide the excitement of his sudden wild idea, "You said that _salboso_ —or whatever —was made-up of charged energy, Skulker. Did you mean _ions_?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that the energy that emanates from it has a negative charge. We call that '_jono_' or specifically, '_negativaj_ _jono_' (2) here. But I don't know the translation into your language."

Tucker replied, "Well, _jono_ or ion, it all still sounds the same to me! So, come on, Skulker, we have work to do!"

The ghost didn't hesitate to follow after the boy, though he didn't have a clue what Tucker had on his mind. In no time, the boy had hooked up his PDA with the cyborg ghost's arm band PDA and the Specter Speeder; and the two males went right to work.

The girls, meanwhile, tried to steel themselves from panic as the bellowing cloud of ionized ghost sand they were still watching grew more menacing as the seconds ticked by. As the cloud expanded, small bolts of electricity shot across its surface. Still, each of the females silently prayed that Tucker would find an answer to this apparent doom. They especially uttered more fretful words under their breath when they heard an occasional 'I-don't-know…' or a 'I-don't-think…' from Skulker as the Ghost Hunter and Techno Master both argued and discussed Tucker's idea.

Finally, the girls breathed a quiet, but relieved, sigh when they finally heard a 'Hmm-you-know-I-think-that-might-work' comment from Skulker.

But then, Jazz frantically yelled, "Well, then, I think _now_ would be an excellent time to **make it work**!"

Her scream immediately drew the males' attention to the _salboŝtormo _that was just inches from impacting the Spectre Speeder.

Tucker needed no other prodding. He pushed the final keys on his PDA; and just as the storm hit the outside tip of the nose of their ship, the Speeder shook violently under the assault of the _salboŝtormo _and Tucker's commands. Moments later, everything inside the Speeder was inundated with ghostly sand, which sparkled and popped or sizzled as it penetrated any vacant area. And when that happened, an eerie silence and darkness also engulfed the ship and its inhabitants as all the monitors and lights were snuffed out.

The teens bristled when the charged ghostly _jonoj_ then bombarded their bodies and senses. They all bit their tongues and instinctually shut their eyes with the tiny electrical stings as they poignantly pricked their entire skin, scalps, ears and noses. But then, suddenly, the pain of those jolts increased and they all tried to squelch their hisses from the onslaught.

Skulker, however, had turned intangible when the contents of the _salboŝtormo_ had just entered the cabin. He continued to monitor his instruments as the storm progressed, hoping that the whelp had been right in his calculations.

Finally, after what felt was eternity for everyone on board the Specter Speeder, the _salboŝtormo _passed completely through their ship. But the inhabitants were still left in silence and darkness, even when everyone was certain that the storm was gone.

Tucker interrupted that silence when he coughed and then spit out remnants of the ghostly sand that had eked into his mouth. The girls then took that as their cue and also wiped or spit out any sand that had also managed to get into their mouths.

"Well, sorry, guys, I tried," the boy said with obvious chagrin, feeling the weight of his defeat. He just knew he had failed in keeping them safe.

But before anyone could assure him that he did his best, the lights began to flicker and the engines began to slowly purr again.

"YAY!" "YES!" "All right!" "Not bad!" the foursome all shouted at once.

When the lights came back fully on, the reaction was not only of relief, but instant amusement. Each of the humans laughed when they saw that all of the hair on the girls' heads and everyone's arms was still standing on end from the static electricity caused by the _salboŝtormo._

Still snickering a little as she and Jazz were finally able to plaster their hair back down, Sam then managed to say, "Thanks again, Tucker. I knew you'd come up with something! So, what did you do?"

His face broke out into a smug smile as he said, "Simple electricity, ladies! I was betting that when Skulker said the _salbo_-, uh, sandstorm was negatively charged, that it was negatively charged because it was made up of negative ions. And negative ions, are, of course, electrons, which is what electricity is made of. So, with the help of Skulker's PDA, we were able to overcharge the wires of the Specter Speeder, making them stronger in amps. And since, of course, ions of like charge repel each other…."

"…The charge in the wires repelled the ghost sand ions!" Sam excitedly said, completing her friend's thought.

"Which sorta insulated the wires from being harmed, right?" Jazz added.

"That's correct, whelps!" Skulker finally piped in…But then he smiled a bit, all his previous annoyance in regards to the Pit of Despair gone. "Hmmm, more and more I think you all would make acceptable human prey!"

The three humans this time smiled at the Ghost Hunter's obvious compliment, something he hardly ever uttered and even if it was a kind of creepy one. But they said no more about it.

Tucker and Skulker then immediately hooked their respective PDAs up to the Speeder's console and checked over the instruments. Both satisfied that the ship didn't seem to have sustained any damage of any significance, they then gave the 'go' signal to Sam to resume their course.

Sam, of course, needed no more encouragement to do just that and immediately shifted the Speeder into gear, finally getting them back on course.

And only a few minutes later, she spied the edge of the Hanging Cliff Heads.

"There it is!" she instantly announced to her companions before actually accelerating a bit more. "Now where is that shortcut, Skulker?"

"Hold your horses, whelp," he immediately replied. "It's not that easy to enter the shortcut!"

"Uh, you didn't say that before!" Tucker whined.

"And that was because there was no need to until we arrived, pup," the Ghost Hunter said with some irritation. But then he smiled when he noticed that the female at the controls had slowed the ship down just as he was answering the male whelp.

The ghost looked at his instruments and then glanced at the looming cliffs. "As you can see, there are ten skeletal heads hanging off those cliffs. We are interested in the third one."

As Sam slowed the Specter Speeder to a virtual halt, the three teens strained to focus on the third one like Skulker had said—which was hard to do. Because they were now closer than they had been on the way to the Realm Beyond Time, they could see that all of the huge skulls _were opening and shutting their mouths_!

But the trio could also see that each of those mouths opened at different angles. Some were shifting their lower jaw forward, others shot their lower jaws back so that the top line of teeth made that particular skull look like it had an overbite. Still others were meeting the top jaw square on. And then the teens could see that the rates of opening and shutting were different as well. Some 'bit' quickly, others at a much slower pace. Others started off slowly, and then 'bit' rapidly at the end of their moment, as if they were jerking off a piece of imaginary food. But then, they noticed that the Speeder, which had been floating slightly forward, had suddenly been gently pushed _back_ without being commanded to do so.

Somehow, none of that was particularly reassuring to the three humans.

But they were pulled from their thoughts as Skulker added a bit too casually, "As you can see, the lower jaws of each of the hanging heads move differently. They are the ones responsible for the ghostly winds in this area and for causing some of the soil to be ripped off of the cliffs and thereby cause occasional _salboŝtormoj. _But for our purposes, we need to time it so that we avoid the closing of the second and fourth's heads' mouths while _entering the mouth_ of the third head before it, of course, closes as well!"

The three teens' eyes widened in dread upon hearing the last comment that the ghost made. But then, each of the humans unconsciously looked at each other, daring not to ask just how they were going to do that. Even still, Sam immediately commanded the Speeder to halt where it was.

But, as if he could anticipate that, Skulker replied, "And since this takes a precise mind, I believe that I should be the one to navigate this flying machine through. But, since I still refuse to subject myself to being behind any kind of human controls, I will require the male whelp to do the task—that is, he and his PDA."

Tucker immediately felt a lump soar upward through his throat and beads of sweat form on his forehead. He had not noticed that Skulker had, in a way, complimented him when he elected him to steer the Speeder into the shortcut. Clearly, out of three, the hunter had more confidence in Danny's male friend….

Still, knowing this had to be done, Tucker immediately took out his PDA and began to monitor the three skulls that concerned them, just as Skulker had done the same with his own PDA.

When Sam saw that Tucker was through, she immediately surrendered the pilot seat to her male friend, but gently put her hand on his shoulder as they passed.

Tucker looked up at her and swallowed hard when he could see that she had utmost confidence in him in her eyes when they had looked at each other.

He sat down and right after that, pressed a button on his PDA. A small, wire snaked out of it and readily hooked itself up to the Speeder's controls.

Skulker, likewise, connected his PDA to the Speeder's navigational system.

Moments later, the Speeder shuddered a bit as it was being programmed; and Jazz accidentally gasped.

Skulker frowned at her and she covered her mouth and swallowed any other gasp down.

Sam, however, peered out of the windshield of their ship and was performing her own mental calculations of the movements of the three skulls' mouths. And she knew that even though the mouths were certainly large enough to let the Speeder through, it was still going to be very tricky to time its passing between the moving jaws. Still, she kept quiet, not realizing that she had tightened her own jaw in anticipation.

Finally, Sam realized that the Speeder had started to move toward the skulls and she unconsciously stepped back from the windshield. Still, she couldn't help but focus on the task that loomed ahead.

But then, suddenly, the ship was jolted backward and to the left!

"More on the left thruster!" Skulker demanded as he pushed a button on his PDA. "You did not calculate the movement of the fourth skull accurately!"

Tucker swallowed hard but kept focused, not knowing that Skulker had really blurted out chiding himself and not anyone else.

Finally, even when he at last felt the force of the chaotic winds buffeting the ship through the steering wheel, Tucker pressed down on the accelerator when prompted by his PDA.

Everyone watched as the third hanging skull neared, its large green mouth seemingly 'talking' to them, encouraging them to come nearer to what they could see was its shadowed cavity behind its skeletal teeth. Still, the humans couldn't help but feel that their ship had shrunken compared to the mouth or that in reality the skull was eager to swallow them right up —or bite them in half if the males had made any mistakes.

Finally, the mouth of the skull drew nearer….and still nearer…and the movement of the bony jaw only seemed to increase as rapidly as the beat of each teens' hearts.

"More speed, whelp!" Skulker suddenly yelled and Tucker's foot at the accelerator jumped, making the ship jerk a bit.

Still, the human boy recovered instantly and poured on the speed.

This time, Sam gagged her gasp as the ship looked as if it were going to ram the _closed_ mouth of the third skull at any second. But a split second later, the mouth opened and the ship hurriedly passed between the teeth.

But just as the teens started to sigh in relief, they heard a sickening crunching sound and the ship was jerked forward into the hanging head's black cavity.

Surprising the teens, the Ghost Hunter quickly threw himself upward and turned intangible. But only his head thrust through the outside shell of the Specter Speeder before he floated back down and rematerialized.

He then said with a smile, "That was easy and only a very small portion of this machine was sheared off by the skull. It will not interfere with its function."

"So, is that why it's called a 'short cut'?" Tucker blurted out. But he had not meant to be funny in the least.

The girls looked between both males in disbelief. Still, they were more relieved to have lived through that 'shortcut' rather than make any comment.

And shortly after, the blackened passageway phased to the more familiar greens, blacks and purples of the Ghost Zone.

Jazz rechecked the navigational instruments and confirmed that they were now in the section that contained the Far Frozen.

Finally, the three teens went right into another rotation of duties and continued as if they had never had taken any kind of hazardous side-turn…

After several more of those two-hour rotations, it was time for Jazz to take over the pilot seat. Tucker was more than happy to relinquish it to her and man the navigator position.

Even Sam was slightly relieved to try to get some rest. Just as surely as the minutes and her earlier shot of adrenaline passed, the girl was slowly ebbing into her fatigue. She finally headed to the seat where each of the teens had originally—though silently—agreed was their 'sleeping' chair. She sat down upon it, resigned to what she knew would be a fitful sleep. But surprisingly, she fell almost immediately asleep when she sat down, having finally succumbed to her utter exhaustion from all the anxiety and lack of sleep she had been having since first finding out that Danny was missing. She didn't stir during the entire two hours, even when Jazz had unexpectedly jerked the Speeder out of the pathway of another herd of Pegasus ghosts.

And just before it was time to change their duty rotation, Tucker excitedly announced, "I see the Far Frozen!"

Sam jolted out of her sleep, and everyone else tensed to full alert.

Reflexively, everyone, except Jazz, was standing and keeping their eyes glued to the horizon as the entrance to the Far Frozen rapidly approached their ship.

Finally, they were there; and Jazz effortlessly steered the Specter Speeder into the opening to the land of the Ice Beasts under Tucker's careful navigation. The foursome immediately spied several of the _yeti _surveying the border and watched as one of them immediately pull away from his post to deliver the news. At least Sam and Tucker knew that Frostbite would know within a few minutes of their arrival.

"Uh, can I have the controls, Jazz?" the bespectacled boy asked soon after they passed the sentries. "I kinda know my way around."

"Not a problem!" Jazz agreed, immediately relinquishing the controls and silently thanking him for offering, since all the ice projections that seemingly jutted haphazardly as soon as they had entered this land had ultimately intimidated her.

Tucker slowed the Speeder right away and deftly maneuvered it around the large, jagged ice formations that would surely impede any visitor or foe who were not familiar with this land. After they had traveled for a few minutes like this, Sam finally pointed out the large Ice Beast who was waving at them in the near distance. Both she and her male friend knew in an instant that it was Frostbite.

Once he found a suitable clearing near the Leader of the Far Frozen, Tucker quickly landed the ship.

But just before he hit the button to open the hatch, Jazz worriedly said, "We haven't thought of what to say to Frostbite yet!"

"Let's just pray that something just pops up, then," Sam replied with more determination than fear in her voice.

The three humans pulled out some jackets that they had on board. Then, the foursome quickly jumped out of the ship.

Sam and Tucker immediately led the way, hurrying to their large friend without any hesitation.

Jazz, however, inadvertedly slowed her pace and gulped a little in fear when she saw Sam and Tucker completely disappear—except their feet, that is—under Frostbite's affectionate embrace. She was entirely overwhelmed with just how huge the creature was and, really, about being here in the first place.

Meanwhile, Skulker, had never hurried as he approached Frostbite. He slowly floated toward the group, ever wary of his surroundings, and readying himself with any quick plan to defend himself. Even though he had heard a lot about the beasts of the Far Frozen and their leader, he had never been here before and didn't know what to expect. After all, any ghost who knew of the Ice Beasts highly respected them and knew of their fierceness whenever they were called upon to defend their land. And Skulker also knew that these intimidating and powerful creatures were the whelp's allies.

While Skulker finally stopped, deciding to keep some distance between him and the Leader of the Far Frozen, Jazz timidly moved closer. But just as she reached Frostbite, the ice beast looked up from Sam and Tucker and instantly perked up almost like a curious overgrown puppy.

"And who might this humble new visitor be?" he asked with a smile, sure that any friend of the 'Great One' was a friend of his and his people.

"Oh," Sam said, remembering Jazz. "This is Jazz, Frostbite."

"Yeah, she's Danny's sister," Tucker added.

Jazz smiled nervously and waved.

But much to her surprise, the large ice beast threw his arms around her in delight and lifted her off the ground as he cheerfully bellowed, "Could it truly be? The Great One's sibling? I am honored to meet you!"

"Great One?" Jazz gasped out, feeling like she was being suffocated, though the creature's sweetness made her feel a lot more comfortable about her new surroundings.

As she was finally put down, Sam replied, "Long story."

But before she could tell Frostbite why they were here, the Ice Beast finally looked past the kids and at last noticed there was one more visitor present.

Skulker, who had frowned in confusion when he heard Frostbite refer to the Ghost Boy as the 'Great One', startled when the snow creature set his eyes on him.

"Oh-ho! A fourth visitor, I see, that is unique in his own right!" Frostbite said with a smile, though there was more than cheerfulness in his voice this time.

"And it is most interesting that he is accompanying my young friends. Even still, your reputation precedes you, Skulker!"

Skulker frowned in suspicion at first, finally realizing that what he could hear in the ice beast's voice was a 'knowing tone'. Since he obviously knew who he was, Skulker had to briefly wonder if Frostbite would be this calm about his appearance at the Far Frozen had he arrived alone—and not with _the Great One's_ friends… The hunter doubted it. Still, Skulker relaxed a little when he could plainly see Frostbite was being friendly under these circumstances.

And recalling Frostbite's compliment, Skulker crossed his arms and smugly said, "Well, it's always good to know my reputation reaches this far out into the Ghost Zone."

"Indeed!" the yeti agreed cheerfully. But then, Frostbite's smile melded into a gentle scolding look, though his friendly tone remained as he added, "But do not think that you will take even _one_ unique creature from this place. Be assured that you will sooner find to be no match for our own unique weapons, Skulker."

The Ghost Hunter didn't doubt that the Ice Beast's words held an underlying threat within them. Not that he had expected less from these remarkable beings. He had also heard that the Far Frozen Folk were quite gentle unless provoked. But when they were provoked, they attacked relentlessly.

Skulker nodded in agreement and replied, "I can assure you that I am not in the game to hunt here. I am here with the humans on a different mission."

"Oh? And what may that be?" Frostbite asked, immediately glancing at Sam and Tucker.

Sam immediately squared herself, determined to get on with it. "We wish this could be a fun trip, Frostbite, but we need your help!"

Frostbite replied, "Anything for the companions — …" But he paused a moment when he glanced at the third teen before continuing, "…— and sister—of the Great One! But first, let us go into my dwelling so I can learn on how I can be of service."

The four visitors dutifully followed the Ice Beast into one of the caves. Once they settled, Sam and Tucker quickly filled the snow creature in on what they knew and what they had guessed had happened from all the clues they had found at Vlad's mansion. They also didn't hesitate to tell their friend about Iluzisto and how they had discovered he was an Observant after all that had happened on Skulker's Island. Lastly, they told him about their failed attempt to enter the Realm Beyond Time.

Frostbite listened intently and seriously, astounded by their story, and wondering what it all could mean. After the two youngest teens had finished, the Ice Beast finally commented, "This is very grave indeed. If the Great One—and Plasmius — are in fact within the clutches of the Observants, then there is no telling in what kind of danger they may be. The Observants are usually very passive creatures, content only to observe the events that are of concern to them. But sometimes they feel compelled to indirectly interfere."

"But isn't that kinda an oxymoron?" Tucker asked, silently proud that he could finally use the word, 'oxymoron', when he had thought it had been one of many useless words that Lancer had insisted that they learn. "I mean, their supposed to, well, observe, and yet, you say they are willing to butt in."

"Yes, it does sound odd, my friend. But understand that they have charged themselves to be the protectors of Time and Existence. And they are sticklers to their rules and to order—especially of Time. When they feel that there is any threat to Time and Existence, they could be bold enough to interfere. And when they do, that usually is not good news to the ones they have accused of threatening either entity. They can be very intolerant then."

The three teens gulped in fear. But then, Sam, not to be deterred, begged the question, "But you said they _indirectly_ interfere, so how can they do that?"

"An acute observation this is, young one," Frostbite replied. "They usually have Clockwork do the interfering."

"Who—or what—is THAT?" Jazz blurted out, suddenly remembering that she never got that question answered when they were first trying to figure things out.

Skulker, meanwhile, had kept a silent poker-face during the entire time of their conversation. It was hard to say whether he, too, had been as surprised as Jazz or had already known this information.

But Sam and Tucker had frowned in fear when Frostbite had said that. They already knew that Clockwork had done the 'dirty work' for the Observants in the past.

Frostbite's eyebrows rose in surprise at Jazz's outburst and he said, "I am sorry that you did not know of this. But Clockwork is the Time Master. A very mysterious spirit in many ways he is, especially in his relationship with the Observants. There is no telling how he will play in what you think may be happening to the Great One and Plasmius—or whether Clockwork has any role in it at all. After all, the Observants are also known to use other methods to reach any objective they deem imperative."

"You're right, of course, Frostbite," Sam replied. "But that's the very reason why we came. We need to find out, especially when we have a strong hunch that Danny is in—"

"—and Plasmius!" Skulker finally piped in, interrupting the girl.

Sam frowned in irritation, but continued, "Like we told you, we have some strong evidence that Danny — …" Then she added with a growl, "—and Plasmius—are _in_ the Observants' realm, but we don't know why. And although we are sure it was Iluzisto who captured them, we don't know why or what he and the other Observants want with them."

"And we can't get in," Jazz was finally able to say. Hearing her brother's name had helped her focus her thoughts and muster her grit.

"That is true," Frostbite gently added. "The _only _entrance in this dimension to the Realm Beyond Time has been practically impenetrable for centuries to outsiders. But I have heard that, recently, a barrier has been further raised after a few unauthorized entries… I am unsure how it was formed, but I suspect timeless magic is at hand…"

"Timeless magic?" Tucker questioned. "Is that bad?…"

Frostbite lightly shrugged. "It depends on how you perceive it, young friend. You see, spectral magic is not all the same. One of the biggest differences you find with it comes from the type of entity that wills such mystical power. Those who exist within the Realm Beyond Time share a spectral magic very much different than the rest of us."

"So, those who exist in that realm, like, the Observants, use this so-called… 'timeless magic?" Tucker questioned, wanting to make sure he was following the explanation.

"Correct!" Frostbite answered a bit cheerfully. "Those outside time usually are much more powerful. Therefore, their spells tend to be very hard to undo or break. It is why, then, that I can say with almost certainty that now that this 'timeless magic-based' barrier was raised, the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time truly is unreachable."

"But we _need_ to reach it, " Sam gently interrupted him. "Please, Frostbite. We would like to borrow the Infi-Map."

"The Infi-Map?" Frostbite questioned, sounding a bit surprised by their idea. "Young one, I believe I was not explicit enough. I am unsure if the map could be of help to you all, this time. As I said, not all spectral magic is the same. And the type of magic contained within the Infi-Map is of another kind than that used by the spirits that live in the Realm Beyond Time. I am sorry to say that it is very unlikely it could penetrate through the barrier protecting the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time. In fact, it is quite dangerous to try it. The map could be very well destroyed by that other more powerful timeless magic…"

Tucker's eyes widened, while Sam's eyebrows creased as a sudden desperation began to swell in her chest. "But… But you cannot know that for sure, Frostbite," she defended. "At least let us try!"

Frostbite pursed his lips a little and calmly replied, "I am sorry, but please understand, my friends, that that will not be possible. I cannot let the map out of my guardianship. It is too powerful and too priceless to lose… or for it to be carelessly destroyed..."

"But we would never let that happen. …We just want to use it for a little while," Tucker piped in, frowning in hope. "We just want to _try_. If the map can't get us through, then we'll bring it right back."

"I still have to object," Frostbite replied. He sighed at the look the kids gave him before adding, "Mistake my words do not. I trust you all. However, I have a responsibility. Furthermore, I am, in a way, obligated to respect my other fellow guardians. I am not allowed to aid in an unauthorized entry to their realm, if they do not wish it…"

Sam who had unconsciously fisted her hands to her sides, hurriedly said, "We understand all that, Frostbite, but please understand that if we don't get your help, the 'Great One' will be a '_No_ One'—as is in non-existent. I can't explain it, but I just feel that this is what's at stake here!"

She blinked and tried to slow her breathing now that she finally noticed how much it had increased. She _didn't_ know how to explain it, but she was _absolutely certain_ that Danny was not just captured, but was actually in great danger. Then again, the evidence of Iluzisto's cruel capture they found at Vlad's castle only served to back up her bad feeling about all this.

Jazz, though stunned a little by Sam's strange comment, added, "We promise we will treat it better than gold."

"With our lives if we have to," Tucker firmly said, his face now etched in earnestness.

This time, Skulker's eyes widened in surprise. These three human whelps were brave as they were relentless. He smiled slightly, pleased at their audacity and doggedness.

Frostbite was silent for a moment. Then he slowly remarked to Tucker, "That may be very well what is at stake if the Infi-Map falls to unwanted hands or if harm comes to it, my friend. But, aside from there being no guarantee that the map will get you through the timeless barrier, I must further warn you of something perhaps just as troubling. I am uncertain whether the map will be able to transport so many of you. Since it is so little, once the edge each of you cling to is completely covered by your hands, no more passengers may ride it—and be assured that still will be the case should you try to ride it in tandem. The Infi-Map can sense who it leads, and will not allow too many riders to tax its powers. Already, I think that four is too many, much less six, which will be the case once you all rescue the Great One and Plasmius..."

"The odds really are against us…," Jazz said sadly, knowing now that using the Infi-Map was going to be a long shot…

"It is quite unfortunate," Frostbite replied with pity.

"In other words," Tucker began with a frown. "Even _if_ you would give us the map and _if_ it could get us all to the entrance and penetrate that timeless shield, it would _only_ be a one way ticket because it can't carry more than four people anyway?"

Frostbite nodded. "That is why I was trying to convince you not to take the map."

"Wait. You were trying to _**convince**_ us **not** to take the map? But I thought you were refusing…" Jazz began, only to have Frostbite gently interrupt her.

"Sam and Tucker know that I will do anything for the Great One—and that includes risking the safety of Infi-Map, most especially if it is believed that he is in grave danger. However, I had to make sure that you understood all the risks you will have to take to use the Infi-Map. And from what you three just avowed to me, I think you do understand."

Tucker smiled a bit, but still curiously asked, "Well, what about the whole thing about wanting to respect 'your fellow guardians' laws?"

Frostbite smirked. "Just simple precaution. Should they ever find out I aided in the 'unauthorized entry' to their realm, then I can attest that I was completely against it!"

Sam's lips curled upwards as she said, "Does that mean…"

"In spite the risk, certain I am that no harm will fall to the Infi-Map in your hands. I can only hope that it will get you to your destination. And I further hope that you will somehow find an alternate way to return to the Ghost Zone. Then again, my young friends are quite resourceful. If anyone can find a way in and out of the Realm Beyond Time it is you all.

The kids smiled and Sam dared to repeat, "So, does that mean…?"

Yes, it does. You may have the Infi-Map!" Frostbite said with a grin. "The odds may be against you, but who am I deny you the chance to defy them!"

The three teens immediately rushed to Frostbite and embraced him in relief and appreciation, letting their tears fall unashamedly. But underneath, their throats also tensed with his warning about the limitations of the map. They hadn't known or thought about that as being a possibility. But they weren't going to let it stop them…

Skulker, meanwhile, inspired by the three insignificant humans' guts, squared himself and proudly said to the Far Frozen leader, "You, too, have my oath that I will protect the Infi-Map and further keep it out of unwanted hands!"

The three teens immediately pulled away from Frostbite, just as quickly pulling their tears away with their hands as they did. They all looked at Skulker in shock, then with sudden suspicion.

Sam finally said what was on all three of the humans' minds, "Oh, really? You don't want it for yourself…or for Plasmius?"

"Though I am tempted to retrieve this most unique of objects for the one who I know would appreciate it, I have my own standards to uphold. And since I have already uttered my oath, I will not take that which I have sworn to protect…And as for Plasmius, that would also include _him _as one whom I would prevent from taking the Infi-Map. Then again, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," he finished with a smirk.

The girls and Tucker then smiled in relief once more and nodded.

Frostbite also smiled and quickly retrieved the map. Once he had returned to his guests, he surrendered it to Sam.

But surprising everyone, she quickly offered it to Skulker for safe-keeping.

Skulker, of course, was shocked at her gesture, but refused it. Underneath, he really didn't want to be tempted.

Sam then handed it to Tucker, who promptly put it in his backpack.

But before anyone could move or decide when they would be using the Infi-Map, Frostbite said, "I can tell how exhausted you all are after such a long disappointing trip to the Realm Beyond Time's entrance, especially when it was for naught. Please stay for rest and nourishment and start your trip tomorrow after you have refreshed yourselves. After all, you know that any time that you may have lost resting will be more than made up for by the map."

Jazz and Tucker instantly agreed, but Sam remained quiet. She had wanted to leave right away. But when she saw her friends' reaction to Frostbite's invitation, she finally had noticed just how exhausted they had looked. And that just made her realize how tired she was. After all, they hadn't been able to get hardly any sleep since Danny went missing a few days ago now. Though she hated to admit it, she was just as exhausted as her friends. So, she withheld her objection, even when her heart burned to go.

Frostbite then led them all to their quarters. The girls were given one room, while Tucker and Skulker shared another.

Each room was sparsely decorated, yet neat. Two adequately large beds stood on either side of the room, eager to accommodate their guests. One small bureau was at the far end and over each bed was a small suspended lamp made of wrought iron. The fire within each lamp gently flickered, giving the room a warm glow. A single window was all that adorn one wall, while the others were bare. And right in the middle of each of the room was a large rock.

Shortly after they had put their gear in their respective rooms, Frostbite had escorted them to an area for their much needed refreshments. The visitors actually enjoyed themselves as they ate because, as it turned out, Frostbite was an exceptional host, as he tried to make sure they were pleased and was especially buoyant when they were.

Finally, it was time for the foursome to retire for the evening. After exchanging both appreciative and apologetic words about their impromptu and soon-to-be-short visit, the four companions said their 'good-nights'.

Jazz and Sam headed toward their room while the males retired to theirs.

As they began to settle in, Tucker was especially amused when Skulker insisted on using his blanket to set up a makeshift curtain in the corner of their room. Even now, Skulker was bent on 'preserving his 'dignity''. But once both of them had finally lain down in their respective beds, they immediately fell into a deep slumber; so much so that not even Skulker had flinched when Frostbite lightly rapped on their door in order to check in on them. Not getting any answer from his inquiry, Frostbite had poked his head in and when he saw that the two males were out for the count, he had quietly performed what he had come for and left.

Jazz and Sam, meanwhile, did not have as easy a time of going to sleep. While, Jazz just turned on her side on the bed and stared at the wall, the goth girl was still up and out of bed, drawn to the lone window in their room. She gazed out of it and into the vast coldness, now regretting that she hadn't said anything about wanting to leave.

Jazz, on the other hand, couldn't get comfortable and her mind also began to plague her. She was still very worried about her brother; especially when she was aware that her brother had now been missing for **four** days now…

But she also knew she had to get some rest.

Through it all, however, the girls remained silent. They didn't feel that talking any more about it all would help them ease their minds or help them to sleep. Still, they were restless.

Then, there was a quiet knock on their door. Jazz sat up in bed and Sam turned away from the window.

"Come in," Jazz said.

With an embarrassed frown on his face as he peeked in, Frostbite gingerly said, "Forgive my intrusion, friends. But I can see that you are still not comfortable…."

"No, we're fine!" the girls reflexively replied at the same time.

Sam immediately hopped into her bed and Jazz hunkered down to 'prove' their point to their host. They didn't want to make Frostbite feel bad or responsible about their restlessness.

The Ice Beast smiled at their weak ruse and gently replied, "I understand. But please allow me to ease you into your comfort nevertheless. We Ice Creatures pride ourselves in ensuring unquestionable satisfaction of our guests."

Before the girls could say anything, the beast walked right over to the rock in the middle of the room. The girls frowned in confusion. Why was he so interested in that odd room ornament? But in the next moment, they had their answer.

Using his ice powers, Frostbite produced a large ice sword in his hands. He immediately struck the rock, and the girls gasped at what happened next. The rock began to glow a fiery red, and heat immediately emanated from it, penetrating the room with its warmth. But then, Frostbite sprinkled some reddish-brown dry leaves on the rock and as they smoldered, they immediately began to give off a light, but sweet-smelling smoke.

Soon afterward, the aroma began to permeate the room.

Smiling in satisfaction, Frostbite bowed before saying, "Good-night, then, friends. And sweet dreams."

Once again, the girls frowned in confusion just as the leader of the Far Frozen left. But moments later, as the aroma wafted up their noses, the girls suddenly began to yawn, and just as sudden, felt their limbs grow heavy with sleep.

Before they could even give it another thought, they were fast asleep, not having a care for their worries; and no longer thinking of Danny's own concerns of tomorrow.

* * *

**(1)**_** salboŝtormo, plural salboŝtormoj. **_**Esperanto for 'sandstorm' and 'sandstorms', respectively.**

**(2) **_**jono**_**', '**_**negativaj**__**jono**_**' Esperanto for 'ion' and 'negative ion', respectively.**

**Pearl: Aw, poor kids. They are tired, worried, confused, and tired again! Makes you wonder who has it worse: Team Phantom and Skulker, or the hybrids… heh-heh. Ahem. Well, I wanted to apologize for not updating DoaS and CM for so long. I am slowly working on both. It's just that this past month of January has been very…er, **_**eventful**_** for me. It's been hard, to be honest. But, I'm slowly moving forward and so is my writing. I truly, **_**truly **__**hope**_** to have CM for this coming week. I won't make promises, but it's **_**very**_** likely, since I shouldn't be as busy after this weekend! **

**Also, in lighter news, there is an online chat at the HiddenPearl at the DA on SUNDAY at 11:30 am New York Time. I hope you all try to be there! I don't know about you guys, but I love chatting with you all! So, I hope you all can make it. Well, thank you for reading us, dear readers! Truephan and I are just thrilled to have your support. And, of course, your thoughts are our inspiration! *winks* Ta for now!**

**Truephan here: You are so right about that, Pearl…Uh, about everything…I think! And, really, I hope that our readers will be inspired to let us know their thoughts. We relish them….well, honestly, I like ketchup better. *permission to groan*. Until next time, dear readers!**


	15. Chapter 15: Struggling in the RBT

**A/N: Truephan here: Hello again there, dear readers! Happy Presidents' Day coming up! And I also hope you had a wonderful St. Valentine's Day! I just LOVE holidays, don't you? In any case, I hope y'all have calmed down enough with the holidays and a visit with Team Phantom and Skulker and are ready to get revved up again? Well, at least I hope so, because I certainly hope to get your blood pressures back up again! So, after we hear from pearl, it'll be time to do just that….pearl?**

**Pearl: Heh-heh. Careful, now, don't want to give any of our readers heart attacks. Although Vlad muse, does have it out for a few of our readers, so that's a bit worrisome. Ahem. Anyways, thank you all for your continuing support! Happy Valentine's day indeed. I would like to say that I cherish everyone's friendship on this site. You guys rock out loud. So, without further delay, here's the next chapter of Sid. I hope you all have a sweet tooth for some more Danny and Vlad… *insert evil muse chuckle***

**Review Artfan:**** Hey, since your PM is disabled, we just wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts with us again! Enjoy this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. **

* * *

**Chapter 15: Struggling in the Realm Beyond Time **

* * *

In spite of having been tortured to unconsciousness, Vlad was still in ghost form when he slowly blinked himself awake. It only took a moment for his eyes, staring hazily around the same hideous surroundings, to realize that he was still a prisoner of the Observants. But he did not need any time to recall everything that had happened last night—or he guessed it had been 'last night' then, anyway.

In reality, however, he was sort of on the right track. This was the next day, but it was the beginning of the hybrids' fourth day of being in this never-ending nightmare. And they had no clue that it was the same day that Team Phantom had been on their way to the Far-Frozen….

Ultimately it didn't really matter. All Vlad knew was that his entire body was still in pain from Iluzisto's torture session. In fact, he was still bound up by his arms. At least, after they had finished with him, Iluzisto's guards had had the decency to lower him down enough so that his feet finally touched the ground so that his burning arms did not break against his own weight…

Still, none of it—not the ice-cold water that had left him almost unable to breathe; not the surges of electricity that had coursed over and over again through his body; nor even the blows to his face and abdomen—had been able to compare to the pain in his heart…

He still could not get the image of his dear Maddie's dying form from his mind…

But the memory quickly reminded him of the woman's son. And he slowly turned his unfocused gaze and his pounding head slightly and looked to where Daniel was.

He could plainly see that the boy was still not awake—or, more probably, was still unconscious! Not that he was surprised. He was more surprised that even _he_ was awake now after the beating they both received from Iluzisto's guards.

Vlad just stared at the teen some more, noticing that Daniel, like he, was still in ghost form. In some ways, that was a relief. The man figured that must have meant that not all of their ghostly energy had been depleted from being tortured, and so their bodies had been able to keep their more natural ghost forms within the Ghost Zone, even in this 'timeless' realm. And that also meant that they might be able to heal better. At least he hoped so. From how badly the teen looked right now, even in his more resilient ghost counterpart, Daniel would need all the energy he could get to recover.

Vlad winced at the unnerving sight. The boy actually had dried blood stains on his unclothed torso and his wet, ripped, and dirty jumpsuit pants. His still tied up wrists had ugly dark bruises and dried blood no doubt from his struggles last night. Also, his once vibrant white locks of hair were matted and grey, some of them even plastered against his face likely from sweat or the water that had been thrown on them last night. And although his head was bowed forward and he couldn't see Daniel's face, Vlad suspected that his face would also be stained and dirty.

Still, as he sighed in frustration and some worry, he couldn't really say he was surprised by their injuries. Those electric sticks that those guards used with more ire than he cared to remember also had electrified whip-like devices on the top of them, which popped or sizzled when each charged chord flayed their skin. Surely, that would explain why their burns, cuts and bruises were worse than they should have been given that they had been able to get part of their powers in their control again... And it could also explain why they had been out for possibly hours...

Even still, if it wasn't for those circumstances, Vlad would have been impressed with the fight the teen had put up against the guards in spite of his being tied and tortured. The teen had not stopped struggling—or insulting the guards—until he had finally passed out… And although the billionaire had hardly noticed what had been happening with the boy since he had been too focus on not passing out himself—not that he succeeded—he knew from the screams that had often drown out his own that the boy had received a worse punishment than his own…

He frowned at the memory, but his face suddenly contorted as a bolt of pain shot through him, muddling his mind. And just as suddenly, he was irritated with the boy's behavior last night. Unlike the teen, he had had the wit to not give the guards anymore reason to torture him anymore than they were.

Foolish boy. Why couldn't he just keep his temper cool enough _not _to invite so much ire—and not to mention the torture—from Iluzisto and his guards?

Vlad mentally grumbled the answer to himself, _"Because he's as stubborn as a mule, that's why; and a blasted typically hot-headed teen on top of that!" _But he then suddenly sighed and added more soberly, _"I suppose that all that just goes with the territory..."_

Still, as the man continued to study Daniel's unmoving form, he felt a tinge of worry that the boy might be seriously hurt.

But the feeling vanished when he just as quickly remembered how the boy had parted from him in their escape attempt.

Vlad angrily looked away, his thoughts darkening even more. Serves Daniel right that he was very hurt! He had no one to blame but himself! Why? Why didn't the blasted teen stay at his side? Maybe then, they would have escaped. Maybe then, they wouldn't have been tortured and humiliated! Maybe then…He would not have had to see Maddie… die.

The older hybrid closed his eyes and took in a shaky breath which did nothing to help his aching body. He had not been able to save her. Even with all his money, with all his power, and years of experience, he had not been able to do a thing for the love of his life at a time when it most counted. He wanted so much to believe it was an illusion. A trick from that monstrous spirit! But it was hard to think that with how real it all had seemed.

And even as he thought about it, even as he thought about how he had so conveniently found Maddie, he could not push down his emotions enough to think logically through this. If it had been an illusion, it might as well not have been one from how distraught it left him. From how helpless he felt…

That was precisely the heart of this. Vlad had always prided himself in his perseverance and confidence. It was why he hated being humiliated in the slightest of ways. His pride was what made him attack anything that dared to do such a thing to him. After all, he had suffered through humiliation for so many years after Jack had left him disfigured. So, never succumbing to surrender was something he promised to never do!

But now… Iluzisto had done it. He had made him—the renowned Vlad Masters, the powerful Vlad Plasmius—crumble, break, at the sight of his dear Maddie's death—illusion or not.

The man still remembered how the guards had taunted him and the boy even while still torturing them, telling them that if they begged for mercy that they might go easy on them. And although the child had been too stubborn to beg or to break, in spite his cries of pain, what had kept Vlad from pleading them to stop had been that, in his mind, there was nothing worse they could do to him after what he had witnessed.

It would worry him how depressed he was if he cared about anything right now. What was the point anyways? Daniel and he were not getting out of here. The Observants had already condemned them even before this ridiculous trial began. They were going to lock them up for the rest of their existence. That is, if Iluzisto didn't kill them first…

Tilting his head back a bit and staring up at the seemingly unending black, craggy ceiling, he sighed deeply as he silently pleaded to the heavens to just let this all end—even if it was through death. He didn't care at this point.

But his thoughts drifted to Daniel again. He had to hand it to the boy. He was strong. The man still could not comprehend how the boy had so much fight left in him when he knew of his sister's and friends' demises. Daniel had looked utterly distraught when he had first found out. But now, unexpectedly, he somehow was more determined to get out of this place than ever before. He had heard the determination in the way he had tried to get him to talk to him before they had been tortured.

But… now that he _really_ thought about it…. Had that been _worry_ he had heard in Daniel's voice as well?

Vlad scoffed, only to regret it since it just irritated his raw throat more. That's right; he still had that blasted collar on! Still, he returned to his thoughts and frowned…Daniel worrying about him? That was laughable. He must have been really out of it to even think he had heard the emotion in the boy's voice last night—and his mind _still_ had to be unclear for him to have even thought that now.

"_So much for being the one to keep a level head through this mess," _he thought bitterly of himself.

"Ugh…"

The older hybrid jolted out of his thoughts and turned his head to the boy, who was slowly coming back from unconsciousness…

Danny's mind was still in a fog. He couldn't remember a thing at the moment, except all the nightmares about his sister and his friends. He groaned again, feeling his head pound at those upsetting thoughts. But then, something else was _really_ hurting him… He tried to move.

"Hey!" Danny objected hoarsely when he noticed his arms were raised and pressed against his ears and he couldn't freely move them. But then his objection melded into a hiss of pain from how it had flared throughout his body. He opened his eyes and winced at the seemingly bright light that immediately assaulted them. Once they adjusted to the brightness, however, Danny glanced up and his eyes widened in some form of panic as everything crashed back into his mind at the sight of his raised and tied hands.

In an instant, he twisted his head toward where he knew the older hybrid would be. He ignored the raw sting of where the collar had rubbed against him when he had turned. He instinctively glared at Vlad when their eyes met.

Yanking hard against the restraints on his wrists, Danny hissed sarcastically—or tried to with his raw throat, "Nice escape attempt, Plasmius! We are definitely so much closer to getting out of here!"

The billionaire felt his anger ignite, pushing his depression aside as he recalled the boy's stupidity yesterday.

"Do not blame this on me! You did all this conveniently to yourself, fool!" he hissed back. "You and your acrid tongue, that is. Oh, and since I know I'm using too many big words for you, that means 'all because of your big, fat mouth'!"

The boy's eyes briefly flared a brighter green and he pulled on his bonds again, ignoring the mounting sting scrapping his wrists from doing so, just before he retorted sarcastically, "Yeah, because I was _so_ going to follow your lead and just stand quietly and let them torture me!"

"Yes, Daniel, we can all see what good that did you, since you're still all tied up!" the man spat back, before hatefully adding, "And let's not forget who is really at fault here! We would not have had to endure what we just did if _you_ would have just listened to _me_ and stayed at my side! But then, that would have been expecting too much from _you_. Perhaps now that you have condemned both of us to remain here for the rest of our lives, Iluzisto will jolt you enough with his infernal weapon to finally jump-start your all-to-dormant mind before he finally kills you!"

Danny glared again and snarled back, "I don't care what you think! And you can insult me all you want, but _I am_ going to find a way out of here—with or without your help!"

"It will be without my help, boy, I can assure you," Vlad muttered angrily.

But before the teen could say anything, he gasped in more pain as his struggles reopened his wounds on his wrists, and he slowly felt hot liquid drip down his hands. And now, he was even more aware that his throat hurt inside and out.

The man stared at the teen in a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "Why do you even bother? If Iluzisto had us tied with these bonds, I'm certain that he would have made sure that you—and even me, for that matter—could not break them. So, if you have any semblance of reason, why don't you stop before you pass out again, this time from the loss of blood?"

But the teen just coiled his hands around the purple bindings attached to the ceiling as he furiously replied, "Who are you to tell me what to do, Plasmius? You don't own me or anything like that! And, you have no right, either, since all of this is all **your** fault to begin with!" He struggled with the shackles once more.

Vlad growled in reply. "Ugh. Why do I even bother? Do what you want, you little rat." The man turned his glare away from the teen as he soberly added more to himself. "I hardly care anymore."

That comment hit Danny squarely. He reflexively stopped struggling as he quickly recalled how Vlad had looked when he had been brought back to his cell. The man hadn't been as angry as he was right now. It honestly had scared the teen to see the man look so… broken? Danny swallowed hard at the thought, and even though he winced how even that hurt, the thought was enough to calm him. And he realized that maybe the man was just as much in pain as he was at the moment and that was the reason why the man was so disagreeable—well, much more than usual. At least, Danny had to admit that he, too, was on a short fuse because of it... Still, he also had to admit that he wasn't really angry at the man anymore. Again, he recalled the tone of surrender in the man's voice in spite of the older hybrid's anger... Had Vlad, his arch-enemy, the guy who could not take a hint, actually given up?

And that made the boy wonder: what had happened to the man after they had separated? Danny remembered all too well what had happened to _him. _Even if he was now questioning if the sight of his future self was real or not, he was sure his sister and friends' corpses were real. He had _felt_ them with his _human_ hands. Cold. Lifeless.

The teen suddenly felt his heart clench and his head dropped in sadness and his gaze fell to the ground. Still, he spoke up and asked, though in a quiet voice, "What happened to you after we split up?"

Vlad visibly tensed, both surprised and troubled by the question. The man felt his own heart ache as the memory of his dead Maddie passed in front of his eyes again. Part of him—the part that was furious with the teen—wanted to shout at him exactly what had happened. Even when it could possibly be an illusionto, the part that was angry wanted to tell him all about his mother's death just to see him suffer. But… then another part could not bring himself to share such news with the boy. Vlad was sure that with it, the child's spirit would break.

"Some things are better left unsaid," the man finally replied, unable to keep the pain out of his voice.

Danny slightly looked up, a small wave of fear coursing through him as he recalled how the future Vlad had uttered those same words to him when he had gone to him to get rid of the medallion lodged in his chest by his future evil self. But then…What did that mean? Had… Had Vlad seen someone's death? But who? Whose death would cause such an impact on the man? _His_ death? After all, when the future Vlad had uttered those words he had been talking about _him_. And yet, the teen could not imagine Vlad getting worked up over his death in _this_ timeline when they were always fighting each other tooth and nail… So… who else?

The teen suddenly felt utterly sick as the answer came to him like a fierce tidal wave: his mother.

"_No,"_ Danny mentally denied right away. There was no way. Vlad would tell him if Iluzisto had his mother, let alone if he had… hurt her! And even so, that wicked spirit just _couldn't_ have his mother—his parents —anyways! They were out of town! He couldn't find them! No, it just wasn't possible!

The teen clenched his teeth as he pushed the possibility out of his mind. His parents were the only reason he had for hanging on. Yes, he was going to avenge his friends and sister somehow! But, it was his parents that kept him from falling apart!

But now with this sinking feeling in his chest, the boy needed to know more, and he decided to try a different tactic in hopes of getting the man to share with him what happened.

"It was all a trick, you know," Danny said gravely. "He probably even knew we were trying to escape. I mean, I think so because I saw Clockwork… He helped Iluzisto trap me," the teen said bitterly. And when the man did not say anything, he readily continued, "I don't know what's real anymore. After we separated, I… I saw my future evil self… I fought with him even… But maybe it was all an illusion to catch me off guard. I saw you there, too. You were bound and —"

"It was an illusion, Daniel," Vlad finally spoke up. "Iluzisto tricked us both from the moment we parted," he said seriously, though he still wasn't looking at the teen. "I was never in any cell… I was trying to break into one…," he said a little sadly, but quickly continued, "I saw you return, claiming you had found a way out. And I was foolish enough to believe it. I should have known it wasn't you. You are too stubborn to admit you are wrong."

"Says the donkey to the mule," Danny grumbled, briefly annoyed by the man's jab. But then he sighed and said, "Like I said, I don't know what to believe anymore. But now I'm sure my friends and sister are…gone." His voice cracked as he continued, "I saw their bodies, Vlad. I wish it was just some illusion, but I felt them. I was in human form and I felt their cold bodies!"

Vlad swallowed thickly as he heard the teen choke back a sudden sob, before he finally looked over at the boy. But Daniel had his eyes squeezed shut, while his hands clenched against his bindings. Still, before he could say anymore, the boy spoke up again.

"So, I-I need to know. What happened? What did you see? I know you enough to know you would never get this upset unless something really bad happened—unless you saw something." He looked up at the man, despair in his eyes as he asked, "It wasn't my parents, right? T-They are out of town; so there's no way…. Iluzisto doesn't have my parents, does he, Vlad?"

The billionaire just stared soberly at the pleading boy. The boy wanted so much to hear that his parents were okay. But Vlad wasn't even sure anymore. He had not seen Jack. But if Maddie had been captured, Jack had to have been as well. But, then it could just all have been an illusion…. But as the boy had said… They did not even know what was real anymore.

Iluzisto was not just trying to take their energy… He was trying to drive them insane! And the saddest part was that he had already completed the first step to getting them there.

They were losing their touch on reality.

Even now, Vlad could not help but wonder if his current talk with Daniel was even real. How did he know now that this was the _real_ Daniel?

But not wanting to grow even more distressed than he was, he pushed aside that frightening thought and turned his attention to the teen, who was growing more anxious by the second as he waited for his response…

"No, my boy. I did not see your parents," Vlad forwardly lied—even it was really a _half-truth_; and he was not the least bit sorry for it when he saw the boy sigh loudly in relief.

The teen, as if revived by the news, stared back at Vlad with determination. "Look, I know that I made a mistake in separating from you. But so did you, Vlad. I know working together isn't the easiest thing for us. But I get it now. And you're right. We are not getting out of this unless we clear our heads and work together. But I mean, _really_ work together. No more insults; no more arguing. At least until we get out of here."

Vlad stared at the teen in silence for a moment, before looking away. "I have a hard time believing that now you so readily want to be a part of this 'we'…And truth be told, I'm not interested in this 'we' anymore. It's time we accept the truth, Daniel. If we were not able to pull together to escape the first time, it is not going to happen on the second or third or whatever number attempt. Then, again, even _trying_ to escape is futile. We are not getting out, Daniel. It's impossible."

Danny couldn't believe what the man was saying. Was he seriously just going to give up?

Suddenly angry again, the teen exclaimed, "You're wrong! We can get out! It's not impossible! And it's not impossible for us to work together! We've done it before, and we can do it again!"

Vlad scoffed as he looked back at the teen. "Oh, please, Daniel. When have we ever been able to work together? The Pariah Dark incident? Or the Vortex event? I hate to break it to you but we were not working together. You just so happen to be a pawn at the right place and right time. I wanted you to think we were working together because it benefited me, or haven't you figured that out by now?"

Danny's eyes flashed a brighter green again. "If it wasn't because I despise Iluzisto more than you right now, I would so make you sorry for throwing that back in my face! And don't think I like this, either, Plasmius! You are the last person on Earth that I'd ever want to be locked up with! But, look, it seems we are both out of luck! So, like it or not, we are _both_ here! They're accusing the _both_ of us! So, take it or leave it: you need my help to get your 'me' out of this…Not that I like the idea of being part of that 'we', either! But I think we have no choice…Unless your 'you' would want to do it on your own, which, by the way, obviously didn't work yesterday for you—or me! "

Vlad didn't reply. He knew in the back of his mind that the teen's words were logical. After all, it had been he at first who had told the boy that they needed to work together—even though the man wasn't sure how much he had meant it then—or now. But still, he knew they had to. But he wasn't interested anymore. He felt too upset at the moment, and even too bitter and angry with Danny for separating during their escape and for what he just said. If he wasn't so upset, he would acknowledge that what happened yesterday was just as much his fault, and that, perhaps, he was blaming the boy for his own grief.

_But he just didn't care to right now. _

And he also was past the idea of working with the boy. What for? As he had told him, escaping from that horrible spirit was impossible!

Danny's anger mixed with worry when the man didn't answer him. What was wrong with him? He had never seen the guy like this!

"Vlad, come on," Danny said almost pleadingly, now really worried. "I know you don't want to stay here for the rest of your life. Look, I'm game, alright? I'll even listen to you. I just want to get out of this! And if…we work…together, we might bet out of this mess sooner than later. And…"

But before he could finish, he was interrupted by a sound in the far side of the hallway in front of his cell. "Someone's coming!" he uttered in a hurried whisper to the older hybrid.

Vlad immediately tensed in anticipation when he could clearly see that Iluzisto was coming—with that infernal black weapon of his!

Danny looked just as frightened, but being that he was as tied up as the man, all he could do was stare at the one-eyed spirit coming towards him.

However, seeing in his peripheral vision how Vlad suddenly turned human, Danny quickly thought that was a good idea and did the same. He wasn't about to risk Iluzisto taking what little ghost energy he had at the moment. Yet the boy couldn't help but cringe when his injuries suddenly throbbed all the more in his human form, and his wet, ripped, and dirty jeans were somehow much more uncomfortable than his ghost form's hazmat pants had been….

The spirit finally stopped in front of the two cells and stared calmly between the two dirty, battered, and scared hybrids. Their quick change to their human selves had not gone unnoticed by him, though he didn't say anything about it and just addressed his reason for being here.

"The second day of your trial is in an hour's time of your realm, Crossbreeds," Iluzisto informed them calmly. But then bringing up his weapon to his eye-level and, briefly looking at it, he continued, "But first, I want to know what you learned from your experience with my guards?"

To both Vlad and Danny's dismay, the answer jumped into their mind so quickly they felt like trained dogs.

_'Escape is only an Illusion.'_

The guards had repeated the phrase so many times to them that it had been engrained in their minds. And more horrifying yet, it took just about all of their grit for the both of them to keep their mouths from automatically opening and uttering the phrase.

Iluzisto glared when he did not get any answer as he said, "Perhaps you both need a reminder?"

Danny and Vlad just tensed some more; and this time, they _really_ had to bite their tongue to keep quiet.

Iluzisto's eye curved with evil intent as he began to mess with the half-ghosts' mind, instantly making them see what was clearly an illusion; but it still was just as affecting since Vlad and Danny had witnessed both things for real yesterday.

Vlad's eyes went wide as the form of a burned Maddie waved at him from outside his cell, while Danny looked as horrorstricken by the sight of Jazz's dead corpse staring back at him with sad, vacant eyes.

The two squeezed their eyes closed, not realizing their breathing had picked up; and they barely realized when the words Iluzisto was asking from them finally left their lips…

"Escape is only an illusion," they breathed out.

Iluzisto laughed heartedly in triumph as the hybrids gasped at having blurted those words unwittingly. And at that moment, the images he had conjured up disappeared from the hybrids' minds. But then, the sting hidden in the Prison Head's triumph laughter shot through the half-ghosts and sparked an uncontrollable rage within each of them.

But it was Vlad who surprisingly reacted first as he let out a feral growl and his hands clenched against his bonds as he yanked against them. "You monstrous beast! I will tear out your core if it's the last thing I do!"

Then Danny jumped in, screaming just as angrily, "You one-eyed crater! You're going to pay for what you did! I swear it!"

Iluzisto sighed dramatically as he shook his head. "Looks like my two little pets still have much to learn in terms of behavior and respect. Do not worry, though. You both will learn…"

Danny yanked against his bonds, wishing he could make the spirit see stars!

But the illusionist spirit just chuckled smugly, before staying. "Well, there will be plenty of time for that considering that time is irreverent here. But for now, I need you two slightly presentable to go into court. Let us start with a bath. You creatures smell horrible."

Just as he said this, two of the guards that had tortured Vlad and Danny last night glided down the hall and into view, carrying two buckets of water. But although the boy and the man had a good idea what was in there, the two hybrids did not care. They were still too consumed with their dark thoughts of the evil spirit. So, it was almost a surprise to them when the ice cold water was thrown onto them.

Danny choked on a gasp, reeling from what felt like cold sharp needles raking down his body before embedding into his skin. He really didn't know how many more of these ice baths he could take. He was already feeling slightly sick from being left wet all night, not to mention that he was famished…He just knew he was getting feverish.

But the boy blinked out the water from his eyes as he briefly gazed over at the older hybrid and realized he was trembling as badly as he was.

"Y-You dolt! If-If you keep this up, you are g-going to give us hyperthermia! We are n-not simple ghosts!" Vlad said through chattering teeth.

"I am aware, crossbreed. But it is not _my_ fault you two are abominations, now is it?" Iluzisto replied offhandedly. "Then again, your solution is simple. Just return to your ghost selves…"

"T-That's not how it w-works!" Danny jumped in, trying to control his shivering, to no avail. "A-And you wo-would want that, wouldn't you?"

"Of course. Why do you think I am suggesting it?" Iluzisto answered evilly. But not waiting for a response, he walked up to Danny's cell door and unlocked it, before doing the same for Vlad's.

The two guards needed no cue and went into the cells. They quickly undid the half-ghosts' bindings, not bothering at all to be gentle and ignoring how in their attempt they had made the two prisoners wrists bleed again.

Danny and Vlad suddenly felt very weak when they no longer had their bonds holding them up, and they dropped to their knees, cradling their burning wrists. They barely saw the guards place some gray prison clothing on top of their beds, before Iluzisto spoke again.

"There is some fresh clothing for your human forms since I am aware the tatters you wear now are irreparable. So, get changed. It might only do so much to get rid of your natural foul smell, but at least it is something," Iluzisto commented in disgust. "You have _two _minutes of your time. Not a second more," he then warned, before gesturing to the guards to follow him out.

Vlad glared hatefully after Iluzisto, unaware Danny was staring in the same way after the spirit, too. But then, glancing back at the clothing, the man sighed. It was tempting to present themselves like they were and upset the infernal Council right off the bat. Ultimately, however, they did need to get these wet and dirty clothing off, or risk getting sick or getting an infection in one of their wounds. And although as _Plasmius_ the risk of all that would be lesser, there was no chance that he was going to return to his ghost form unless absolutely necessary with Iluzisto around.

"This is so humiliating," Danny said, pushing the man out of his thoughts.

Vlad looked over at the boy and realized he was staring between his tattered pants and the prison clothing with a look of utter embarrassment. In spite of the situation, the man couldn't help but slightly smirk at a sudden memory. That's right. He had learned from when they had been pulling 'practical jokes' on each other after he had made that silly decree against the teens in Amity Park that the boy was quite modest. And if it were any other time, Vlad would have teased him to no end… But now…

The man was just about to tell the teen to just change for his own good when they heard one of the guards say, "One minute."

Vlad winced. He might not be as modest as Daniel, but he really did not want to change in front of Iluzisto or those guards. He wasted no further time; and getting off the ground, he did what he needed to do.

And as if sharing the same thoughts, Danny quickly got up and grabbed the loose pants and shirt and changed almost as fast as he could change into ghost form. Well, perhaps, not as fast since his whole body was _very_ sore.

A short moment later, Iluzisto returned with the guards… and Okulo…

The bright red teenager's embarrassment quickly melded into a frown of contempt. He _really_ disliked Okulo—actually, he was probably just a step down from Iluzisto, especially since the guy freakin' branded him!

And in the next instant, the teen regretted that thought. Danny suddenly felt his forehead flare with a sharp burning pain and he gripped at it. And by the hiss that he heard from Vlad, the man also felt it.

"What the heck?" the teen snapped at Iluzisto and Okulo, though he glared mainly at the illusionist spirit as he added, "I thought you said this freaky tattoo only flared up when we're in the courtroom!"

Okulo glanced at Iluzisto, who seemed unbothered by the young hybrid's protest, before turning his eye to the child himself and finally answering, "It is true, prisoner 485. However, I, or any other Observant, can easily have your identification tag reappear at will just as well. It is, after all, our own brand of timeless magic—and quite necessary to keep track of those under our… keep."

"Oh, right. That justifies your 'magic' making my forehead feel like it's on fire!" Danny growled sarcastically, though his hands lowered down at his sides before tightening them into fists.

"I am sorry you are uncomfortable, prisoner 485," Okulo replied, though he sounded anything but 'sorry'. In fact, the spirit held barely any inflation in his voice. It was as if Okulo thought he was talking to the ground he walked on—which was actually what he did think...

"However, you both will grow accustom to the sensation eventually," he informed them.

Vlad just stared coldly at the Observant, but didn't say anything.

Still, when Okulo looked him and the teen over, the older hybrid began to feel uneasy.

"I see you finally got them into appropriate clothing," the liaison remarked evenly to Iluzisto, though he kept his scrutinizing eye on the hybrids. "Now, they finally look as what they are: dangerous criminals."

In spite his indifferent voice, the hybrids knew an insult when they heard it, and it further infuriated them how Okulo was speaking as if they weren't there.

Vlad couldn't keep quiet anymore. He scoffed in contempt before saying, "You call us dangerous, and yet we are the ones who have to sit here and take the Observants' cruel, unjust treatment and torturous punishments!"

"I see you are unhappy as well, prisoner 484," Okulo casually answered the older hybrid.

"Dude, 'unhappy' doesn't begin to cover it," Danny said, not caring that he had interrupted him.

"Be silent," Okulo ordered the younger hybrid, this time his eye narrowing a bit. "This is why you creatures had so much trouble at the first part of your trial. You behave like wild human-world animals with no understanding of order and respect."

Danny's mouth slightly parted at the Observant's insult, so shocked by the degree of it that he was left momentarily speechless.

"Now, what is this… cruel treatment and torturous punishment of which you speak?" Okulo calmly asked the older hybrid.

Plasmius frowned, though internally he was surprised to hear the Observant ask him to speak up instead of ignore him and Danny's protests as the other Observants had—and Iluzisto didn't seem bothered by the fact…

"Well," Vlad slowly replied, feeling a bit cautious at Okulo's sudden interest in their 'happiness'. "Isn't it obvious? Look at us! Not only do you treat us as if we are some disease, you also have your guard-dog here—"

"What did you just call me?" Iluzisto suddenly growled, raising his staff.

But Okulo raised a hand, stopping him.

Much to the hybrids' surprise, Iluzisto reluctantly complied.

"First of all, prisoner 484, we do not treat you as a 'disease', as you claim. We treat you as what you are: Abominations to the natural order. Dangerous and unlawful creatures that are not only a threat to themselves but also to every being on the planet. So, you see, we have no other choice but to take certain precautions with you both."

Vlad opened his mouth to protest against the Observant's deliberate insult; but before he could, Okulo continued, "Second of all, your disrespect for your Prison Head does not incline me to sympathize with you."

"You are capable of that?" Danny asked, faking astonishment.

Okulo narrowed his eye again. "I am trying to patient with you creatures. However, I can see now why Master Prison Head has had to resort to more forceful measures of controlling you both during your attempt to escape. It is most distasteful, but obviously, necessary."

"Is starving us part of those 'forceful measures'?" Danny hissed angrily.

Okulo quickly looked at Iluzisto; but their eye contact was so brief that neither Vlad nor Danny was able to tell what it meant.

Clearing his throat, Okulo regarded the hybrids again. "As liaison between the High Council and this prison, I am obligated to make known the things that occur here. And although your… _complaints_ will be made known to the High Council, they will also know of your escape attempt."

Danny and Vlad's eyes widened in instant surprise.

And seeing it, Iluzisto finally spoke up, smugly saying, "Why so shocked? You did not think I would not inform the Observants of your attempt to escape?"

"And it will most definitely reach the High Council's ears in the courtroom today," Okulo reiterated. "I just came to see with my own eye your behavior and physical appearance." Okulo glanced at the hybrids' bruised and injured wrists before adding, "As I said, you are a danger to even yourselves."

"You think we did this to ourselves?" Vlad asked in disbelief.

But Okulo just replied, "Your constant resistance to submit to the Master Prison Head will also be reported to the High Council."

"What? But—" Danny began, only to be cut off.

"I said _silence_," Okulo said firmly, pulling out the sphere he was always using from his robe's pocket. It glowed a bit in threat before the Observant continued, "I recommend you both put an end to your defiance. We, the Observants, might be patient and fair in our way of doing things; however, we will resort to unwanted measures if you two continue to give us little choice. So, enough of your hostility. I expect full cooperation from you both from here on out, or you will not like the consequences if you do not."

Before Danny or Vlad could say anything, Okulo turned back around and began to head out. But Iluzisto followed him towards the only exit. And when they were out of earshot, Okulo glanced at the hybrids before looking at Iluzisto and saying in sudden warning, "You need to practice more restraint, Iluzisto. There is only so much I can do under these circumstances. I told you, I do not want complications. I expect you to remember that better from now on."

Iluzisto didn't reply and just watched Okulo leave without another word.

However, as the Prison Head turned back around and returned to the crossbreeds, he was pleased to find them unexpectedly quiet.

"What? Did you truly expect him to take compassion of you, especially after you two attempted to escape and I was _obligated_ to use physical force?" The spirit chuckled as the furious looks returned to the hybrids' faces. "Have you two not realized that they do not care in the least about you? And even if they did, they are never going to take the words of some abominations like yourselves over my own."

Unable to retort anything to that, Danny just glared back at the spirit, while Vlad looked away and unconsciously rubbed one of his sore wrists.

Iluzisto just smugly snorted at the man's reaction. He could see that in spite of the older crossbreed's glares and calm voice, he was reaching his breaking point. And the boy wasn't too far behind. Then again, Iluzisto had been certain that last night would have destroyed the young crossbreed's spirit. And yet, it was clear that he had more fight left in him than the older one. No matter. Both crossbreeds would crumble sooner than later. That he was certain of.

Remembering they had a schedule to keep, Iluzisto silently glided into the boy's cell. The teen was not aware that he had stepped back further away from the Observant, his hands for some reason then clutching his neck restraint.

Iluzisto's eye was able to convey a wicked amusement and satisfaction in its gleam when he noticed the boy's hesitance and apprehension. But the spirit didn't say anything to the boy, and merely glided over to the invisible barrier.

Upon lifting his black staff, the barrier quickly dissipated and then Iluzisto, his lone eye glaring at Vlad, commanded, "Align yourself next to the other crossbreed!"

Vlad answered that with only a sober stare, one that carried a certain kind of detachment which hid his true feelings of contempt for the spirit. Still, he silently complied with the spirit's commands.

But at that instant, Iluzisto abruptly narrowed his eyes at Vlad; and to make his next remark painfully clear, he pressed the sharp tip of his staff against the man's chest. He ignored how the older crossbreed winced in response, and sneered, "I want no more of your tricks or sly ideas or I will make last night feel pleasant compared to what more I will do to you!"

Then turning in irritation to the boy, Iluzisto sternly warned Danny, "And that especially means you, you troublemaking crossbreed! Do not think my guards did not inform me of your resisting your well deserved punishment! If you dare utter one word out of line in that courtroom, you will feel my wrath _tenfold_!"

Reflexively rubbing his sore wrists, Danny squelched his urge to just dish the insult back to the Prison Head. Still, he couldn't help but think, _"You should know all about making trouble, you putrid Cyclops!" _

But his thoughts were quickly dispersed when Danny suddenly felt very dizzy. He immediately steeled himself, determined not to give into it. Luckily, that effort was enough for it to go away for the most part. But at the next instant, he felt the sharp end of Iluzisto's black staff between his shoulder blades, urging him to move.

Not a moment later and Vlad, too, was being painfully prodded to move by the tip of Iluzisto's weapon, just as the illusionist ghost growled, "Time to go, crossbreeds! Unless you want more of what I dished out to you yesterday!"

Vlad jolted forward from the unwavering sting. Still, he couldn't help but notice that Iluzisto hadn't placed any cuffs on him and the boy, this time. Also, as he began to walk out of the prison cell, he couldn't help but glance at the teen when he noticed that in spite of Daniel's silent bravado, he looked a little too flushed and even a bit pale…

As Danny plodded along toward the chamber of the High Tribune for the next installment of his trial, he struggled to keep his head up. He was still feeling pretty weak and disoriented from being tied up by his arms and beaten last night. Not to mention that he couldn't remember when he had last eaten. But he had no choice but to keep moving. Still, he unconsciously rubbed one of his sore wrists below his long sleeve grey jail shirt, only to bite his lower lip at the sudden sting. And when he looked down, he could see that his wrist had started to bleed again.

Vlad, too, was feeling quite exhausted, and at times he had to blink his eyes rapidly to push away his sudden blurry vision. Still, he merely frowned in silence as he also continued to walk down the hallway.

But just as they turned the corner to enter the final and very long hallway to exit the prison, Danny stumbled into Vlad and accidentally shoved the already unbalanced man into the wall. They both ended in a heap on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Iluzisto growled, immediately aiming his black weapon at the two hybrids.

Vlad internally jolted when he noticed how clammy Daniel felt now that the boy had fallen on top of him. And he was certain of it when he began to pull the boy off of him and glanced at his face, noticing how Daniel shook his head, clearly having trouble focusing as well.

Leaving the teen on the ground, Vlad stumbled a bit to his feet and turned to face Iluzisto. He growled back sarcastically, "Forgive us if we are more than a bit disoriented after that _wonderful_ torture session you put us both through!"

"Enough of your sniveling, crossbreed," Iluzisto jeered, narrowing his eyes in warning. "As Okulo said, you brought that on yourself." He then turned to the boy and jeered, "And you!"

Danny yelled in pain as Iluzisto roughly yanked him up by the same wrist that had been bleeding. Before he knew it, he was being pulled to a stand.

"Ouch! Hey, take it easy!" he reflexively exclaimed, only to be instantly silenced when he saw the sharp end of Iluzisto's staff at his neck.

"Enough of your games," the Illusionist Observant warned the teen darkly. "I will not tolerate them. So, pick up your feet and keep quiet, or I will give you both something to snivel about!"

Vlad's eyes flashed red with restrained hate. It was official. He hated this creature more than Jack Fenton. And that said it all in the man's mind.

Danny, on the other hand, scowled as Iluzisto roughly let go of his wrist and pulled his staff away from his neck. Still, he said nothing, knowing it was pointless to try and convince the evil spirit that he wasn't playing some 'game'. He really wasn't feeling too well.

But the boy's focus quickly sharpened when he saw that putrid spirit aim his even more putrid staff at him! Needing no more prodding—literally —he started to walk back down the hallway—as Vlad did the same.

They soon made it out of the actual prison and began to head down the halls leading to the courtroom. This time, as Danny walked along, he pushed aside his aches and pains and began to scan the area more closely than when they were here the last time if for no other reason that there was simply nothing else to do. Besides, it hadn't even occurred to him to look around earlier because he had been too distraught yesterday over the news of Jazz, Sam and Tucker to pay any attention to much of anything else before now.

He then jolted a little when he thought about his sister and friends again, and his face dropped with the emotion. However, even though he was still upset about what had happened to them, he knew he had to focus on keeping a leveled head, even if it still felt muddled.

He continued to focus his efforts and studied as much of the detail as he could as he briefly passed each section, searching for, what, he didn't know, really. But he hoped it would be something, anything, he could use in the future.

The hallway, however, didn't seem to want to cooperate with the boy's plans. Not only was it long, but it was very dark and lined with various doors—all of them closed. But as he passed the very next one, and then the next one, it was very obvious to Danny that each of them was distinctly different from the rest.

Some of the doors were short and narrow, others were tall and wide. Still others were a different mixture of those attributes, that is, short and wide or tall and narrow. And even though the hallway was not lit very well, the boy could see that each door was colored differently, though their luster was definitely muted, as if each of them had a thin coat of gray paint over their original colors. But he was sure that it was only because of the dull light in which they were bathed.

But he had also noticed that though they were all different, they shared one thing in common. He tensed in sudden excitement when he recognized….those strange markings again, only they were two sets of them—one group near the top, which all the doors seem to have. And one set below that, which was always different on each door. And though he wasn't completely certain, he thought that those symbols on top were grouped the same way as those symbols scribbled all over that prison cell's walls—the prison cell in which he had seen his sister's and friend's corpses!

He searched his mind again. He needed to be certain. And an image of those same symbols that were written over and over again on those cell walls briefly flashed in his brain:

ð-ζ-ǿ-ς

He glanced back at the next top set of symbols as he passed them. They _were_ the same….But what did they mean?

But then, they came upon a split in the hallway and Danny tried to see down the hall to their right as they passed into the left side. But it was so dark, he could see nothing.

As they blended into the left passageway, there were even more doors like the ones Danny first noticed. And though still different in size, shape and color, each of the doors all still had those **same** **set** of symbols of what he now guessed was the 'top line', with an entirely different set on what he could call the 'bottom line'—though even some of those symbols had symbols like those within the 'top line'.

At first, Danny wondered why these odd doors were even here, in this dark hallway. But then, he suddenly saw the exception. As he neared that door, it looked 'natural' enough to have been the front door of anyone's house in the Real World; especially since it had light coming from under it. In fact, it was the only door he had seen so far that did have any semblance of brightness in this otherwise very dull hall. And the light that shone at its bottom periphery looked like _sunlight._

Danny unconsciously slowed his pace as he drew even nearer to it, turning his head so as to give his eyes time to pull in all of its details. He ignored the sharp poke between his shoulder blades once Iluzisto had noticed that he had slowed, egging the boy not to delay in their destination.

Still, Danny continued to examine the door as best he could. And just as he could no longer stretch his neck to see it, he saw that it had that **same set **of strange markings on that 'top line'— ð-ζ-ǿ-ς .

But then there was that other **different** set just under it:

ǿ - Д - П - Ћ - Ж

Now that he was convinced that this was somehow significant, he would make certain that should they pass this way on their way back to their prison cells, he would be sure to try to memorize the bottom line of at least that door that had light shining from under it, no matter how foggy his mind still felt.

He suddenly grunted a little when the sharp poke bit harder into him, more insistent that he should quicken his pace.

Vlad, on the other hand, had already noticed all the doors just before the first day of their trial. And he had already made a mental note of all the strange symbols on each of the doors. The man had all but forgotten about them, especially after all what had happened yesterday. But then, he noticed that Daniel seemed to be particularly interested in the doors today for some reason. Not that he really cared at this point. For all he knew, they probably opened up to some abode or office of one of these blasted Observants. Still, he dully watched the teen as he continued to secretly inspect the doors, finding it quite odd.

However, when he saw how Daniel had purposely slowed, his interest suddenly piqued as well. He just as deliberately matched the boy's speed to find out why the boy had slowed down. And then when he noticed how intensely Daniel had been looking at one door in particular, he chanced a slight glance at that same door.

He, too, noticed that it was very different from the other doors in this hallway. It had the same symbols on the top line: 'ð-ζ-ǿ-ς' as the others; but, also like the others, it had different symbols on the second line. As he passed the door that eked light from under it, Vlad looked at those second set of symbols: ǿ - Д - П - Ћ – Ж. Of course, he didn't have a clue of what they meant; but he made another mental note on them just the same.

He then grunted in irritation when Iluzisto suddenly jabbed him in the back with his weapon. Perturbed and frowning with Iluzisto's insistence, Vlad nevertheless quickly rejoined Daniel at his regular pace and was finally back in step with his co-prisoner.

The two hybrids walked onward, only that Vlad now let his gaze fall to the ground, having slipped partially back into his depression while Danny was frantically yet silently searching the area for anything that might help them. Still, reflexively slipping back to what the billionaire was so good at doing, he hid his emotions under a cold frown. He might be torn inside, but he wasn't going to give these freak Observants the satisfaction of seeing him anymore helpless than he was.

They finally turned the corner, and entered the new hallway. Danny could see that it nestled only one door, which had been closed on the days of their hearing and the first part of their trial.

But today, the door was slightly ajar, cracked inward upon its hinges. Danny reflexively slowed down in slight surprise. This time, Vlad immediately noticed _that_, and looked at the boy. When he saw the quiet anticipation on Daniel's face, his eyes drifted to where the boy had his attention drawn. And it was then that the man noticed the slightly opened door, especially since the _noise_ behind it was now very obvious. He was sure that the door had been silent the past two days. Still, he was at that moment suddenly very curious—and even a twinge hopeful—at the sight of this slightly open door. And he now felt he needed to find out what was behind the lone mystery door. And fortunately, the door was too to his right—and... so was Daniel….

Just as Vlad and Danny began to go by the slightly opened door, Vlad feigned tripping and shoved the boy right through the door.

Of course, Danny immediately protested with an irritated, "Hey!" as he was not only thrust through the door, but also ended up sprawled on the floor within the room that was behind the door. He then groaned with the sudden pain pulsing from his pulled-at old wounds sites.

When the teen looked up from the ground, the pained and annoyed look on his face now melded right into a chagrin one.

Several dozen armed Observant guards were glaring at him, each of them angrily aiming their gray weapons right at him. He had fallen into what was clearly a guardroom. And, somehow, they looked a lot scarier than Iluzisto's guards—which always stayed inside the prison's confines and were blob-like entities covered in armor. The _Observants'_ guards, however, were much taller and their armor more menacing, where the only thing you could see from them were their eyes and mouths.

Vlad was familiar with them. After all, he had impersonated one of the Observants' guards to free Vortex that one time…

Danny quickly drew himself up to his knees and raised his arms in surrender, before nervously stuttering, 'U-Uh, m-my bad! Tripped!"

In the next instant, however, Danny was violently jerked upward and he grunted as the pain tore at his wrenched arm.

It was Iluzisto.

In the time it took for Danny to right himself from the floor, the illusionist spirit had ushered Vlad roughly in right after Danny's fall; and with a stern warning to the older hybrid to stay put, had gone to retrieve the boy.

The force of Iluzisto's ire then righted Danny and pulled him to a stand and close to the infuriated Prison Head's eye—and weapon.

"Just what is your plan this time, crossbreed?" Iluzisto hissed as he then yanked the boy dangerously nearer to his needle-like black weapon. "You will understand that I will not tolerate this!"

Danny could feel the sharp pressure of the tip of the illusionist spirit's weapon as it slowly burrowed into his neck right under his restraining collar. Though the spirit's reactions clearly upset him, Danny resisted his urge to swallow with his distress, lest the razor sharp tip of Iluzisto's weapon dig deeper into his flesh. But that also meant he couldn't really answer the spirit, even when it was clear Iluzisto was demanding him to answer!

But before Danny could muster an attempt to answer, the lot of Observant guards who had originally challenged the young hybrid began to laugh at the scene. The teen's eyes and Iluzisto's lone one then drifted toward the laughter.

One of the soldiers sarcastically chuckled, "What is wrong, Iluzisto? Are you now having trouble controlling these puny prisoners—and insignificant part _human_ ones at that? What will become of us, then, now that you have brought us such danger as this?"

'Watch your voice, you rogue," Iluzisto challenged with a hiss. "My prison would always welcome another 'guest' if you continue to step over your boundary."

That same guard turned to another armed guard who was next to him and jeered, "Oh, ho! Looks like Master Prison Head is a bit touchy, do you not think?"

His companion merely grinned, then nodded his affirmative response. "Of course, after his last failure in securing that 'Vortex' character when he escaped, I cannot say I blame him! He is even threatening you! As if he could _really_ throw you into his prison!"

The first guard then continued with his insults, "Imagine, that: one of the Observants' _prisoners_ sticking me in prison!" The Observant guard laughed mockingly before smirking at Iluzisto and adding, "Step down from your pedestal, _Master Prison Head_. You might have _once_ been an Observant, but we all know you are now no higher in status than we are—actually, I would say we, their guards, have a bit more respect than you in the Observants' eyes after all you have done…"

This time, Iluzisto let go of Danny and soared threateningly over to the first guard who had insulted him. His now red eye became bloodshot, its swollen veins pulsating with hatred with every word, "If I were anywhere else, I would make sure you regretted uttering those lies, wretch!"

The two quarrelling spirits glared at each other in a brief, though tense, silence. But Iluzisto then turned abruptly around without another word, and motioned angrily to Danny and Vlad to move on out.

Danny, still rubbing either his sore arm or wiping his slightly bleeding neck, didn't argue as he turned toward the door.

Vlad also began to move toward the door once Danny passed him, with Iluzisto right on both of their heels. Still, he found Iluzisto's brief confrontation with the Observants' guards quite surprising and intriguing to say the least…

Just as the older hybrid had entered the hallway, he stepped shoulder-to-shoulder with Danny once more. Though Vlad was still reeling from his harrowing experience yesterday and even at what had just happened to Daniel, he couldn't help but think how this scene that had just played out between Iluzisto and the Observants' guards had changed his perspective about the illusionist spirit. And had given more spark to a glimmer of possibilities—and, perhaps, even a bit of hope.

Once the two hybrids and their escort were well past the hearing distance of the guardroom, Iluzisto finally growled at the two, "If you try anything like that again, crossbreeds, you can be certain you will find yourself strapped up by your arms once again after this trial!"

Vlad and Danny both knew better than to insist that the incident had been an accident—well, on Danny's part, anyway.

But the two ghost hybrids did learn some things about Iluzisto and the Observants during that small encounter. For one, the guardroom was painfully too close to the trial room, so escape through this hallway was now on the 'longshot' list. And it was just as painfully obvious that Iluzisto was not even well-liked by the Observants or their guards for some reason. And finally, it was apparent from the Prison Head that the feeling was mutual; and because of that, Iluzisto had a very short fuse with just about _everyone_...

Still, there was nothing much Vlad could do with this new knowledge, so he kept his neutral face and looked up at the large courtroom doors as they were slowly opened by two guards for them…

"Here we go again," Danny suddenly grumbled beside him.

Vlad only briefly glanced at him before bitterly muttering back, "Indeed…"

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**A/N: Truephan here: Well this was a very…complicated chapter, now wasn't it? Still, I hope it wasn't too complicated. After all, I wanted to make sure that this chapter kept y'all sitting on the edge of your seats! Uh, did it? Just want to make sure, so can you get at least me off the edge of my seat and tell us your thoughts? I'd love that since I don't want to accidentally slip off that edge and plop to the floor! Just the same, see you soon!**

**Pearl: Yes, lots of setup in this one, especially about those doors and their symbols! Don't forget about it! It's important! *winks* Well, it looks like with Sid updated it's time to switch over to DoaS. Heh-heh. Round-and-round Pearl goes. It's a miracle **_**I**_** haven't fallen off my seat from the dizziness. But I have fun with it all, and I hope you all do, too. Naturally, I am going to say I look forward to your lovely thoughts! They are our energy—you know, like the energizer bunny? Except it's more like, 'Pearl keeps going and going and going. And, look, now Truephan's going and going!' Ha-ha! Sorry, I wrote this very late last night and I get weird when I write late. Heh. I'm sure that says a lot! *giggles* Anyways, until next time, dear readers!**


	16. Chapter 16: Trial of Endurance and Wit

**A/N: Well, hi, everyone, Truephan here. *waves* Did you miss us? I certainly missed what I have been able to imagine perfectly: your eyes widening in dread and terror at some of the chapters of this story. Well, sorta anyways! Hey, don't blame me! Y'all are the ones who wrote and told us that we were HORRIBLE or despicable, or some other loathsome thing for torturing the hybrids. Now, I'm not saying that wasn't TRUE, but like I told one of our readers, I would prefer to be called 'wicked'. Sounds more dignified! …. Tsk, tsk, y'all KNOW that wasn't me talking? But I won't give that wicked woman—ohmigosh I said 'wicked'. She'll love that! I better get a hold of myself and get back to the story! Sorry, y'all. I think that this changing of the clocks thing is just getting my brain more addled than usual! So, I better stop before I become completely incoherent and turn it over to my lovely co-author, Pearl. Oh, and don't forget: I hope you enjoy this latest chapter! Oh, Pearl?**

**Pearl: Hello all! Thank you for your patience and reviews! I hope you enjoy more of the hybrids' on their 'second day' of trial! Heh-heh! See you all at the bottom! Hopefully, I'll be coherent myself by the time you reach the bottom! It's late over here!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

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**Chapter 16: Trial of Endurance and Wit.**

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Finally, the Iluzisto and the two hybrids came upon the trial room. But, as they neared the entrance, Vlad and Danny cringed with a too familiar burning sensation when their glowing white prison numbers reappeared on their foreheads. However, to their surprise this time, the discomfort was fading a lot faster than the last times…

Vlad and Danny reflexively glanced at each other, wondering if the other had noticed that about their prison numbers. But they quickly frowned, now more in bewilderment than from pain when they finally noticed, or more like, _heard_ the commotion within the courtroom.

There was a tremendous roar that had not been there yesterday coming from the room. In fact, from the sound of it, it was as if they weren't even coming to the same courtroom, but instead were approaching a homecoming football game—with the home team obviously winning.

And, really, they weren't too far off with that assumption. They would soon find out that the room was now more than filled to capacity, with rows and rows of seated Observants. In fact, there were so many more of the spirits present than there were yesterday that those that were seated were wedged in with each other, as if their bodies could easily wallpaper the wall. And there were still others who had standing—er, floating—room only. The only thing missing was those putrid High Council faces that would soon appear on the now off television-like monitors.

As soon as the hybrids and their Prison Head stepped through the large double doors and into the trial room, however, the room came to a sudden hush. But that didn't last for long. Pockets of whispers soon erupted once more, and then just as sudden, quelled whenever the hybrids had finally penetrated more into the room, and when the crowd saw Iluzisto.

But the Prison Head ignored the audience as he concentrated on delivering the crossbreeds to their station.

Danny, of course, was the most curious of the trio and scanned the large, cramped room. He frowned in irritation at his next wild thought. These Observants needed to get _out_ more! Seriously, were they aware just how painfully obvious they were if they thought his and Vlad's trial was turning into the 'must see' show in this realm?

Vlad, too, had a similar thought, and his irritated reaction finally pulled him fully out of his depression. Now he had more disdain than any other feeling surge through him as he scanned the crowd. He was no monkey attached to any accordion! There was no way that he would be any part of any kind of entertainment for _this lot_!

Slowly the Observants' murmurs returned. After all, they, too, weren't devoid of their own thoughts about the trial or these two hostile hybrids. The ones who were present yesterday had their eyes curved upward which could only be guessed as being smiles of anticipation as they hurriedly and excitedly whispered to their new companions their promise for another just as thrilling session as yesterday was.

Those 'newbie' Observants to the affair, however, frowned in worry as they listened to their 'veteran' friends' version of the trial that had taken place the day before. They doubted them, even when the ones who had been here yesterday assured them otherwise. After all, the 'newbie' Observants only came because of all the rumors that were now flying everywhere within their realm. And those rumors made it seem that yesterday's trial might as well have been a circus. And, really, those rumors weren't far from the truth.

They had heard how the two hybrids had treated their trial like it was some 'set-up', shocking those Observants who were, well, observing the proceedings. It was further rumored how the two prisoners seemed so very unapologetic with all of their audacity and disrespect of the Observants' rules and regulations. No wonder, then, that the two ghost hybrids had to have restraining collars put upon them. Those two had been incredibly hostile and acted like the wild beasts the Observants were sure they were.

Still, the first day of the trial had ended with a victory for the High Tribunal, so it looked like no matter what the two hybrids did, the evidence against them was too strong. And each of the Observants really felt that today would be no different.

Finally, Vlad and Danny were shoved firmly into their assigned seats by Iluzisto. They both grunted in pain at the force, instantly readjusting themselves into their chairs alongside their Appointed Defender, Spektanto, as before. Well, perhaps, not _exactly_ as before since, this time, Danny had taken the seat beside Spektanto while Vlad sat down on the next one over beside the young hybrid, so that Danny was now in the middle of the trio.

Danny frowned when he glanced over to their 'lawyer'. The idiot Observant was still feverishly writing and hadn't so much as greeted them! Just what was with this dude?

But a moment later, as soon as Spektanto had finally _heard_ that his clients had arrived, he stopped writing. He then turned to the Prison Head and said with slight sarcasm in his voice, "I take it, Prison Head, that I have your guarantee that the hybrids will behave today, even when I heard that you were ordered to attend to other important matters for at least the first part of today's proceedings?"

"You have my guarantee that there will be more consequences if they do not!" Iluzisto sneered back, aiming his threatening eye on Danny and Vlad.

But the half-ghosts were too shocked with what they just heard to react… Iluzisto was not going to be around for the first part of the trial…?

Spektanto gulped at the hatred he heard in the Prison Head's voice, but he didn't dare say anything.

Just then, Clockwork entered the room.

More of the audience immediately began to whisper among themselves when they saw him; and to Danny, those Observants now sounded like bees buzzing in their hive.

Once the Time Master was settled, he nodded toward Iluzisto, who then took that as his cue to leave. And just as the illusionist ghost turned to leave, his red, glaring eye made its clear warning to Danny and Vlad to behave—or else!

In reality, Iluzisto didn't expect any real trouble from the crossbreeds—not after the harsh lesson he dealt them last night. He knew that Okulo had informed Justeco and the rest of the High Council about what had happened; so he knew if they noticed the crossbreeds bruises here and there, they would chalk it off to their 'resisting arrest' after their escape attempt.

Iluzisto was in the clear, which meant that while the crossbreeds were in trial, he could take part of this time to attend to some other matters—after all, he needed to make sure everything was set up for the final act of his plans, which would hopefully come to fruition soon.

With an evil red flash of his purplish-silver eye, Iluzisto took his leave, though he made a mental note to take more of the crossbreeds' delicious energies once the second part of the Observants' mediocre trial finished…Ultimately, he knew that the success of his ploy rested on his being able to use those creatures endless power supply…

This time, it looked as if Iluzisto took all the conservations out with him as he left, for the entire trial room quickly quieted right after he did. Just as oddly, it was almost too coincidental that the illusionist spirit's exit also seemed to announce the beginning of the second day of the trial, since as soon as he left the monitors began to flicker to life. In no time, the large facial eyes of Council members appeared on the monitors, their silent, vacant stares as cold as statues.

Meanwhile, no sooner had the Council members appeared on their respective monitors when the Tribune of the Council, Justeco, and his Advisor, Konsilisto, came into the room, entering it through a large door behind the High Tribune Council's large, intricately-carved, rectangular table.

Everyone except Danny and Vlad stood up when the High Tribune and his Advisor came in.

But when Spektanto spied the two hybrids had already started out disrespecting the proceedings, he hoarsely whispered from the side of wherever his mouth was to them. "If you want me to defend you properly, you must show some respect for the High Tribune and his Counselor!"

His clients begrudgingly rose; but, nevertheless, did not hide their frowns of disapproval.

Finally, the Tribune motioned for everyone to sit back down just before he grabbed the gavel he was sure he would be using. He remained standing as everyone else situated themselves.

As soon as they were finished, the Tribune cleared his throat and tapping his gavel lightly onto its base, announced in a precise voice, "We will shortly begin 'Day Two' of three in the trial of Prisoners 484 and 485 versus All Existence. First, however, as many of you Observants know, the two hybrids have brought upon themselves more accusations from their antics in yesterday's proceedings. I have further been informed by Okulo, our liaison between the High Prison, that it was brought to his attention by Master Prison Head Iluzisto that these two also attempted to escape from their very cells and needed to be disciplined because of that. We will have to add the charge of 'unlawful elopement' to their case."

Justeco next turned to the Council members looking on from their monitors and nodded to each. "Is this not true, High Council?"

"Aye!" came the unanimous reply from the televised talking heads.

The High Tribune then unconsciously glanced up at the two guards that stood at the courtroom's entrance and they immediately stiffened in attention.

Danny, meanwhile, had instantly glanced at Vlad right after the High Tribune's announcement, wondering if the older hybrid was aware of that little detail. But when he saw Vlad roll his eyes at the judge, Danny then concluded that that answer would be a definite 'no'.

But he and Vlad nevertheless kept mum as the Tribune Observant rattled off a lot of mumble-jumble—intermixed with sporadic echoes of "Aye's" and "Here, here" from the idiots in the television boxes—about the transgressions in their behavior in the courtroom and in their prison from the day before. As if that would matter compared to the more serious allegations the Observants had levied upon them already and were undoubtedly ready to embellish upon in short order.

Finally, the Tribune ended his tirade and all was quiet once more. But just when Danny thought the silence was beginning to suffocate him, Justeco looked toward the other Observants and continued, "And now, with the permission of the High Council, we come to more serious charges, which are the focus of today's proceedings."

He paused a moment until all the heads in the monitors nodded their approval in silence. He then continued, "And this set of three transgressions is their crime against all Existence. And we will start with the gravest of these…"

But just then, the Counselor Observant, Konsilisto, who was to the immediate right of the Tribune, tugged on the Tribune's sleeve, purposely interrupting him.

The rest of the court began to quietly murmur to themselves, abuzz at the already delay in this first part of today's proceedings. Danny and Vlad, however, remained quiet, but frowned at noticing that Spektanto had not reacted to what the Counselor Observant had done and instead had merely returned to writing vigorously—again!

The hybrids grumbled under their breath, each now guessing that their 'lawyer' would more than likely be taking any opportunity to continue with his endless scribbling!

The Tribune's eye narrowed in indignation at the interruption; nevertheless, he leaned over as discreetly as he could toward his counselor, Konsilisto. After hearing the whispered message, the Tribune nodded in acknowledgement.

Once more, Justeco cleared his throat. All the other Observants immediately hushed just as the Tribune continued, "Well, yes, with the permission of the High Council, we will change the order of the charges and _end_ with the gravest of these transgressions, but not in a direct way."

Once again, Justeco waited until he received the approval of the Observants in the monitors.

Danny knitted his brow in confusion. What the heck did he mean by that? But he threw that thought away and focused once more on what else the Tribune had planned to say.

And the boy didn't have to wait long, because the Tribune Observant soon added, "Instead, we will present this set of three in the order that they have occurred… Now, do we have the Council's approval to proceed?"

"Aye!" came the immediate and unanimous reply.

Justeco nodded and then turned to Clockwork before adding, "Master Prosecutor, are you ready?"

The youngest form of the Time Master blinked away the obvious boredom in which he had been from listening to the Tribune's long-winded diatribe. His interest hadn't even been piqued with the Tribune's interruption. After all, Clockwork half-expected the Counselor who was always at the Tribune's side to interrupt. He was just a bit surprised that it hadn't already occurred until now.

But now that the Tribune was coming to the point, Clockwork had finally tuned totally into the trial and replied, "I am, Honorable Tribune."

The Tribune ignored the slightly tedious tone in Clockwork's voice and said, "Very well. We will proceed. We, the High Tribune Council of the Realm Beyond Time, bring forth the first of the three accusations against Prisoners 484 and 485 that will be addressed today, namely: Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom are suspected of the crime of willingly and maliciously releasing the tyrant Pariah Dark from his Forever Sleep, in which he was justifiably placed by the ancient spirit wizards for his own crime against all living beings and all Existence!"

"_Man, how can he say all that in one breath?"_ Danny thought to himself, before mentally smacking himself, _"Duh! Because he doesn't breathe, that's why!"_

But then, the Tribune's words finally sunk in. Wait! Did that head guy just accuse _him_ of releasing the Ghost King? That was totally wrong! He turned reflexively toward Vlad and then his frown of indignation quickly melded into a confused one at the man's reaction.

Vlad looked a bit _anxious_ after hearing their first charge of the day. And was he actually squirming uncomfortably?

Now worried about it all, Danny bent to his side and hurriedly whispered to Spektanto, "What does he mean by that?"

But the lawyer didn't even flinch, as if he hadn't even heard the boy. Instead, he kept on with that infuriating scribbling!

"What say you on your plea on this count, Appointed Defender?" the Tribune queried, purposely ignoring the hybrids.

"Not guilty, of course," Spektanto replied with a little too much indifference in the tone of his voice.

Danny leaned back into his chair and sighed under his breath with relief. At least Spektanto seemed to be on their side with this one...But wait! He suddenly stiffened again. How was it that Vlad was _not_ guilty? After all, _he_ was the one who had released Pariah in the first place! Just then, Danny had a very bad feeling about this—again…

And too bad he was right.

Spektanto unexpectedly stood up and added, "Forgive the impropriety, Tribune and Council, but I am afraid that I need to clarify the 'not guilty' plea."

Vlad then stiffened at their lawyer's words. That _certainly_ didn't sound reassuring in the least.

The Appointed Defender continued, "I should say my clients' plea is 'not guilty—_on condition_."

The two hybrids' eyes widened in disbelief. _Now what?_

"This is very improper," Clockwork suddenly objected. "No plea like that has ever been entered in the past. I do not see the relevance to…"

But the High Tribune interrupted the Prosecutor, "That is quite all right, Clockwork. We can make an exception. After all, this trial is of the greatest importance."

Unable to keep quiet anymore under the absurdity of it all, Vlad pushed behind Danny, shoving the boy slightly into the table. He ignored the boy's protesting grunt and leaned over to Spektanto. He then quietly growled, "What is the meaning of all this nonsense, Spektanto?"

Danny shoved the man back indignantly even as he heard his objection. Nevertheless, he, too, leaned over to Spektanto and was quick to add, "And why did you even bring it up in the first place?"

"Because it is proper," their lawyer reflexively and casually replied to the two.

This time, Vlad leaned slightly over the table so that he was now crowding Danny from the front. "No, it's not, you dolt! You heard Clockwork, and…." Vlad hissed, barely able to control the volume of his voice, only to be interrupted by Justeco.

"We are waiting, Appointed Defender," the Tribune said. "You can discuss this matter with your clients at the appointed time."

"Which is _right now_!" Vlad suddenly yelled, jolting up from his seat, surprising Danny.

Actually, it was a bit alarming to the teen to see Vlad's acting so aggressively. The man was usually the one to maintain his composure while Danny was the one that usually had the short fuse. But… it was like the tables were turned all the sudden. The man was livid and they hadn't even gotten past their first accusation of the day!

Now more focused on the building rage inside him, Vlad eyes flashed red as he exclaimed, "You Observants call yourselves fair-minded, when it's obvious that this trial is nothing but a sham!"

Spektanto then put his hand on what should be a forehead but was really just the spot above his large pupil and groaned. The rest of the Observants murmured in disapproval.

"Vlad, sit down," Danny firmly pleaded, tugging on the man's sleeve. "We're already in enough trouble, and…"

The man then turned to the boy and replied, "And can't you see that it's all a set-up, Daniel? This whole trial is an outrage to justice!" Turning to the High Council, he pointed an accusing finger at those in front of him as he shouted, "You despicable creatures deserve to **rot** in your **own** prison for the injustice you are committing against us!"

"Prisoner 484, you have tried the patience of the court for too long yesterday. If you do not restrain yourself, we will get the Prison Head to do it for us!"

Vlad momentarily stopped, unconsciously shuddering with the intense emotion that suddenly gripped him at the mere mentioning of Iluzisto. He frowned in confusion, wondering why he now felt so helpless. But then, he shook his head as that feeling only infuriated him more.

He growled in anger at his next thought. He had been such a fool to let that infernal spirit reduce him to such a sniveling wreck, in spite of how much his heart ached with the truth! Now, though still angry, he was determined to defy these creatures and their twisted sense of justice. He was going get through this mess, one way or another—if only to make these Observants and their guard dog pay for humiliating him as they had!

"We are waiting for you to sit, Prisoner 484!" the judge said in a demanding voice before he glanced around for Iluzisto, only to quickly remember he had excused the Prison Head from the first part of the trail today. But the fact only made Justeco less tolerable to the older hybrid's defiance.

"Vlad! Sit down!" Danny hissed urgently, not wanting Iluzisto to be called. It would only bring them both more trouble.

This time, the older hybrid regarded the teen with a more significant look, and seeing he was almost pleading with him to calm down, Vlad's anger subdued a bit.

Although he was so annoyed that he wanted to just forget about being logical, he realized he could not do that. Daniel was right. He wasn't going to make anything better by lashing out at these imbeciles…

But even when he refused to play into these creatures' hands anymore, the older hybrid had no choice but to just let the trial proceed on course. Grumbling under his breath, he turned his gaze away from the boy and forced himself to sit down, though now he was as alert and tense as ever.

Danny sighed a little, even when he completely understood where the man was coming from and had also agreed that the trial was a set-up. Not to mention, seeing Vlad lose his composure made him nervous and, somehow, also made it harder for the teen to keep his own head in this. But right now, what could either of them do?

Then teen's eyebrows furrowed a bit as he finally understood that they really _did_ need each other to get through this…

The Tribune and High Council looked very perturbed. Then the Tribune said with an irritated tone, "We will keep it as a 'not guilty' plea for now. You may proceed, Clockwork."

This time, Vlad silently smiled, hiding his self-satisfaction over his small triumph. Maybe there could be a way to manipulate this trial to get out of this whole fiasco after all. Still, the trial wasn't over yet. And how exactly would they find Daniel guilty on this charge? The boy had practically single-handedly put Pariah Dark back into his sarcophagus! He brushed his thoughts away and listened in.

"Very well," the Time Master said, definitely sounding too bored. "The evidence is simple and clear …"

As before, he tossed a small crystal ball up into the air just before he aimed his time staff at it, shooting a blue beam of energy at it. An instant later, he waved his time staff and an image appeared for all of the courtroom to see. All eyes—single and paired—were glued to the makeshift screen as the very beginning of the events surrounding the second rise and fall of the Ghost King unfolded as if they were watching a movie.

Suddenly, Clockwork stopped the 'film' right when Vlad was opening the sarcophagus with the Skeleton Key of Forever Sleep.

Clockwork then commented, "As you can clearly see, the accused, Vlad Plasmius, is undoubtedly responsible for putting all of Existence at risk by allowing Pariah Dark to be unleashed."

He continued playing it.

Danny leaned toward Vlad and couldn't help himself as he whispered through his smirk, "Gotcha there, Plasmius."

The man frowned in indignation but said nothing. But then, he had an idea. He smiled mischievously and slightly pushing Danny forward and out of the way again, leaned over to Spektanto.

Danny, of course, _felt_ the man's action but didn't push back. Instead, he cocked his ear, wondering what the fruitloop was up to. He knew that Vlad would eventually cook up something. The boy smiled to himself. That was new. He couldn't help but feel relieved that Vlad was acting more like himself again—not like the broken man he had seen last night… Then the boy silently smiled a bit more with what he heard.

"They can't prove a thing, you know," Vlad began. "How do we know that this isn't some doctored-up film of some sort?"

Spektanto whispered back, "No one would refute or attempt to refute that Clockwork would not show the actual events. He would not trump up false evidence."

"Oh, come now," Vlad flippantly replied. "He is just as interested in winning this case as you are in losing it!"

"What? How dare you insinuate…," Spektanto began, mortified. But he was interrupted…

"Please, Appointed Defender. What say you of the evidence presented by Clockwork?" the Tribune asked.

"No questions," Spektanto casually replied, much to the chagrin of Vlad and Danny.

"How can you have no questions?" Vlad suddenly blurted out, addressing Spektanto. He hadn't realized that his voice had been ringing in indignation—and loud enough to be heard by the courtroom.

The crowd erupted in slight annoyance, and the Tribune rapped his gavel.

But Spektanto's eye narrowed in what could only be described as a frown of disapproval at the older hybrid.

Vlad, though very irritated by that—and, really, everything else—quieted.

Once satisfied that the older hybrid was going to behave himself—at least for now—Spektanto resumed scribbling something in a notebook in front of him.

For a moment, all the hybrids heard was the scratching of a pen against paper. Now even more curious, Danny felt that he should get to the bottom of Spektanto's incessant behavior. He finally bent over enough to see what the spirit could possibly be writing about. He startled with what he saw. The Observant was writing in symbols that were similar to the ones on each of the doors he had passed in the hallway…and the ones he had seen in that prison cell! But his thoughts were interrupted by the next announcement.

"Good, then we now present the next set of evidence against Danny Phantom," the Tribune said.

Once again, Clockwork waved his Time Staff and the Time Viewing Orb showed more of the events surrounding Pariah Dark's return.

But after only a few minutes, the Time Master suddenly froze the frame. All eyes went to him, wondering about his reasons.

They didn't have to wait long when Clockwork said, "The court should pay particularly close attention to this next scene. This is the hard evidence that Danny Phantom is responsible for putting all Existence at risk when he summons Pariah Dark…"

He willed the scene to move forward once more. A moment later, the audience saw Danny pulling the Fright Knight's sword out of the ground on Casper High's football field.

Danny's eyes widened in shock and before he knew it, he blurted out, "But I didn't do that on purpose! I was just trying to get Plasmius to give Pariah's ring back to him so that the Ghost King would leave my world alone!"

The crowd gasped and began to murmur their objections.

The Tribune angrily rapped his gavel as he demanded, "Silence in the council room!"

Once the crowd calmed, Justeco continued, "I will not warn you again, Prisoner 485! Proceed, Master Prosecutor."

Clockwork obliged him and said without emotion, "Unfortunately, ignorance is not a defense."

"And since you're running on an "A-plus" record on being ignorant, that also applies in both worlds, my boy. Touché, Daniel," Vlad quietly snickered to the boy.

Danny glared at the man, but before he could respond, Clockwork continued.

"Ultimately," the Time Master intoned, "whatever good Danny Phantom's intentions were to give the ring back to Pariah Dark, he was still giving the Ghost King unlimited power to destroy all Existence even when in the end it was a human girl hunter who was the one who practically handed over the ring in that same time frame."

This time, Vlad raised an eyebrow with the time spirit's words. It was very interesting that the boy was being blamed for the Pariah Dark incident. And yet… that suddenly gave him a very evil and daring idea, one which curved the man's lips into a little devilish smirk…

"But there is more I must add," Clockwork continued, and Danny unconsciously tensed. "Even though Danny Phantom does plead ignorance in this case, it is his ignorance that is more the danger, then. Because of his naïveté of the past, he had also released the Fright Knight."

The crowd gasped and Danny's face and shoulders fell at both Clockwork's insult and accusation.

"Objection!" Spektanto cried.

"About time!" Danny mumbled.

"The boy did not release the Fright Knight in this incidence. That charge can be added at a later time," the Appointed Defender pointed out.

"WHAT?" Danny blurted out once more, jolting out of his seat. "What do you mean…?"

But he didn't finish his outburst. Vlad had quite firmly and unexpectedly pulled him back into his seat and covered his mouth, firmly gagging any other effort Danny had in stating his defense.

Vlad hurriedly whispered to the boy, "Now, now, Daniel. Remember, we're already in enough trouble! It's _your_ turn to sit down and be quiet."

The Tribune and the entire Council glared at the scene once more before Vlad feigned a weak smile and replied, "The accusation is a bit premature, but the jury should nevertheless bear that in mind."

That comment only made Danny squirm harder against the man. How dare Vlad say that! Where was that in their plans to 'work together'? Uh, so, okay. Vlad had never actually agreed with that yet. So what was this? Was the guy trying to save his own hide by _condemning_ his?

Indeed, that was what Vlad had in mind now. He owed the boy nothing, after all. Since they clearly couldn't work together, then it was now every half-ghost for himself! And after this little scene, he had quickly realized that the more the High Council blamed the teen, the less they could pin on him!

The Tribune angrily announced, "Objection overruled! And the Council disregards the accusation and the jury is not to deliberate the point when it is time for deliberations."

The group of Observant jurymen blinked in acknowledgment.

"But!" the Tribune suddenly added, pointing his gavel defiantly at Danny. "You will compose yourself right now, Prisoner 485, or else I will have you subdued. Iluzisto might not be back yet, but I will not hesitate to have the Observants' guards do his job for him!"

Danny immediately stopped squirming against Vlad. But then, he gave the man's hands a final shove off of him—with success this time. The boy humphed indignantly after that, crossing his arms in defiance as he glared at the smirking Vlad, the frowning Spektanto, the scowling Tribune, and finally, at the poker-faced Clockwork.

Barely composing the emotion in his voice, the Tribune uttered, "Proceed, Appointed Prosecutor."

"Thank you, Tribune," Clockwork uttered without any emotion in his voice. "Now, does the Appointed Defender offer the floor to the accused for their defense?"

This time, Spektanto jolted up out of his chair and blurted out, "WHAT?" But clearing his voice in embarrassment and composing himself once more, the Appointed Defender added more calmly, "I mean, that does not seem to be proper at this time. The accused will be allowed that later…." But then, he paused before continuing, "I mean, they have been quick to take the floor even when it was not the proper time anyways."

The audience suddenly chuckled and the Tribune tapped his gavel impatiently in response. The audience quickly hushed.

Clockwork said, "The Defense has a good point. Yet, now is actually the time…"

"It is?" Spektanto uttered, but then remembering that most Observant trials never lasted more than a day, had to agree. "Oh, yes, the second day is unusual…it is allowed."

But then, he was interrupted once more.

"But as you have so astutely pointed out, Appointed Defender, the two prisoners have been given more than enough of not only the ear of the Council, but also its patience to last the rest of the trial. We will proceed," the Tribune said definitely, striking his gavel to emphasize his unwavering decision.

Danny's head began to spin in confusion as he thought, "_Just where the heck did they come up with these lame rules?"_ Still, he said nothing and just continued to pay closer attention to what would next unfold.

"Very well," Clockwork commented, again with no hint of any emotion in his voice. "I attest, then, that even though there is proof that Danny Phantom had a culpable role in this incident, there is indubitable evidence that Vlad Plasmius is completely guilty as charged. Pariah Dark's near success to total destruction of all Existence and Reality would not have ensued had it not been for Plasmius' sinister interference with the Ghost King's own justifiable sentence…."

"He already said that!" Vlad grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"…Furthermore, I reiterate that the evidence is equally as indubitable that Danny Phantom abetted this serious event when he pulled the Fright Knight's sword out of the ground to summon the Ghost King."

That was too much for the boy. And he wasn't going to give in that easily.

"I still didn't do that on purpose!" Danny objected out loud again.

The Tribune banged his gavel angrily this time, inciting the two guards who had been nearby to soar over to Danny. They aggressively aimed their weapons at the boy.

Danny cringed and immediately rose his arms up in surrender as he unconsciously bit his lower lip.

"Summon the Prison Head!" the Tribune yelled, and a messenger Observant was immediately dispatched.

Danny swallowed hard. Now he had done it! Still, he couldn't just sit here and take this. It wasn't fair! But then, he frowned with the pang of a sudden memory:

"_Okay, Danny, that was a great answer! Now about the last question…. Ready?"_

_He nodded, trying not to drift off again. _

"_Okay. 'If someone accused you of doing something you didn't do, __**but**__ had proof that you did it, how would you prove your innocence?'" _

"_Man, that's a tough one," he muttered, trying to shake his encroaching desire to doze completely off. _"…_Uh, but that can't be right! I mean, __**they**__ couldn't be right! You said I didn't do it, so how can they be right to accuse me?"_

_Jazz smiled when her brother paused in thought. _

"_Wait. But you said they had 'proof', didn't you?" Danny spoke up again, and when his sister nodded, his frown deepened. "But that makes no sense. How can they have proof if I didn't do it? Unless…. it's not 'real' proof? I mean, if I didn't do it, it __**can't**__ be real proof! So, yeah. Their proof __**has**__ to be fake! Now, this makes sense. And the answer would be a lot easier. If their proof is fake, then to prove my innocence, I would have to prove that the proof is not solid—or prove that they lied or did something else that was suspicious_—_and they would __**have**__ to drop the whole thing." _

Danny's eyes widened at what he suddenly realized: he was not only being falsely accused just like that scenario his sister had interviewed him about what seemed like eons ago, but he was also being falsely accused with malicious intent! Heck, even Vlad had pointed this out. This trial was one big set-up and obviously these Observants were more than willing to ignore the whole picture...The whole picture! If these stupid spirits were so bent on 'justice', it was time to see just how much they would uphold it.

Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He had to prove that these Observants' _evidence_ of his supposed crimes was not solid! No, he had to _show_ them that their justice was more corrupted than anything they were so determine to pin on him!

Danny's eyes narrowed determination and he then continued in an even louder voice, "Like I said, I didn't summon the Ghost King on purpose, but now, I will _**show**_ you what all of you _allowed on purpose_!"

With that, he shoved both of his arms up while peeling back his long sleeved prison shirt to expose his lower arms.

But then, much to his chagrin, the Tribune and the court met his gesture with angered silence and with irritation seething from their lone eyes.

Frowning in confusion this time, Danny looked from his cut wrists and bruised arms to the High Council as he stuttered out, "C-Can't you see what Iluzisto has done to me?"

"We see what you have inflicted on **yourself**, Prisoner 485," Justeco said angrily. "I have told you before, if you continue to be defiant then we have no choice but to use unwanted force—as was the case with Master Prison Head when you tried to escape. Or have you forgotten?"

"B-But…," the boy muttered to really himself. However, he then looked back at the Tribune and insisted, "B-But Vlad and I were tortured! And... Come on! Do you think I'd willingly cut and hurt myself, _even_ if I had resisted Iluzisto after I tried to escape?"

He cringed when he accidently admitted to trying to escape. But thinking fast, he added, "Okay, so I did try to escape, but that doesn't justify getting tortured or having ice water thrown on us! I think I'm catching a cold because of it, in fact!"

It was true. He was feeling a bit dizzy and that achy sensation some people get before getting sick…

"Silence, Prisoner 485! You and your fellow prisoner have tried the patience of this court too long!" Justeco seethed, not believing a word the younger half-ghost had said. "As I said, you have inflicted your damage on yourself! And it's more than clear that you are exaggerating in order to stray from the fact that you attempted to escape!"

"I can't believe you people!" Danny exploded. "How can you all be so blind when your one eyes are so freakin' huge? Or is it that because of that, there's no more room left in your heads for a brain?"

Vlad's eyebrows shot up with the boy's insults, but then he grinned and leaned back in his seat. Well, this also worked. Have Daniel tick off the Observants for him. That way, he could see their looks of indignation without having to be the one to bear the consequences.

"Enough!" Justeco boomed, slamming his mullet down before he demanded to the nearest guard, "Where is Iluzisto?"

But then, his attention was drawn to the next voice.

"If the Council could stay its anger a moment, there is more," Clockwork suddenly said. But the way he said it, it was as if he didn't care at all. He continued when the Council gave him their attention. "It is obvious from the defendant's reaction that his inexperience impairs his thinking and judgment. Nevertheless, Danny Phantom is facing the crime of abetting this whole disastrous incident with the Ghost King. In fact, his naiveté in this matter only fueled his later actions in the same matter."

The entire room sat in a stunned silence.

Sitting down, Danny blinked, trying to comprehend what Clockwork had just said. But the crowd's reaction didn't help him to decide whether what Clockwork had said was good or bad.

Justeco calmly added, "Appointed Defender, what say you?"

"We also beg for the patience of the Council," Spektanto replied.

"_Beg?"_ Danny reflexively thought, but kept his attention glued to the scene.

"Very well," the Tribune finally answered, frowning a bit in disappointment.

"We rescind our orders to summon the Prison Head. Let us, then, proceed with the next set of accusations."

Vlad leaned over to Danny and snidely commented, "Looks like you may have been taken off the hook with that one, Daniel. But, of course, that doesn't mean they won't stab you right in the back with that same hook later."

"Much like you?" Danny hissed back, though he made sure to keep his voice down.

The man's grin widened. "Hardly. Why stab you in the back when I can do it forwardly? After all, we both know there is nothing you…"

But Vlad suddenly trailed off as his eyes drifted upward. He had unexpectedly felt a small draft from above. However, upon seeing where the draft was coming from, the man's eyes slightly widened before they slowly narrowed in contemplation…

What an… interesting find. And it was enough a distraction to trigger his thoughts for… a change in strategies…Even some kind of new plan.

He paused a bit…Yes…That would be what he needed to do…

The man pursed his lips as he knitted his brow as he continued to mull over the details. Of course the success of that plan would have to involve…

Vlad glanced over at the teen who was just staring back at him like he was crazy after the man had abruptly stopped talking.

"Dude, you are such a crazed up fruitloop," Danny muttered before shaking his head. He then just looked away.

Vlad ignored the teen and turned his eyes back up at his new find. Well, he was indeed going to have to change tactics. True, he overdid it a bit in goading Daniel. But he just couldn't resist any opportunity to annoy the boy. Still, he might have to put that urge 'on hold' for now. And…mend the fence—if only partway…

In the meantime, Danny frowned when his thoughts came full circle. He didn't understand why the man suddenly seemed to want to rile him up again, and the next, he just became quiet... He shrugged it off again to the man's 'fruitloopness'. . .His mind drifted back to the trial again. At least maybe for now he was off the hook. He squelched his sigh of relief, wondering whether he should thank Clockwork or not—but also wondering why the Time Master had even bothered to make that comment.

He supposed that, ultimately, it didn't matter, since there were still two more accusations to go through before this part of the trial was done with.

Danny mentally groaned at the fact, wondering if he even had the energy to finish this thing—not that he had a choice.

But… Vlad was definitely not helping matters. Just what the heck was with the guy's mood swings?

Danny shot the man a glare, though his arch-enemy was looking up at the ceiling again and hadn't noticed. More than that, Vlad's face looked as if he was lost in thought. What was _that_ all about?

Whatever. The teen was willing to work with the older hybrid. But if the guy insisted on doing things his way and leaving him out to dry, then Danny was going to do the same.

It was every half-ghost for himself.

Danny didn't like that thought, but before he could mull it any further, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

The High Tribune lightly banged his gavel since in the brief silence, the court room had become abuzz with whispers.

"Let us proceed," the judge said, writing one last quick note on his own papers before turning his attention to his list of charges, so to bring up the next one that followed.

However, just as he was going to speak the next charge, his counselor beside him, tapped him on the shoulder.

The High Council quickly looked over at the other Observant, now more than a bit annoyed. "What is it now?" he asked impatiently.

The counselor whispered something inaudible to the judge, which in turn, caused those present to start whispering again.

"You are what?" Justeco suddenly asked in a low, though annoyed, voice. "We cannot—"

His counselor interrupted him again as he whispered something else a bit more insistently.

However, the judge quickly cut him off, saying, "Yes, yes. Fine." But seeing the audience chattering again, the judge grew even more irritated and he quickly banged his gravel again, this time with more rapid and forceful hits.

Danny and Vlad couldn't help but quietly snicker at the High Council's annoyance.

But noticing their amusement, Justeco banged his gavel one last time with an even louder bag, as if saying 'enough!'

Finally regaining silence, the High Council sighed and muttered, "We will need—I mean—we will take a short recess. I am getting a headache."

"Can ghosts get headaches?" Danny impulsively asked Vlad.

Just then Spektanto groaned and rubbed his own 'forehead' and Vlad dryly replied, "Apparently."

Everyone seemed quite pleased with the announcement of this short break. However, Vlad and Danny were a bit disconcerted by its unexpectedness.

"Is it common for you creatures to interrupt a trial for no apparent reason?" Vlad asked Spektanto, a mixture annoyance and curiosity in his voice.

But, Spektanto ignored him as he shoved a piece a paper to one of the guards just before the crowd of Observants began to move out of the courtroom. In almost an instant, the hybrids and their Appointed Defender were now the only ones in the room.

"Aren't we going, too?" Vlad finally asked, his voice more angered. He so disliked being ignored.

"No," Spektanto tersely and simply replied before scribbling on some papers.

"What? Why not?" Danny protested. But when he didn't get an answer and was suddenly aware of a familiar and uncomfortable sensation, Danny quickly tugged on the Observant's sleeve and asked more insistently, "Is there any way we could finally get something to eat? We haven't had anything to eat since what we would call 'last night' and I'm starved!"

Spektanto's eye moved into a frown-like expression and with a slightly irritated voice, he replied, "Will you both please stop questioning me? I do not know. Feeding you both is not my job."

"Just what _exactly_ is your job?" Vlad dryly asked. "I have yet to understand it."

Right then, a sudden voice interrupted the three, but the hybrids didn't welcome it.

Spektanto, however, sighed in relief and then resumed his obsessive writing at the sight of Okulo.

"You creatures are not complaining again, are you?" the Observant's liaison asked, his tone of voice like he was speaking to two annoying children.

"Actually, yeah!" Danny snapped, ignited by the presence of this particular Observant. "I'm starving and apparently no one around here cares!"

"And, apparently, you all have the right to take a recess, while we have to sit here and wait for you all to return," Vlad added, just as ticked off.

"You make it sound as if your time is precious, or as if you both have something more important to do," Okulo replied to Vlad with cruel amusement.

Vlad and Danny glowered, but Okulo just chuckled and further said. "Patience, prisoners. This recess is also for you both. I am aware you both have not been nourished yet. That is why I am here."

Okulo ignored the hybrids' surprise as he pointed over to a door and further said, "In a moment, you both will be going through that door. It is a small recess room for prisoners. You will be taking your meals there. However, you will have to wait for them to signal you that the time is appropriate."

"Don't you mean 'when the time is **proper**'?" Vlad chimed in, his voice obviously laden with sarcasm.

Danny could detect a frown of disapproval in Okulo's eye.

"I recommend you two spend less time speaking and more time chewing once you are called in," the liaison said with slight bite in his voice. "This is a brief recess period, which means you only have an insignificant amount of your time to eat. Understand?"

However, Okulo did not wait for a response and just turned and floated off, soon disappearing through the same door the High Council had.

Vlad grumbled under his breath and sat back into his chair, crossing his arms and glancing over to the door of the little room where they would be shortly heading to. Sighing in annoyance, he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. He had to compose himself and focus on his new plan. However, he also had to think of a way to get Daniel to cooperate with what he had in mind.

Danny, meanwhile, had gone back to watching over Spektanto's shoulder, this time in more interest since he was going to have to wait anyways... Once again, the boy noticed how the ghost's handwriting looked a lot like the markings on the doors they had passed in the hallway. But then, Danny noticed something even more intriguing as he watched the ghost stop writing and skip down to a blank line and then wrote a few more of those symbols. He noticed that the Observant continued to lift more of those papers full of pre-printed and similar symbols and write those exact same symbols on the blank lines that were on the bottom of each of those pages:

ð - ζ - ǿ - ς - ǿ - П

This time, Danny jolted at his next wild thought. Those symbols! They weren't just random ones any more! He had seen them before—at least the _first four_, anyways! He could swear that those symbols looked very much like the symbols he noticed on the first line of each of the doors he had passed in the hallway, namely:

ð- ζ -ǿ- ς

But as he watched Spektanto continue to lift papers and write those same symbols the Observant had written before on several blank lines, he was suddenly seized with his wild hunch. And then another. It was time to act on them.

"Hey, Spektanto, what are you doing?" he asked.

His Observant lawyer didn't even glance up as he continued to scribble. Still, he absently answered, "For you information, client, I am signing my name to these legal documents. They are properly required."

Danny rolled his eyes, but then he frowned in thought, _"Wait. If he's signing his name on these papers, then wouldn't that mean that these symbols are like the equivalent of letters? But… Well, I'm not sure of the correct spelling of Spektanto's name, but I'm sure it must have more letters, uhm, symbols than what he's writing. Unless, the symbols __**don't**__ work like our 'regular' letters work._

Danny's eyebrows furrowed deeper in concentration. Somehow, he just knew this was important. Just then, however, he felt the sting in his stomach again. When were they going to eat? It couldn't be too much longer, which meant that he probably didn't have enough time to figure this out.

Danny watched him some more before he decided to do something. If he wanted to correctly remember those symbols Spektanto had been writing and all of those others he had seen, he would have to write them down. After all, they had to be important—or, at least, he hoped they would be.

He finally said, "Hey, Spektanto? Can I have some paper and a pencil?"

"What for?" his lawyer replied, still not looking up from his papers.

But Danny didn't notice that Vlad had opened his eyes in surprise when he also heard the boy's request.

"Because if you don't, I'll just keep interrupting the trial!" the boy replied with a mischievous smirk on his face.

Spektanto looked up at the young half-ghost and immediately thought, _"Somehow, I think you will, anyhow."_ But then he thought he'd better humor the creature, just in case. He quickly shoved what Danny wanted to him.

Vlad looked on with curiosity as Danny quickly scribbled down the symbols he just saw Spektanto write and what he remembered about the door. Now what was the boy up to?

However, the man soon brushed it off as one of those silly things teens did when they just couldn't sit still. He had more important things to focus on right now, anyways.

Once Danny was finished, he studied the symbols once more. But then, he remembered about the human writing that had been under those very same symbols in that prison cell where he had found the bodies of his...

Danny shook his head, pushing the thought away and concentrating on what he was doing. He had seen the letters 'v' and 'i' on the walls… But, also, there had been this strange word written in human letters… What was it…?

Terra…? Teria? _Thera_…? Yes! 'Thera!' That was it!

Danny grinned as he quickly scribbled that word down, too. Somehow, he got the sudden feeling that they were very connected. He knew he would have to recheck at least the symbols against the one on the door as soon as he could—just to be sure.

But the young hybrid was pulled from his thoughts once more with the rather loud creak of an opening door. He quickly folded and then shoved the paper into his pocket. Both he and Vlad automatically looked toward the sound and saw that the little room's door that Okulo had first pointed out to them now had its door open.

A moment later, a burly-looking Observant, with an apron over his purple floor-length gown, stepped to the doorway of the room. He moved no further and directed his fixed gaze on the two ghost hybrids. Both Danny and Vlad somehow knew that the ghost's glare conveyed irritation while at the same time beckoning to them to come over to the room.

"Looks like it's the 'proper' time to leave our defense lawyer, Daniel," Vlad said, his voice laced with both smugness and sarcasm. Still, the man knew this was an opportunity that could very well never be repeated. He had to talk to Daniel about his plans and hope that the boy would have calmed enough to be receptive to it. The man smirked a bit. Of course, Daniel would be receptive to it if it meant permanently getting out of this trial.

The man immediately rose from his seat and started for the room, thinking that it was no longer the time for every hybrid for himself. It was time for each hybrid to take a chance...

And this present chance was all Vlad needed to regain his will to fight back.

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A/N: Well, how's everyone doing? Do we have your eyeballs—or eyeball if you're an Observant—popping out again? Oh, goodie! You never know what us wicked authors will do to you. But you love it, and you know it! So, just show us some of that love and push that lovely button! We would LOVE to hear from you!

**Pearl: Looks like Vlad's jumped back! Well, he always does. Like Danny, they just naturally can't roll over and die. And it looks like Vladdie's got something up his sleeve! Let's see if Danny will work with him now, though, after all the stuff he put him through here. But, hey, it's like Vlad to go and blame Danny for everything. Heh-heh. Bad guy and all! And… we have more on those symbols… Yes, they are important. And so are the clues… if you caught them! Heh-heh! Don't worry, though, everything will be revealed in due time!**

**In other news, I apologize for not having CM up—again as I said. I need to stop saying when I am going to update 'cause for some reason I curse myself and I don't update! Gah! I have a bad luck shadow chasing me! No, but, it is a very delicate chapter, so I have spent more time on it than normal. But, really, it will be up soon. Already send it to Truephan and we are in the betaing process. So, maybe tomorrow night or Monday? Yeah, I'll put it as tentative to avoid anymore bad luck. But hang tight! It's on its way and hopefully well worth the wait!**

**One last thing: Fantasy 93 made a title card for this story! Go check it at the DA! It's SO awesome!**

**Well, good night everyone! Thanks for your support!**


	17. Chap 17: Trial of Chance and Consequence

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Truephan here! Are y'all ready for another chapter? Well, of course you are or else you wouldn't be here! *smacks forehead* So, let's go, then and I have a little surprise (for me, too, actually!) at the end after we get you all riled up! Have fun!**

**Pearl: Hmm… surprise? Well, I'll have to see what that is, too… So, while I go investigate, you readers can enjoy this chapter! *winks***

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

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**Chapter 17: Trial of Chance and Consequences**

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Danny's stomach growled just as he saw the burly Observant that had motioned him and Vlad to come retreat back into the room. That was just fine with him to go there because right now, he wouldn't argue any point to get something to eat. He was starved! He stood up and followed Vlad toward the room to which they had been directed. He didn't even think about how easy it was for him to catch up to the older hybrid nor did he notice that Vlad had obviously been taking his time to get there.

Spektanto, however, didn't even seem to notice that the two hybrids had left. He was busy writing more notes on those many pages in front of him.

Just as Danny approached Vlad, the man slowed even more, as if he were waiting for the boy to get nearer.

And indeed, Vlad was waiting. As soon as Danny was at his side, Vlad grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled it, gently urging the younger hybrid to slow down—now.

Danny frowned at Vlad's behavior and was about to object when Vlad hurriedly, yet almost _desperately_, whispered, "Daniel, we need to talk before the trial resumes, and now would be a good time…I know I haven't supported the 'we' in this trial so far…."

"Ya think?" Danny replied, purposefully interrupting him while yanking his arm out of the man's grasp.

But Vlad merely grabbed Danny's wrist again, a little more firmly this time and kept the teen from moving forward.

"Just what do you…?" Danny demanded with irritation, only to be interrupted by the man.

"Not now, Daniel! We don't have time! Just listen to me. I think you might find what I have to say interesting. After all, you must know now that we have no option except to try to escape again."

"Again? Right now? No way! I just got to get something to eat! Besides, have you forgotten what happened when we tried the first time, Plasmius?" Danny sourly said. "Oh, and weren't you the one who said it was impossible to escape, anyways?"

Vlad gritted his teeth. He hated it when the boy got petulant. Still, he needed to keep calm and convince Daniel about his plans.

"Yes, I did say that, but it was thoughtless talk. Plus, I don't think our escape attempt was a bad _first_ try, actually, Daniel. We just need to change our tactics," the man calmly replied.

One of Danny's eyebrows shot up. The man _did _sound more like himself. But then again, was this a good or bad thing?

"Well, you didn't seem to be all that willing to change on that _first_ try, Vlad," Danny countered. "And, do I need to remind you that you were just trying to pin all those crimes on me just now? And you want me to believe that all of the sudden you want to work together to escape? Sorry, I don't buy it!"

Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep calm. They didn't have too much more time to argue. Still, he had to get back to his point, which was to work on changing tactics about escaping. Finally, he said, "I will admit that my actions in the trial hardly inspired your vote of trust in me. However, this isn't about trust, Daniel. It's about working with each other because it benefits us _both_. Look, Daniel. I know you want to escape as much as I do. And I saw how you somehow thought writing down all those symbols you saw Spektanto writing was important."

"Who said it was important?" Danny said defensively, his face blushing. He didn't want to tell Vlad what he had been musing about the symbols because he didn't want the older hybrid to make fun of him.

Vlad frowned slightly. There the boy went, getting all defensive again. Still, he calmly replied, "Come now, dear boy. I am _not_ reproaching you for studying those symbols. You said you would escape with or without me. So, I think that was a good idea for you to consider all options that present themselves to you when it comes to making plans to escape, wouldn't you agree?"

Danny didn't answer, but he knew a compliment from the man when he heard it. Still, he wasn't so certain whether to trust Vlad again.

Vlad, however, added, "So, Daniel, do you think we can put our differences aside enough to plan that escape?"

But then, they were interrupted by movement just ahead of them. That same burly Observant with an apron over his purple floor-length gown had reappeared at the door again, looking even more impatient than he first had when the hybrids had first seen him.

The two half-ghosts glanced at each other, both having noticed the intensity in that Observant's eye. They both knew that they would have to wait until after eating to continue with their discussion…

Vlad and Danny ignored the Observant's glare and continued at the same pace just the same, so as not to raise any suspicion on why they had tarried.

And just when they had reached within earshot of the Observant, he growled, "Just so you creatures know, I did not prepare this without objection. You do not deserve it. But I always do what I am ordered." With that, the Observant retreated back into the room.

Both of the hybrids frowned in confusion at the spirit's remark but still pressed on. Once they had crossed the threshold, however, both unconsciously stopped in a jolt and gasped in awe at what they saw. The room was brimming with all kinds of delicious foods! Now they understood what the Observant had meant. He was ordered to fix them something decent for a change!

Vlad saw slices upon slices of the finest steaks, hams and seafood exquisitely displayed. There was fresh Waldorf salad over ice, vegetables almandine, rice pilaf and globs of cheddar potatoes just begging to be taken. The man was so hungry that he smiled and turned ghost as he approached the tempting and delectable dishes.

Danny also saw a lot of food, but he zeroed in on the different kinds of pizza, snuggled under their still bubbling and steaming cheese blankets as if they were fresh out of their unseen oven. There were also trays of fresh hamburgers with all the fixings and French fries. He was delighted to see a soda fountain nearby, too!

But knowing that all this wonderful food was still 'ghost food' and that it only would benefit him in ghost form, Danny turned into Phantom just before he said to Vlad, "Where have they been hiding this stuff?"

But Vlad was half-listening. He, too, was so distracted at satiating himself that he was immediately grabbing a nearby carrying tray and empty plate. He went right up to the food display and started selecting his favorite foods.

Danny, likewise, served himself a large slice of hot, gooey pepperoni pizza and a large, juicy hamburger. He quickly prepared his hamburger, grabbed some fries and headed to the soda fountain.

After placing a glass of their favorite beverages onto their trays, the two hybrids sat down on the only table in the room. But even though it was the only table in the room, there were real napkins and utensils laid out for their use.

But just as soon as they had prepared to eat, Danny grinned at Vlad. And with the waft of his favorite foods still filling his nose and exciting his stomach, the teen commented, "Gee, they haven't served us real food since—forever! I can't even remember the last time they threw any food that wasn't grey at us! Not to mention, there wasn't even much of _that_, either! Did they finally grow some kind of heart in those empty central cores of theirs?"

"Doubtful," Vlad replied dryly, though he had a small smile of his own on his face as he added a pinch of salt to his salad.

It was then that Danny finally noticed what Vlad was having. That was odd. He never thought the refined Vlad Masters would eat that kind of food. Still, it wasn't as if Vlad had any choice. So, Danny shrugged it off. If Vlad was even half as starved as he was right now, just about any real food would seem like ambrosia.

All of the sudden, Vlad also looked at what Daniel was having and then the boy's previous words just as sudden rattled him. Something wasn't right.

Danny lifted the slice of pizza with both hands and was about to take a huge bite out of it when Vlad suddenly said, "Daniel, wait!"

The boy stopped and lowered his hands slightly and frowned in disapproval. "Wait? I'm starving and this is the best looking pizza I've seen in weeks!"

"Pizza?" Vlad asked in bewilderment. "You're about to bite into a very large bagel with lox on it."

Danny frowned even more before replying, "Are you crazy? I don't even know what that is, much less volunteer to eat it!" The boy ended that comment with going back to the pizza still in his hands. He was about to bring it back up to his mouth when Vlad suddenly grabbed the boy's arm nearest to him and firmly lowered it.

"HEY!" Danny protested when he almost dropped the slice when Vlad did that. He immediately jerked the pizza away from the man.

Daniel, what do I have on my plate?" Vlad asked somberly.

"Pizza and fries. Though I have to say I'm surprised that you served yourself all of that. I thought you hated junk food, but you looked so pleased when you took them, so, whatever." He brought the pizza back up to his mouth. But he stopped again at Vlad's next words.

"I do hate junk food, and so I served myself filet mignon and Waldorf salad, Daniel, not pizza or fries."

This time, Danny halted in mid-bite and gingerly lowered his pizza back to his plate before he could even taste the food. He gulped at the possibility. He then looked at Vlad, searching for what this could mean.

And then both of them instinctively turned to the Observant chef who had called them into the room and had been here with them the entire time.

The Observant's eye suddenly glared red; and just as suddenly, the food in front of them melded into other substances. The liquid in each of their glasses was now green and as coagulated as blood as it spewed forth its thick, smelly bubbles. But that wasn't all. The stuff now on their plates was some form of multi-colored gelatin-like goo that was now actually _moving _and pulling the colors inward on itself, as if it were a vortex of vomit.

Danny instantly yelped as he dropped the food _now moving_ in his hands and felt nauseous at the thought that he had come 'this close' to eating whatever those things were.

But Vlad merely frowned in irritation before rising out of his seat. Danny noticed this, of course, and kept his full attention on the man as he turned human again and sauntered over to the now familiar spirit.

"Back, I see…Commendable choice of cuisine, Iluzisto," Vlad calmly commented as he kept a firm gaze upon the spirit. "But I am sure that the High Tribunal wouldn't want you to starve us."

"You do not have any idea on what the Observants want, crossbreed!" Iluzisto angrily spat back. "But I do! And they want subservient and placid prisoners in their courtroom. And if making your inferior flesh bodies pang in what you call 'hunger' and 'thirst' is what it takes to give them what they want, then so be it! But if you are so desperate for nourishment, there's always this 'commendable cuisine' that I offer!"

The Prison Head ended that with a glare that somehow was able to convey both threat and sarcasm in it.

But Vlad answered him in a steel voice, "I'm sure you will understand, then, if the boy and I refuse your offer!"

"Do not think that because I was absent during the first part of your trial, I was not informed of both your creatures' doings!" the spirit hissed back, his eye glowing menacingly. He then countered with as much vigor, "So, I am sure, then, that you will understand that you will not get your nourishment if you continue to try the patience of the High Tribunal!"

"I am sure, then, that the High Tribunal would find it most _improper_ to have their prisoners incoherent with hunger and thirst during these proceedings?" Vlad coolly countered back.

Iluzisto tried to hide the surprise his eye conveyed. That had been close to what Clockwork had said when the Time Master had first visited the hybrids in their prison cells!

Nevertheless, he growled threateningly, "However, the High Tribune never did dictate that their prisoners be _comfortable_!"

"Yes, I wouldn't doubt that," Vlad replied, his voice still steady. "However, if you mean to starve us, then you will ultimately fail because we'll be too weak for you to use us for your plans." The man dared to take a step closer and narrowed his eyes just slightly at Iluzisto as he added, "You see, our cores can only regenerate energy if our ghost _and_ human bodies are healthy…. Very unlikely without food."

Iluzisto's eye narrowed in hate at being tricked again, but he said nothing for the moment.

Danny, meanwhile, couldn't agree more with that statement that he was not comfortable or healthy, at that. In fact, at this moment, his stomach was _very_ uncomfortable! And that meant that it was getting harder and harder for him to maintain his human form because of his hunger. Not to mention the fact that he felt weak and dizzy from the lack of food and from all that 'torture chamber' stuff he had endured. Plus, there was this added 'bonus' of his neck brace that slowed his healing down. It all was indeed making it difficult for him to stay healthy, and in turn, keep his ghost energy up enough to even stay ghost. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to give Iluzisto any sort of satisfaction in what he had just did.

For a few more tense moments, the two hybrids silently stared at the Prison Head. Iluzisto's redden eye glowed even more as the seconds ticked by.

Danny bit the inner part of his lower lip when his stomach suddenly—and loudly—growled. He didn't want to show this jerk of a spirit that he was this vulnerable. Still, there was nothing he could do about it. He was starving! Nevertheless, he kept mute and a staid face as he continued to glare at the Observant.

Iluzisto then broke their fixated stares and lifted his black staff. Instantly, the terrible 'food' currently on the hybrids' plates melded into the usual grey grub, and stale grayish-brown bread that the prison had been giving to them in the past three days. They were as tasteless and unappealing as they were in looks, but they had at least satisfied their basic nourishment needs before.

This time, Danny turned human to make sure the food wasn't an illusion. And when he could touch it and knew it was real, he no longer hesitated. He quickly turned ghost again, snatched up the bowl of gruel and nearby spoon, and began to quickly ladle it up to his lips. He followed that up with a gulp of bread and then a gulp of grey liquid that had already appeared instead of the green bubbly stuff. Then he went back to the grey soup…

Vlad, though just as hungry and thirsty as the boy, merely turned into Plasmius as he returned to his own seat. He pulled a small piece of the crude loaf of bread and nibbled on it as if it were a delicacy. He, of course, ignored its unpleasant texture and bland taste. He then picked up the nearby glass of liquid. Slowly bringing it to his lips, he sipped on it with the gusto of a connoisseur tasting the finest wine from Spain. After all, he wasn't going to let the illusionist spirit get the upper hand in this instance no matter how much he wanted to satisfy his needs.

Iluzisto glared at the man's audacity. He then lifted his black staff once more and much to Danny's chagrin, all of the food and liquid disappeared.

"Hey!" Danny blurted out; but then, he quickly stifled himself. He now realized that he had already lost some of his willpower because of his desperate hunger and thirst.

The Observant then hissed, "Like I said. The High Tribunal does not concern itself to the comfort of its prisoners. But it expects them to be pliant nevertheless! And heed my words: I _will be_ watching and, more importantly, waiting to inflict pain into you tenfold if need be!"

Before either of the two hybrids could comment the illusionist spirit disappeared in the next instant, leaving Danny with a half-full stomach and Vlad with little food in his own.

But in actuality, the Prison Head still had a few more things to finish before he could return to the trial and had only come now because of that infernal order from the Council! Blast them! True, he couldn't afford to prepare his plans all at once or else he would raise the Council's suspicions. But he was still anxious to be done with his plans, and needed to use any time he could get—even if they were coming to him in preciously few amounts…Okulo had been of some help in this, like right now. The liaison had managed to make still another excuse for him to pursue the final part of his plans and still allow him to return to the trial without too much delay. After all, he wouldn't be going too far for the things he needed to get done, this time.

"I should be more patient," Iluzisto mused to himself. "After all, I will fix the Observants and _everything_ _else_ soon enough."

Still, he knew he couldn't leave the crossbreeds with the impression that he wouldn't be watching them even if he really wasn't going to do that for at least a little more portion of the trial. After all, he was even surer after what he just did to them that the crossbreeds would be compliant enough until then…

Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad glanced at each other briefly before Danny sighed and said, "Gee, Vlad, couldn't you have noticed that Iluzisto had meant to trick us _after_ I had eaten all of my pizza?"

In spite the fact he had barely gotten any food, Vlad smirked before saying, "You know, for once I agree with you, Daniel. It would have been interesting to see your face once you noticed that your stomach had a life of its own—literally!"

"Ha-ha," Danny dryly remarked, swallowing the gulp and queasiness of the thought nevertheless. Still, he managed to add, "Now what? I'm still starved!"

But Vlad only silently motioned with his eyes, meaning for the boy to follow him out before Vlad turned, became human again, and began to walk out of the room.

Sighing once more in defeat and resignation that his appetite and thirst would have to wait, Danny turned human, too, and followed the man in silence and anticipation. After all, the boy had caught more than a 'follow me' kind of look in Vlad's eyes in that brief encounter. He had seen it several times before; and it was the kind that had 'I've got an idea' written all over it. And at this point, the boy was so wanting to get out of here, he had finally made up his mind: he was now _more than willing_ to listen to what Vlad had in mind…

When both of the hybrids entered the Tribunal room again, they could easily see that Spektanto had not budged from his station and was still absorbed in whatever report he was writing. Still, they were still quite a bit of distance from the spirit, and Spektanto hadn't noticed either of them yet.

Vlad scanned the area and noticed four well-armed guards glaring at them a short distance away. They couldn't do anything about that right now. But they were far enough away that they might not be able to hear the two hybrids' speaking to each other if they kept their voices down. But then, suddenly, Vlad grabbed a hold of Danny's forearm as he had done when they had first approached the room they had just left and pulled him to a near stop.

Danny rolled his eyes before whispering, "You didn't need to do that, you know. I already guessed that we were going to continue our 'little talk' we started before our 'not really eating' thing."

Vlad half-smirked as he let go of the boy and started toward Spektanto at a snail's pace. He then whispered back, "So, you decided to put our differences 'on hold' for a while, Daniel?"

Danny hitched one side of his mouth up into a dry smirk and quietly replied, "Yeah, for now, cheese head. So, what do you have up your sleeve?"

"I'm getting to that, you little rat," Vlad said with a slight grin before glancing back at the guards and Spektanto. Good. The guards were no longer glaring at them. In fact, they were quietly talking amongst each other. And, as usual, Spektanto was reliably scribbling away and not paying attention—just like during the trial! Vlad resisted the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance, lest that send the wrong message to Daniel. He then continued, "Look up to the ceiling and to your right, but don't look too obvious doing that. There's a vent up there."

Danny slightly frowned. The man couldn't help but be patronizing. Still, he gazed slightly in that direction and after spying the vent and still not seeing Vlad's point, he replied, "Yeah?"

Vlad really resisted the urge to roll his eyes this time, and instead quietly explained, "If we could create some kind of distraction, you could get out that way."

Danny looked up at the vent again. He could easily squeeze through it. But then a few questions popped up. "But then what? I don't know my way around this place, much less do I know how to get out of here once I get through the vent. Not to mention the fact that you forgot about _this_ little detail." The boy quickly pointed to his neck restraint.

But Vlad would not be thwarted. "Listen, Daniel. I have been here before, remember? And I know that you have a very good internal sense of direction. Once you are out the vent, head south which will take you to a barely used part of this building. Once outside, head due east and depending on your speed, you'll reach a hidden portal in a few hours. You cannot miss it because it's surrounded by a ghost shield."

But Danny was not convinced. The man had to be so hungry that his mind was getting loopier! Didn't Vlad remember that they had tried to get the neck restraints off before, and, of course, failed miserably? Sure, they had damaged them, but to get them off completely…. How were they going to do that when they weren't able to before? And even if they could, Danny wasn't sure he could even reach that vent feeling as badly as he did.

Danny quickly voiced his main concern, "However, there's still this neck restraint problem, which as you know—and even though it's not working right—really messes up our ghost powers. What can we do about that? And now that I think about it, why aren't you making these plans for yourself, then?"

Vlad answered his last question first. "I thought that would cross your mind. One of us escaping would have better odds at doing that if the other is keeping everyone else busy. Besides, you fly faster than me and though I could squeeze through the vent, I think you could get through it more easily and quickly than me. And, though I could be just as successful as you to escape, I think you would know the answer as to why I chose you to be the one to try."

Danny's eyes widened as he tried to think of that 'answer'. And it surprised him a little when it almost immediately came to his mind right afterward. It was Vlad's way of admitting that Danny would be the more likely of the two to get help and then go back to rescue the remaining party. The boy blushed a little at the indirect compliment, and said nothing at first. But then, that other issue came back into focus…

He finally replied, "Okay, then. I agree. It's worth a try. But what about the neck brace?"

"After our diversion, we won't have that much time, of course. But if we time it right, we'll be able to crouch on the floor right in front of that partition behind our chairs. That might be able to give us some cover to hide what we're doing."

But Danny didn't catch his drift at all and blurted out, "So?"

"I'm getting to that!" Vlad quietly snapped back, using every ounce of his patience not to catch the attention of Spektanto. Why did the boy have to be so clueless? He then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in order to control himself and added, "We both know that neither of us can get our neck restraint off because each of us has diminished powers. However, we know that my collar had some damaged done to it when Iluzisto was giving us one of those earlier 'lesson-learned' sessions with the combination of the electric barrier separating our cells."

"Yeah, and you damaged mine—with _a lot_ of pain, too—by using your diminished electric energy combined with that barrier's energy. I know all that. Get to the point, Vlad," Danny interrupted impatiently.

This time, Vlad narrowed his eyes a bit in annoyance, but still continued, though his voice was a bit terser, "_The point is_ that our powers are not entirely gone; and perhaps they never were entirely since we have always been able to change into our ghost halves. Still, we are not sure _how much more_ of our powers we can get to since the collars have been damaged and that's because we haven't been able to try yet. But let's assume that there's not that much more and that by ourselves, each of our powers are still diminished by the collars." Vlad then continued, his face brightening a bit in a pleased smirk, "_However_, I was wondering if these clowns actually ever thought what would happen if we _combined_ both of our 'diminished' powers when trying to get these collars off? Then, maybe, we might be able to get yours off in the end."

Now Vlad had Danny's undivided attention. It was a wild hunch, but it was a good one! It just might be possible. Danny smirked a little before replying. "Okay, I'm game! But if that theory doesn't hold, then…"

But Vlad quickly finished the boy's thought, "Then we will still be stuck. After all, I don't think that even you have missed the fact that we are going to be found completely guilty and condemned."

Danny frowned at the indirect insult but let it go. After all, that was Vlad for ya. Besides, he knew that the man was right. But seeing that they were now getting too close to Spektanto, Danny then radically changed the subject, "Well, looks like what we just had will have to hold us for a while."

Vlad scrunched his face in confusion until he finally saw what the boy had meant. It was time for them to stop.

But the fact of the matter was that the Appointed Defender hadn't even noticed that Danny and Vlad had even left in the first place, because he startled a little when he heard what Danny had said just now. His lone eye darted in uncertainty—and fear—when he realized he was alone with his clients for the first time…well, except for the four guards, who were a little too far away for a rapid intervention. He tried hard not to panic and squelched his anxious gasp.

Danny rolled his own eyes and Vlad frowned in irritation at the spirit's reaction, but neither of them made any comments to their lawyer as they continued forward. When they were finally close enough, they sat down beside him once more.

Spektanto, however, was still quite nervous about being essentially alone with his two clients. And especially since they were awfully quiet once they had returned from their nourishment session. And now that he thought about it, they were _too_ quiet and _right next to_ him! Just as he began to panic, the same large double doors through which the two hybrids had been first escorted upon their arrival to the courtroom opened and a host of Observants began to float into the room.

Danny and Vlad watched in silence as each Observant found his place in the audience. Vlad frowned in irritation at the parade-like movements of the spirits as they settled in. Danny also frowned, but for a different reason. Not only was he even more aware of his empty stomach, but he now also felt a little light-headed. Still, he remained silent as their ghost captors filtered in.

Danny's blue eyes drifted away from the returning Observants and then to the hunched-over Spektanto, who had clearly returned to writing fervently now that he was no longer alone with his hostile clients. In fact, he had doubled his efforts once his fellow spirits had started to come in.

Perplexed at how involved the spirit was in his task, Danny finally tapped him on the shoulder and blurted out, "What could you be possibly writing with all that?"

But his lawyer didn't even flinch and continued to write in haste in that foreign script.

Ultimately, all the Observants had arrived. Not a moment later, the projection screens which had been blank only moments before began to flicker to life. A moment later, and individual projections of the High Tribunal Council materialized onto the screens. Each of them just stared ahead, but Danny couldn't help but feel that they were able to project disdain for him all the same.

Then Clockwork came in and situated himself to the same station he had been during the entire trial.

Lastly, the High Tribune, Justeco, and his advisor, Konsilisto, appeared and took their usual places at the center and to the right, respectively, of the large rectangular Tribunal table.

And much to the surprise of the hybrids, once again, Iluzisto was not present for some reason.

Vlad hitched an eyebrow at that development. Interesting…

Once the High Tribune had seated himself, the room came to a hush. And just before the silent anticipation began to weigh down upon everyone in the room, Justeco lightly rapped his gavel and said, "It is time to resume our proceedings. Are you ready to proceed, Clockwork?"

"I am, Tribune."

The High Tribune then turned to the Appointed Defender and said, "Are you ready to proceed, Spektanto?"

"As best as I can," came the reply.

"Why am I _not_ surprised by that response?" Danny sarcastically grumbled under his breath, crossing his arms in irritation as he did.

Vlad smirked a little when he heard the boy's comment but kept mute.

"And what say you, Honorable Tribunal Council. Shall we proceed?" Tribune Justeco said.

"Aye!" came the unanimous replies.

"Very well," the High Tribune tersely replied. He glanced at the still visible numbers on the hybrids' foreheads before continuing, "I present the next accusation against Prisoners 484 and 485 and their havoc on all Existence and Reality."

This time, Vlad rolled his eyes, perturbed with the histrionics. Just what else could they cook up?

But as if to answer his silent question, the High Tribune continued, "Vlad Plasmius is accused of purposely and with grave malice releasing the dangerous criminal ghost named Vortex onto all of Reality. This accusation is especially serious because Vlad Plasmius, as you know all too well, invaded our domain to do just that."

Speaking on the side of his mouth, Vlad quietly and snidely said to Danny, "They just want to get back at me for that stinging bit of embarrassment."

But Danny only briefly looked at the man before turning his gaze back at the High Tribune. But then, the boy wished he hadn't because at that precise moment, the Head of the High Tribunal Council had turned and directed a hateful glare back at _him_ just as the Observant said, "Furthermore, Danny Phantom is equally accused of this crime against Existence when he wrestled those very powers from Vortex and almost destroyed his world!"

Echoes of "Here, here!" "Here, here!" were immediately uttered by the members of the Tribunal Council.

Danny almost blurted out his response but a sudden pang shot through his stomach and he thought better of it. And he was still feeling weaker than he wanted to be. Even still, he wasn't going to let them get away with this! A sudden thought crossed his pounding head. That thought persisted even as he reflexively rubbed his forehead. And even though that thought brought some sadness with it, it also brought determination to the boy... Jazz was still right! He still had to prove to them that this was all just false accusations! He leaned over to Spektanto and hurriedly whispered, "That's not true, Spektanto! Vortex accidentally gave me those powers when he **attacked me**!"

"Quiet!" Spektanto harshly warned him before the Tribunal interrupted them.

"What say you, Appointed Prosecutor?"

"The proof is undeniable, Council," Clockwork began just as he brought his Time Staff up like he had done each time he was about to present the evidence. And sure enough, an image appeared and the events surrounding the 'Vortex affair' played for everyone to see as if the events were happening right then and now.

Once it was over, Clockwork commented without a hint of emotion, "Without a doubt, Vlad Plasmius is guilty as charged. And as for Danny Phantom…,"

"Objection!" Spektanto suddenly yelled.

Several members of the audience and the Council and even Danny jumped at the forcefulness of his interjection.

The Defender continued, "Danny Phantom had been given those powers against his will. Vortex had attacked my younger client and that is when the transference occurred."

Danny's eyes widened. That was the **first** time during the entire trial that Spektanto had actually said anything with such conviction of his defense!

"True," Clockwork suddenly replied, "But once given those powers, even by mistake, the young half-ghost acted irresponsibly with them. Instead of keeping them under wraps—and even if he did finally defeat Vortex with those same powers and return the criminal to you for your safe-keeping—he actually used them to wreak havoc in revenge against Vlad Plasmius."

"Gotcha on that one, didn't he, hmm?" Vlad again said at the side of his mouth to Danny.

But Danny also saw a hint of a smirk on the man's face, and frowned in irritation when he could tell that the man was just messing with him.

"You really can't help yourself, can you?" Danny said dryly. But then turning back to the matter at hand, the boy looked at Clockwork and his frown deepened. He could understand why his ex-mentor had admonished him, but why had Clockwork admonished _and complimented_ him at the same time? Was Clockwork trying to get him into more trouble? The boy sat momentarily speechless with that troubling thought.

"What say you, Council members?" The Tribune asked with a slight rap of his gavel.

"Overruled," they all said at once.

The Tribune rapped his gavel lightly once more and added, "It is all too clear that the appointed prosecutor's words are valid and proper for he has demonstrated evidence to support them."

"Of course!" Vlad grumbled under his breath. But his mind was also occupied on rehearsing his plans for Danny's escape. The timing had to be right. And he hoped that these imbeciles hadn't shored up their defenses since he had invaded them, and that the boy's escape would actually be possible. Of course, he needed an inch of an opportunity to at least try...

The Tribune paused a moment before he finally continued, "And now, Council members, should we bring up the gravest of the accusations against the two prisoners in this trial?"

"Aye," they responded, the word sounding more foreboding since the combined voices of the Council members accentuated it.

"Very well," the Tribune replied, "And this transgression is the most despicable against all of Reality and Existence. In fact, this crime of which Prisoners 484 and 485 are being accused is so vile that it not only will threaten the Reality and Existence of the human world, but our world, too! And therefore, if found guilty, the crime carries with it the sentence of destruction into the Oblivion!"

That was too much! The entire Observant audience shot up in their seats in an uproar.

Vlad and Danny hurriedly looked from the audience to Spektanto and then to the Tribune when the Head Observant firmly banged his gavel.

Clockwork's face suddenly frowned in irritation. He had not liked the sound of that. And since the Observants existed out of time, he had no forsight of what they were talking about, though he had his suspicions; so, he had no choice but to keep quiet for the moment.

"Silence!" the Tribune commanded, though the other Observants were having a little difficulty with that. "Though this is indeed a shock, we cannot deny the truth or its consequences! The High Tribune Council and all of Existence and Reality firmly accuse Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom of threatening all Existence through future irresponsible actions in outer space!"

"Objection!" Both Spektanto _and Clockwork_ said at once.

But their cries were hardly heard. The audience had once more erupted in angry or worrisome shouts at this latest crime.

Vlad and Danny could only look on in bewilderment that was quickly followed by dread creeping up their spines. Were the Observants actually accusing them of something they had not done yet? This didn't sound good at all. In fact, by the sound of the other spirits, it definitely wasn't good!

The Tribune banged his gavel more furiously as he tried to get the crowd to calm. He was successful a few moments later, but the usual calm hush had not totally returned.

Somewhat mollified, Justeco then turned to the Council members' projections, "Shall we proceed, then, Council?"

"It is proper!" said one.

"Aye!" several others replied.

Still others nodded in silence.

"Very well," Justeco acknowledged, before adding, "What say you, Appointed Defender?"

"I object!" Spektanto repeated.

"And I do, too!" Clockwork piped in, showing anger for the first time since the trial began.

Danny's eyes widened when Clockwork said that. Now what did Clockwork have in store for him?

"And what is the meaning of this?" The Tribune asked. "You are to enter a plea, Spektanto!"

"I know that it is the proper time for that, but…" The Defense lawyer began, only to be interrupted by Clockwork.

"But, what the Council has done is highly improper! No one has the right to twist the timeline like this! And even mentioning an event that has yet to happen is highly dangerous to the flow of time—let alone assuming a future event is set in stone! Your verdict against the half-ghosts can be as you want it! But as the Master of Time I _will not_ allow this Council to continue to speak of future events in the presence of two beings that are part of the timeline!"

Once again, the crowd began to loudly express their own objection to Clockwork's forthright objection.

Still, Clockwork ignored the courtroom's uproar. He was not going to stand for this. Not this. How dare the Observants attempt to bring up an event in the near future? Yes, he now knew exactly what they were trying to accuse the hybrids of: that incident which will lead to an asteroid threatening all Existence because of a single fight the half-ghosts will have in space.

Whether the half-ghosts would be to blame for that event or not, Clockwork was not going to allow even his _employers_ to disrupt the fateful course of that timeline by revealing even the slightest hints of that future event. The result could be catastrophic.

"You of all spirits should know, Clockwork…" Justeco began.

"Yes, I of all spirits _do_ know when other spirits take such a dangerous position!" Clockwork interjected again. "You shall desist of this line of accusation! I will not allow such effrontery to the time stream!"

Justeco frowned in disapproval before uttering, "Are you forgetting your role here as Prosecutor, Clockwork? How dare you…?"

But Clockwork forcefully interjected, "You know I _can_ dare on this point! And believe me, you should not wish to dare me back! Prosecutor or not, I am above all the Master of Time and I will not allow such tampering of the timeline!"

Justeco frowned in annoyance again, just before commenting, "But…."

Meanwhile, as the Head Prosecutor and High Tribune continued to argue, Vlad had already noticed the disparity and loud rumbling of countering opinions within the court since the High Tribune had brought up that cryptic future crime. He really didn't care about their petty argument then and now, but he was still pleased at this development. But he had to add a little spice to it before he could take full advantage of it. He immediately shot up from his seat and loudly announced, "And I think this entire trial has been improper! You haven't found the boy guilty of much when he has clearly been the instigator of all of these charges!"

Danny charged out of his seat, instinctually raising his hands in an aggressive stance before angrily shouting, "You jerk! After all that stuff you said…"

But Vlad didn't let the boy finish. He quickly punched him right in the face, knocking him down!

This time, the crowd jumped up and angrily yelled more at this highly improper reaction.

Spektanto yelped in fear and backed away from the half-ghosts. He couldn't believe his eye at what his client did and turned back to the Tribune, his eye now pleading for help.

But the Tribune was too busy trying to calm the courtroom.

Before Spektanto could say anything, Vlad had pulled the slightly dazed Danny back up by his shirt.

Danny immediately took a swing at the man right after that, but Vlad was able to subdue the boy. He shouted to the crowd once again, "You can see how aggressive the boy is! If I hadn't reacted as I did, I'm sure he would have attacked Spektanto!"

The crowd's roar increased, and this time the Tribune, banging on his gavel, yelled, "Order!"

"Order!" "Order!" "Order!" the projections of the Tribune Council forcefully echoed throughout the courtroom, their heads comically bobbing up and down like corks in a choppy lake with their distress over the situation.

But the crowd had not calmed yet.

And this was the chance Vlad was hoping for. He couldn't see any guards since they were all now standing against the far wall of the court room, so then he was sure that they couldn't see him or the boy at the moment. He quickly turned to the boy and said, "Ready?"

But Danny was too angry to realize what the man was asking. He hissed back, "For what? For you to try to get me into deeper trouble?"

"Maybe. But then, maybe, this is just the kind of distraction we needed, Daniel."

This time, Danny startled when Vlad actually winked at him as if they were both 'in the know'. And it was then that Danny had realized that all of this had been part of the man's plan.

Vlad quickly added, "So, I say once again, Daniel. Ready?"

Danny then smirked in understanding and said, "Set. And go!"

This time, Danny actually pulled on Vlad, and both of them fell to the ground right behind the partition that separated them from the still riled-up audience. Right away, the two hybrids grabbed onto Danny's neck collar and concentrated.

At first, it looked like that they would fail! The ectoplasmic energy in each of their hands sputtered, struggling to charge to life. Danny's eyes widened in fear, especially when he heard the Tribune yell, **"Guards!"** above the din in the courtroom.

But Vlad quickly demanded, "Concentrate!"

And Danny scrunched his eyes tightly in his effort to comply.

Not a moment later, and the boy heard an angry sizzle too close to his ears. But even when in the next instant he could actually feel heat emanating from his collar, he dared not open his eyes else he break his concentration.

"Now, pull, Daniel! Pull with all your might!" Vlad commanded, even though his voice betrayed his slight panic.

The boy grunted with the effort, but after just two pulls from him and the man, the neck brace snapped in two! Danny didn't need any more direction from Vlad. His adrenaline kicked in overdrive as he instantly morphed into his alter ego and soared upward, focused on reaching that vent as soon as he could.

In the meantime, the guards had finally been able to push through the still riled up crowd. Several grabbed Vlad off the ground and immediately restrained him from the front. But the man anchored himself against them and in the next instant, twisted his body violently around and threw them over his shoulders. They landed in a heap. Other guards tried to grab him again, only for the older hybrid to give them a hard kick which soundly sent them to the floor.

But finally, one of the guards fired upon Vlad, stunning him. And moments after that, the others he had thrashed laid hands upon him and successfully subdued him this time.

At that moment, Justeco yelled, "Find the Master Prison Head at once!"

Okulo who had been watching the trial within the crowd quickly pulled out his energy ball from his cloak and used it to alert Iluzisto, via the illusionist spirit's controling bracelets.

Vlad gasped when he had heard the judge's order and shouted at the teen, "Hurry, Daniel!"

Meanwhile, other guards had filed into the courtroom, alerted by the assigned messengers of the court. When they saw what was happening, they aimed weapons at the interloper. Without hesitating, they fired!

Danny heard the blasts from the weapons and easily avoided them without slowing his pace toward the vent. Feeling recharged from the energy in the atmosphere, he poured on more speed. He was so close, so close!

Danny charged up and threw a green energy ball at the vent, which vaporized the vent's grate on impact. He ignored the sudden drain of strength when he used that energy and continued to surge ahead. At this point he didn't know or care that with his still evident lack of food and water, the great demand he had placed on his body to use his full ghostly powers so suddenly was significantly taxing it. Even still, he readied himself for whatever would happen next and pushed himself closer to the now open hole.

But just then, Iluzisto arrived and he instantly froze at the choas before him. However, he jolted to high alert when he saw the young hybrid about to escape, "No, you do not...," he hissed and aimed a hand towards the boy.

Vlad gasped again when he saw this and suddenly feeling a charge of adreneline, he struggled against the guards restraining him and managed to break free. And before the guards could stop him, the man charged at Iluzisto, with some of the guards right on his heels.

Iluzisto, meanwhile, was concentrating so much he didn't see Vlad heading toward him.

However, before Vlad could reach the illusionist spirit, one of the guards grabbed the man. Reacting instinctively, Vlad in turn grappled with that guard and threw him over his shoulder, sending the guard right at Iluzisto!

At that same instant, a large wicked-looking circular saw charged out of the uncovered vent! Danny pulled back and gasped in disbelief, unprepared for something like this. Before he knew it, the saw jutted out right at him!

Danny cried out and covered his face, sure that the saw was about to slice right through him! But much to the boy's relief, he was unscathed! The teen instantly lowered his hands and his eyes snapped downward. But they readily widened when he saw Iluzisto struggling on the ground with the hapless guard who had unintentionally knocked the Prison Head down—compliments of Vlad, of course.

Iluzisto was here! The teen now knew the saw had been an illusion and even though he didn't care how the guard had interfered, he was glad he did because, the spirit's illusion had vanished before it could harm him. But now things had really gotten dangerous and Vlad's desperate shout only emphasized that just as he was seized by other guards.

"Daniel! Go!"

But Danny was suddenly torn between helping the man and escaping. He ultimately had no choice, for as soon as Vlad had shouted his command to the teen, the Observant guards managed to get more of a hold of Vlad once more and this time used more force to subdue the older crossbreed.

Iluzisto glared murderously at Vlad, suspecting that the older crossbreed still had something to do with this whole fiasco, but quickly turned his attention to Danny.

"Surrender, crossbreed!" Iluzisto thundered from not too far from below, as he narrowed the gap between him and the boy.

Danny gasped again and barely avoided a blast from the Prison Head's weapon. But that was enough to goad the boy into action again. Danny shot a large ectoplasmic beam at the illusionist spirit just before turning back toward the vent. He hit his mark and Iluzisto was pushed harshly downward. Though that last effort made him dizzy all of the sudden, the teen gritted his teeth and darted toward the vent again. Just as he reached it, however, a ring of fire blocked his path. He grunted in anger at the ploy and charged right at it...

Meanwhile, far below the spectacle, the High Tribunal and all the Observants gasped in both awe and indignation at this brash attempt of the boy to escape. They were so cocky, so haughty about their race and abilities that it was almost inconceivable to them that anyone within their power could do that. Nevertheless, they kept their eyes glued to the scene above them, especially since Iluzisto had been so angry about the boy's audacity that he had not realized that he had not prevented everyone in the entire room from seeing all of his illusions with his attempt to subdue the younger crossbreed.

Through it all, however, it was hard to read what Clockwork's reaction was to what was happening above him. But just as Iluzisto was pounded by the boy's ectoplasmic ray, the corner of his mouth slightly twitched.

Vlad, too, anxiously watched as Danny barely avoided Iluzisto's ray and returned fire. He was glad that he was at least able to keep the boy from getting hurt by that imaginary saw, but he felt that the boy could not afford any more delays. _"Get out of here, Daniel!"_ he silently commanded as he struggled against the firm hold of the guards. But then he gasped when he saw the ring of fire suddenly appear around the boy's escape route...

Danny could feel the heat from the fire increasing as he neared the vent. He tried to push the thought from his dulled mind as he charged forward. The flames licked and hissed angrily at him, daring him to draw closer; but Danny wouldn't be fooled. He plunged right in and just as he thought he had made it, he felt a pressure around his right foot.

Before he could react, he was being yanked forcefully downward by an ecto-rope. Now desperate, Danny charged up his ice energy and as soon as he was pulled through the vent, he shot it at the illusionist spirit.

But the ray went wild and though Danny tried to quickly rebound, he felt even dizzier from that last attempt. And that was enough of a distraction for Iluzisto to fly up and plunge his sharp weapon into the boy's chest.

Danny screamed at the pain, but not near as much when the weapon then issued forth a powerful beam right into him.

Everyone below suddenly gasped to a hush when the young hybrid's body fully lit up and violently reeled from the electrifying blow. Only one more reflexive cry of intense pain could be emitted by the boy before he lost consciousness.

But Iluzisto wasn't through with him. This time, he willed his staff to siphon off some of the hybrid's ectoplasmic energy. Danny didn't respond in the least to this newest attack, but it didn't last that long. After all, Iluzisto didn't want to seem obvious in his true purpose so he made sure he only took a little of his energy so the council didn't notice. But that little bit was all the boy had left.

In the next instant, the Prison Head pulled his staff out of the boy's chest. And with his energy now completely spent, Danny then reverted to his human side just as he plunged downward right afterward.

Everyone gasped again, especially when it appeared as if no one would do anything to prevent what would definitely mean the boy's demise at the hard floor below. Still, all the Observants except Iluzisto were mesmerized at the scene and could not pull their lone eyes from it.

Vlad, however, pulled even harder against the guards as he watched the boy fall, but this time he could not break free and he was too weak to attempt to use his limited powers. Nevertheless, his eyes widened and his body tensed as Daniel's body fell closer to his doom.

But just inches from the blow, the boy's fall was halted, his body cushioned by a soft cloud of dark purple energy.

All the while, Clockwork had been intently watching the transpiring events. But once he saw the purple energy, he glanced over at the spirit responsible for it, his lips suddenly tightening…

Grumbling to himself, Iluzisto soared downward to the cloud that he had created. Even though the boy's death would have meant nothing to him, he still needed the crossbreed for his own purposes. When he was now at the senseless boy's side, the Prison Head activated his weapon once more and the cloud of dark purple energy tightened around Danny. Satisfied that his prisoner was secure, the illusionist spirit turned and glared at the Tribune.

Justeco, now shaken by the amount of power Iluzisto had just displayed and wondering if maybe he and the Council had given the Prison Head too much power, sat momentarily speechless at his chair. But then, perchance, his gaze drifted over to Clockwork, and that was enough to rivet the Council Head back to reality.

His face now grim with resolve, the Tribune stood up and lightly rapped on his gavel. All eyes focused on him as his cold voice announced, "We have seen enough proof of these current charges…The Council will not tolerate any more outrage. Clearly, Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom are a threat to Time, to Reality and to all of Existence. And their actions now will be added to their charges. Do I have the Council's approval to adjourn this session?"

"Aye" came the subdued replies of the projections in front of Justeco. The Council was still in shock over what they had just witnessed.

Justeco continued, "This session is now adjourned and hopefully, will be concluded when we have agreed to meet next."

He then turned his gaze to Iluzisto and callously commanded, "Take these two creatures to their cells, Master Prison Head. And prepare them for tomorrow as only you know how. Also, I would like to speak with you in private the moment you have secured the prisoners in their cells."

"As you wish, High Tribune," Iluzisto replied before motioning to the other guards. The Prison Head, in turn, moved his staff and Danny's receptacle dutifully followed the spirit.

Yet, as Vlad was being led out of the courtroom, he pulled against his guards once more and jeered, "Mark my words! You'll regret this!" But the only answer he got was a zap to his collar, which sufficiently weakened the man so that he could say no more….

* * *

Vlad groaned as he came to and turned on his back. His eyes once more focused on the black ceiling. Naturally, Iluzisto had been furious at him for his antics in the courtroom, which included throwing that guard on the illusionist spirit. But it had surprised Vlad that all he got for it was being knocked out by the collar once he was returned to his cell.

But Vlad didn't know that the reason Iluzisto hadn't done anything worse to him was because he had been in a hurry to report back to Justeco as the High Tribunal had ordered…

Vlad groaned again. He would have rather had Clockwork push the 'replay' button on his little time orb and avoided all of this. Still, he slowly sat up and focused his eyes toward Daniel's cell.

"At least he's here and not off to some torture chamber," Vlad mumbled, relieved when he saw the unconscious teen. But then, he frowned with sudden guilt. He had truly believed that Daniel would have had a very good chance of escaping. And he had thought the boy had made a praiseworthy effort, especially since he almost succeeded.

Vlad suddenly chuckled. What a show Daniel put on! He certainly wowed and terrified those imbecilic Observants! And he was no pushover for Iluzisto, either, for that matter. Still, Vlad—though he didn't try to fathom the reason—couldn't help regret putting Daniel through all that punishment. And oddly, he wouldn't blame the boy if he were angry at him because of it.

Vlad sighed and stood up, groaning when pain shot through his raw neck under his power-inhibiting collar as he did. The man cringed again, this time not just in pain but at his thoughts. Ignoring it, however, he walked over to the barrier to see if he could get a better look at Daniel. He hoped that the boy would recover. He had no doubt that teen had taken that 'ten times the wrath' blow with which Iluzisto had threatened the boy before the trial.

As he approached the barrier, he noticed that there were no signs of any reflection as before. He frowned with both bewilderment and curiosity and he quickly put his hand up to it and found…nothing there! Encouraged by this, he walked over to where Daniel lay.

He was surprised to see that there was no neck restraint on the boy. But thinking about that didn't matter now that he gasped at what he saw next. Daniel's body was littered with cuts and bruises and his raven hair was scorched in places. But there was more. The boy's chest. Blood was seeping through his tattered prison shirt!

"Oh, no!" he uttered as he went up to the boy. He hesitated only a moment before he began to gently but firmly shake the teen. "Daniel, wake up! You need to wake up!" he hurriedly demanded.

Vlad relaxed only slightly when he heard his young rival groan in response to his urging. He continued to shake the boy and said, "Yes, that's right. Come on, Daniel, wake up!"

Once more, Danny groaned; and this time his eyes began to flutter open. When he realized he was now looking at Vlad instead of total blackness, his memory began to come into focus. He then struggled to say, "I'm sorry…I-I tried…I almost got…out…"

He began to drift out again, but then Vlad lightly shook him once more. Danny looked up at the man just as Vlad, touched by the boy's remark, gently chuckled, "You did good, little badger. And you would've beaten that wretched Iluzisto had I let you eat that pizza…But now, I'm sure you realized that you got the worse end of Iluzisto's stick. You need to awaken your energy rings to heal your ghost half again. So, come on, Daniel. Let's try that again, hmm? I know you can do it."

Danny didn't realize that he had smiled weakly at the compliment and encouragement from his enemy and he nodded that he understood what the man wanted him to do. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Vlad's eyes widened a bit when he saw the beginning of Daniel's transformation rings form. But in the next instant, the boy screamed in pain and the rings disappeared, instead leaving Danny panting and his core still unhealed.

The older hybrid bit his lower lip and gently said, "Take it easy. But you have to try again. You're… bleeding. And if you can heal your ghost half, then it will help your human body heal faster."

Danny didn't say anything, but closed his eyes again. He steeled himself and concentrated once more. A moment later, the rings appeared again. This time, however, the younger hybrid accidentally—and fully—morphed into his ghostly form. But not without a cost. Now that he was expending even more energy—which he didn't really have—while trying to maintain this form even if it were for only a few moments, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a wild dizziness.

Vlad saw that the boy was losing not only consciousness, but he could see that his ghostly aura was rapidly dimming and his _ectoplasmic_ blood was beginning to seep through his jumpsuit shirt.

But then, the boy couldn't even maintain his ghostly form and involuntarily morphed right back into his human form. But in a way, this was fortunate, because that was the form in which the boy needed to be before he could even begin to heal his ghostly core.

Trying not to panic, the man quickly morphed into his ghost form and grasped the boy's shoulders. Just before closing his eyes in order to concentrate his suppressed energy, Vlad firmly commanded, "NOW, Daniel! Morph and repair your ghost form!"

Danny felt a strange sensation run through him just as he attempted to obey the man. But what he didn't know was that now that Vlad was able to touch him, the older hybrid could now help him control his transformation rings, just like he had wanted to do the first time they got into this prison. And it was a good thing that Vlad had interfered as he did. At this point, Danny simply didn't have the strength to do it himself. After all, not only had he been severely injured by Iluzisto, but he also was still in need of food and water.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours for both of the hybrids, but had actually been mere minutes, Vlad let go. He could actually tell from his touch that they had successfully healed Danny's core. A moment later, the rings dissipated, leaving Danny exhausted and back in his ghost form, though now his wounds were not bleeding anymore.

The man looked down at the half-conscious teen ghost and quietly said, "You did good again, my boy. Now,…"

But he was interrupted by a noise coming down the hallway. He quickly backed away from Danny and knew he needed to revert back to his human side. Before he could, however, he was shocked by his neck collar. Yelling and falling to his knees, Vlad tried once more to morph back, only to be zapped again by the collar.

That distraction gave Iluzisto enough time to open the cell and charge up to the man. In the very next instant, Iluzisto pierced Vlad's central core and quickly siphoned off _his_ energy!

Vlad screamed at the immense pain.

Absorbing the energy concentrated by his staff, Iluzisto sneered to the panting hybrid, "Consider this—how do you say it? Ah, yes. Consider this 'payback' for your antics in the court. But do not worry; I am sure you will recover soon enough since we both know that you and the younger crossbreed are quite capable of repairing yourselves and regenerating your energies in fairly short order. And very capable of somehow defeating that collar. Though, as I can see, not capable enough. Quite remarkable, really. I have never come across any creature like either of you before."

Iluzisto pulled out the sharp end of his staff from Vlad just as he saw the man's black rings flicker around his waist. And as the man dropped to the ground, clutching his chest, the rings turned him human, since he didn't have the ghost energy to even stay ghost anymore thanks to Iluzisto.

The illusionist spirit stared thoughtfully at the man for a moment, unable to figure out how he and the boy had managed to get the power-inhibiting collar off the younger crossbreed. But, ultimately, it had been of no consequence. His eyes curved into something of a smug smile as he glanced at the younger crossbreed. He chuckled before he looked back at the older one and said, "And, oh, by the way, you were most cooperative in making sure that the other crossbreed could repair himself this time. I got a little carried away when I recaptured him and it seems I not only made him lose a little too much energy, but also injured him more than was necessary. Just as well. You may consider that his 'payback' as well for his foolish attempt to escape. But now, I can see that he has been repaired because of you. Just as I had planned. I cannot lose either one of my prizes!"

"What do you mean by that?" Vlad asked, now controlling his breathing, though he continued to grip his chest. It was hurting even worse than before. And he fearfully knew it was because every time the evil spirit damaged his core, it made it harder for his body to repair the damage… Still, the man knew he would be able to repair himself and recover his energy once again. He just didn't know how long he would be able to keep it up…

But the Prison Head ignored him and drifted over to Danny.

"Leave him alone!" Vlad angrily said. But since he was still unable to move from his half-kneeling position, he knew he was in no condition to enforce that threat. Instead, the older hybrid had to watch helplessly as the illusionist spirit jabbed the boy in the chest once again and began to suck some more of his energy out.

Because Danny was still weakened even when his central core had been healed, he could barely utter his painful scream as his body writhed in agony. But after only a few moments, Iluzisto stopped and pulled the tip of his weapon out of the boy. Still, it had taken its toll on Danny's core once more…

Seeing that the younger crossbreed was now totally senseless, though unlike the older one, he had remained ghost, the Prison Head turned back to Vlad and seethed, "I did not damage him as badly this time and I did not siphon off all his energy, either, since, of course, I will have to wait until he fully recovers from his injuries before I can do that. Apparently, my attacks affect him much more than you. So, I am sure you will cooperate to make sure that he recovers before the last day of trial for you both tomorrow."

Without another word, Iluzisto aimed his weapon at Vlad. But before the older hybrid could react, he was being thrust back into his cell from Iluzisto's power. Vlad groaned at the hard thud into the wall, but he pulled himself upward just as the Prison Head reactivated the invisible barrier.

The illusionist spirit quickly turned around. But he went right toward Danny again. Vlad stumbled toward the invisible barrier just as Iluzisto pulled out from his cloak another power-inhibiting collar, which Justeco had given to him and had mentioned it was stronger than the last one…He quickly secured it around the still boy and continued toward the cell door. He secured the lock and floated down the hallway.

Vlad growled in hatred as he watched the Prison Head leave. He had been tricked—again!—but now the older hybrid knew that something more insidious was up that putrid ghost's sleeve.

His eyes then drifted to Daniel. Suddenly, the anger in his eyes melded to concern—and determination. He mumbled, "Rest now. And, yes, this time, Daniel, I truly mean it. _We_ are in this together."

* * *

**A/N: Truephan here: Well, how are y'all doing after reading the chapter? Hope y'all are ready to push the little blue button down here to let us know your thoughts. They are better than chocolate, which coming from me, is a very high compliment! Oh! I told you I would tell you about a surprise. Well, one of my friends surprised me today and made up a website for lil' ol' me! That's right! I was absolutely floored that he would do that for me! It is, of course, a work in progress right now because it was just started today, but check it out if you want! I would be thrilled!**

***remove spaces and brackets* **

**w (w w) . wix (. c) o m /es0tericcha0s/truephan **

**Pearl: Ooo! OMG! That's freakin awesome! I love the outline and that clever little quip about being a 'truephan'! Ha! What a treat! Yes, you all must go check it out! Looks wicked cool! Oh, wait. I'm supposed say something about this chapter, too, huh? *ponders* Hmm, what is 'proper' to say after this chapter…? Oh, yes! Poor hybrids, especially Danny! I agree with Vlad, he sure gave a huge effort to escape; alas… they failed once again. Oh, and, I'm sorry Truephan, but I gotta do it… *points finger* Blame Truephan for that wonderfully evil food illusion scene! Ha-ha! See, her muse is just as wicked! Showing the poor hybrids some illusion of real food and then changing it into something vile… *tsk-tsk*. Ms. Hyde, you have no remorse, you evil muse you! **

**Vlad muse: Oh, please. I can do better… *grins evilly* In fact, I will have to do that… *laughs and vanishes***

**Pearl: Opps! Now Vlad muse has taken that comment as a personal challenge… *cringes* Well, if things get darker… yeah, blame the muses! Well! Let us know your thoughts as always, kay? Also, I apologize for not having DoaS last week, I got **_**so**_** sick. I got the flu plus an ear and sinus infection. Yeah, I haven't gotten that sick in years, so I had absolutely no mind to do anything. I have finally gotten off by 'deathbed', though and I am back to the world of the living and working on DoaS! So, I'm hoping to have it to you all by next weekend! So, until then, dear readers! *skips off to continue to check on Truephan's website* Man! I feel like I'm co-writing with a celebrity now! XD**


	18. Chapter 18: A Truth Beyond Belief

**Pearl: Hello, my dear readers! Sorry we didn't get this up yesturday, but fanfiction was down. But now, it's time for more 'Sid' again, and let me tell you all, it seems that 'Sid' is also growing a knack of multiplying its chapters. Tsk. But at least it will be nowhere near CM's length. Probably like 1/4 of what is CM! But you can bet it will be filled with action and suspense all the way. And, of course, mystery—and this chapter will actually reveal a few things, so I hope you all like it as much as we are! See you all at the bottom!**

**A/N: truephan here: Hellow, y'all! How have you been? Well, we've been itching to get this out to y'all because there are some stuff that you might find interesting in this chappie. But, don't worry, we won't spoil all the fun. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 18: A Truth Beyond Belief**

* * *

"Daniel?" Vlad called anxiously for, like, the twentieth time.

The boy, who was still in ghost form, had yet to stir since Iluzisto had siphoned off both their energies after the boy's attempt of escaping at the trial. And the fact that the man was sure it had been several hours since then just made him even more nervous.

Had Iluzisto permanently harmed the teen?

He pressed his hand against the invisible barrier separating him from Danny and bit his lip. The man was well aware that his collar was still damaged and he could access part of his powers. And since he had repaired his ghost core by now, he was back up to strength—at least, as much as the situation allowed. So he knew he could deactivate the barrier like last time.

But the man was hesitant, fearing that Iluzisto would come back and he would be caught… And that could not happen. Having part of his powers available was his and the teen's only trump card. Or, actually… it was now just _his_ trump card. Daniel had been fitted with a new power-inhibiting collar after what had happened at the trial!

Vlad cursed under his breath, knowing that if they ever had another opportunity to escape again, it would do neither of them any good for the teen to be completely subdued by the collar…

He _needed_ to get to Daniel.

Vlad stared down the hallway again, this time with more of his fear showing on his face. But suddenly he closed his eyes and sighed. He had to do this now. Hesitating would only waste more time.

When his eyes opened again, there was a firm determination in them and he quickly changed into Plasmius and forced his electrical energy to surge through his being. The billionaire could feel the collar protest under his using his powers but he knew it would not break with his weakened energy. But the barrier would—or momentarily shut down, anyways.

Clenching his teeth, the older hybrid pressed both his cackling hands against the invisible wall and poured out as much energy as the damaged neck band allowed him. But when he began to feel dizzy, he knew that he had been more weakened by Iluzisto's last attack than he thought. Still, he did not relent. And a minute later his grit paid off.

Vlad gasped as he stumbled forward the instant the barrier vanished. But he caught himself before he could fall. And finding himself finally able to touch the boy, his concern instantly returned to his eyes as he quickly moved to his side.

"Daniel?" he called again, placing his hand on the teen's forehead and biting his lip again. He felt abnormally warm.

"Wake up, little badger. We need to repair your core and do something about that new collar," the man continued, lightly shaking one of his shoulders again.

This time, the boy slightly groaned and began to move in response. Encouraged by that, Vlad carefully moved one of his hands to the teen's back and slowly sat him up before sitting on the bed beside the barely conscious teen to help support him.

It took Danny several minutes to finally be able to hold his head up on his own. But when he did, he focused his dull green eyes to Vlad's own red ones. He was still too out of it to question how the man was there beside him; but it sure made him feel better to find the billionaire there and not Iluzisto.

But, really, his murky mind at the moment could not think of anything, except for one single fact. And he quietly voiced it to Vlad.

"I'm freezing."

Vlad's eyebrows creased even more with concern. But he then nodded before standing up and removing his ghost cape. He draped it around the teen, who quickly grabbed it and huddled the fabric closer to his now softly shivering body, before sitting back down next to the boy.

Danny was not only feeling extremely weak, but he was feeling physically ill. Actually, he had been feeling like that ever since Iluzisto threw that freezing water at his half-clothed body. At first, he didn't understand why that would affect him. After all, the cold was no big deal for him, and so usually the freezing water would have only been a nuisance in its being wet, not cold. But since not only was he half-clothed when being tortured, but that he was _half-starved_ as well would explain it. He needed more calories than anyone else here because he was a teen and so that made him more susceptible to things that could affect him. And now, feeling ill had finally become more noticeable for him—and impeding.

But the warm cape was helping him a little. Danny noticed it was actually very warm for a piece of fabric; actually, it was as if it was _producing_ heat. But the teen didn't question it, guessing it had to do with the older hybrid's energy just naturally being hotter than his own—which was for the most part true.

"Daniel?" Vlad called again after a moment, though he never had taken his eyes off the teen. There was no doubt in his mind; the boy was sick, and considering their circumstances, that was a grave problem.

A little more alert now, Danny looked at the man sitting beside him. This time, he had regained enough sense to understand Vlad was in _his_ cell when he shouldn't be.

"H-How did you get in here? Did Iluzisto let you in?" the teen asked with a scratchy voice before he suddenly started to cough.

Standing up again, Vlad smiled slightly to hide his worry. "No. But you don't really believe a mere barrier will ever keep me away from you, do you, little badger?"

At any other time, the billionaire's obsessive comment would have annoyed him; but, this time, Danny just smiled weakly back, though he did softly quip, "Not unless it's 'Fruit loop' proof."

Vlad shook his head in amusement, surprised that the insult didn't anger him. But then, he knew that the teen was just teasing him. And it was good to see the boy's spirit was still firm in spite of their second failed escape attempt.

Still, he was aware that every second was precious and the older hybrid grew serious and said, "Daniel… I know you are unwell…. But we still must try to repair your ghost half… And we have to try to damage that new collar. Otherwise, you will be completely powerless."

Danny sobered up with the comment. But when he lowered the cape from his body and tried to stand up, he found himself too weak to do so and he fell back down on the bed.

Vlad just stared anxiously at the teen, but then quickly came closer and kneeled in front of him. "Just stay there. We can do it from here."

Danny tiredly nodded and turned human before Vlad began to help him repair his core. By the time they were done, the teen turn to Phantom again and noticed his ghost core was feeling much better; but now he was even more physically exhausted.

And by the way Vlad briefly closed his eyes right afterwards, the man was feeling very similarly. But Plasmius did not linger on his exhaustion and stood up again. "Come. The shield should have come back on by now," he told the boy.

Danny stared fearfully towards the invisible wall, vividly remembering how weakening and painful it had been the first time Vlad had used it and his electrical energy to damage the power-inhibitor. But this time, the teen did not know if he even had the physical strength to withstand that again. Still, he knew he had to try.

Slowly getting up, he ignored the brief dizzy spell and his shivering body and just walked over to Vlad. The man stared at him for a moment before he said, "I need you to help me for as long as possible, alright?"

Danny just nodded, understanding that his arch-enemy had come to the same conclusion as he: he was going to pass out again after this.

They both got as close to the now reactivated invisible barrier as they could before Vlad brought his hands up to Danny's neck restraint. Firmly grasping it, he guided it and the boy until they were slightly pressed into the shield.

"Remember to keep your head forward, Daniel," Vlad said emotionlessly. "And try not to cry out."

Danny didn't comment, but immediately placed his head down onto his chest. And, in reality, this was too easy for him to do because he could barely hold it up anyways with how dizzy he was feeling. And as far as crying out….well, he wasn't sure if he was going to last that long.

Plasmius only hesitated for a second to see that Daniel was as ready as the boy was ever going to be before he allowed his hands to fill with his electrical power. An instant later, he was driving his energy into the neck brace, determined to damage it.

The second Vlad's electrical energy combined with the energy of the shield, and their combined power began to course through the boy's body, Danny tensed and drew in a pained gasped. Vlad was about to move one of his hands away to cover the boy's scream, when suddenly, Danny's body fell completely limp.

Vlad pursed his lips in both concern and slight panic. He had hoped that the boy could have held on longer, and he was certain that Daniel had done his best to. But as he suspected, Daniel's weakened body could not resist the assault and the boy had passed out before Vlad could complete his purpose. Still, the man just steeled himself, and grabbed the neck brace more firmly with both hands. He then pressed the teen's back even more into the shield and continued his assault on the senseless boy.

Now that Daniel was completely unconscious, Vlad had to not only hold the boy up but he also had to actually keep his energy flowing for much longer than had been necessary the first time. It didn't help that Vlad could tell from amount of resistance this new power-inhibitor was giving him that it was a much stronger one than the last one. But then, seeing the teen begin to pale significantly under the barrage, even as a ghost, the billionaire was beginning to wonder if this was going to work at all, or if he was going to end up wasting the teen himself instead of Iluzisto…

Vlad gritted his teeth in hope and determination when the boy's neck device finally began to smoke! But this time, it didn't seem as if the damage was as significant because the amount of smoke was not increasing as before. And then the barrier gave way again before he could damage the neck restraint anymore. The man startled in surprise, but quickly managed to grab the boy before he could fall back to the ground.

Vlad sighed, knowing that they were still going to need to damage the device further if the boy was going to be able to use even half of his powers. But he, too, was exhausted, and knowing the teen was too weak right now, Vlad decided to just wait until Daniel got better again.

He then silently lifted up the teen and carried him back to his bed. Plasmius briefly noticed the young hybrid was lighter in weight than normal, and that only reminded the older half-ghost yet again how much their limited intake of food was affecting the teen—and himself, too.

Placing his cape over the senseless teen's body, Vlad glared as his thoughts quickly shifted to Iluzisto. He had never encountered a creature so… ruthless as he. Not only was he weakening their ghost halves every time he stole some of their ghost energy, he was also weakening their human bodies by withholding proper food from them and assaulting them physically.

Then, it seemed with each of Iluzisto's attack to their core, it got harder and harder to repair it. And, in turn, their weakening condition was making it much more difficult for their cores to regenerate their lost energy. And, unfortunately, with their lack of food, it made staying human here in the Ghost Zone as physically exhausting as if they were running a marathon. And if they couldn't stay human, then nothing would stop Iluzisto from taking their energy at every chance he got. Of course, it was worse for Danny since his younger body couldn't take the abuse as much as Vlad's could. The older hybrid honestly didn't know how much their cores could take. If they ever failed to be able to repair it…then it could eventually lead to their… demise.

The thought of death quickly brought Maddie to his mind again. He wasn't sure anymore if what he had seen was real or not. But now that he was thinking more clearly he was much more convinced that Maddie's death had been an illusion. Really, there had been so many things wrong with it all: Maddie's disregard for her husband. Her lack of surprise the moment he had turned into Plasmius. And even her pleas… No, his Maddie would have never acted that… weak.

Vlad sighed as he stared back at the boy. "Somehow, we are going to find a way out of this, Daniel," he told the teen sadly, though his voice also rang with a touch of determination. "Whether she is alive or not, the least I can do for your mother is to make sure her son does not die in here…"

"I would not make promises you cannot keep," a horribly familiar voice said from behind him.

Plasmius gasped and spun around, only to scream when the collar on his neck assaulted him with its power.

"You are going to tell me **right now** how you managed to get in there!" Iluzisto snarled at the now writhing older hybrid on the ground.

"You-You left it off!" Vlad lied as he gripped at the source of his pain.

"Do not lie to me! I did no such thing!" the illusionist spirit replied furiously, increasing the strength of the collar's attack.

Plasmius could only grip even tighter against the device on his neck. The pain was so horrible he began to feel physically ill. And knowing that he could not take more of this, he somehow managed to think of something to say that might stop Iluzisto.

"It-It's the truth! And you wanted me-me to heal the boy. I-I did!"

Iluzisto instantly released the button on the device in his hand controlling the collar on the older hybrid. He quickly stared over at the senseless teen before narrowing his eye on Plasmius again.

"If that is true, then, why is the other crossbreed still unconscious?" he growled suspiciously.

Vlad just panted for a moment, unable to get a word out in fear that it would take so much energy that he would actually pass out. But when he heard Iluzisto slam the bottom of his staff against the floor in threat, he forced himself to sit up and look at the spirit.

"The boy…," he rasped out weakly. "He is too weak. And… And under these circumstances… I-I can only do so much for him."

"He will recover," Iluzisto replied uncaringly.

Furious, Vlad suddenly found the strength to stand and exclaimed, "No, he will not! He is sick! He has a _fever!_ And in case you do not know what that is, it is something very bad in humans, especially for _a child_ who is not getting proper care!"

The illusionist spirit stared back over at the teenager, finally noticing he was shivering a bit under the man's cape. He also looked unnaturally pale, even for his being in ghost form.

"Iluzisto," Vlad said soberly. "He needs medical help."

The Prison Head's eye somehow scowled at the older hybrid as he replied, "Does this look like your pathetic world, crossbreed? There is no human medicine here."

"Do not forget he is also part ghost. Ghost medicine will work for him." But seeing the spirit unmoved, Plasmius' hands fisted on his side as he growled out, "He has to stand trial tomorrow. What are you going to tell the Council when they see the boy's deteriorating condition? I doubt that even one of your illusions could cover the truth from them at this point."

Iluzisto regarded the older crossbreed for a moment before his eye curved into a strange smile. "You certainly are cunning, crossbreed. But I suppose it is true that it does not benefit me for the other crossbreed to be ill. However, I cannot take him to the Observants' medical ward."

Vlad frowned. "Then…what?"

"You will know in a moment," Iluzisto answered causally before he turned and floated off, leaving a wary Vlad behind.

However, as he exited the cell hall and turned towards his new destination, Iluzisto glared in annoyance. As useful as the crossbreeds were to his plans, their human halves made them encumbering.

"Especially that younger crossbreed…," the spirit grumbled. "I cannot wait until I have all the energy I need from him, so I can get rid of him—_of both of them_—once and for all!"

But knowing he had no choice but to find the younger hybrid medical help, Iluzisto turned his efforts towards locating a certain spirit he knew could help him with that without the council hearing of it.

It took him some time, but he soon found whom he was looking for at the Observants' library.

"Okulo. We need to speak—in private," Iluzisto said seriously.

The liaison narrowed his eyes a bit in annoyance as he closed the book he had been reading.

"Now what do you want?" he quietly demanded.

Iluzisto resisted the urge to glare and blast the other spirit, and instead said seriously, "It is about the crossbreeds—or, specifically, about the younger one. It seems I require your _assistance_ with him…"

Okulo sighed as he stood up and tiredly said, "Now what did you do?"

"Not anything out of the ordinary," Iluzisto answered with a neutral look.

"Yes, well, your 'ordinary' seems to constantly leave you in a mess—which I must then come along and clean up. Frankly, I am getting fed up with it," Okulo replied angrily.

But before Iluzisto could say anything, the liaison added, "Very well. Let's go talk in my office. I actually have a few things to ask you as well."

"As you wish," Iluzisto answered with a reluctant, yet calm, voice.

After walking down a few halls, they made it to Okulo's office and went in. And making sure the door was closed, the liaison then said in a displeased voice, "You were very foolish to expose your powers in front of the entire High Tribunal as you did."

Iluzisto's eye flashed red before he grumbled back, "Yes. I will admit I got careless. However, I find it infuriating that the _Observants'_ _guards_ cannot control two pathetically inferior freaks for the mere duration of a trial! If I had not intervened when—_and how_—I did, the young crossbreed would have escaped!"

"Perhaps. But your lack of restraint on that temper of yours almost cost us our plans! I have waited too long for indiscretions of any kind, even from you, to ruin them!" Okulo hissed back.

Iluzisto stayed quiet for a moment in order to keep his temper from rising and from the irony of what the liaison had said. He hated the fact that he had to put up with Okulo's lectures and his disrespect towards him. However, the truth was that… he needed the liaison.

Their unlikely alliance was simply out of mutual benefit. Okulo wanted one thing. And Iluzisto, another. But both things were achievable in the same way—so, they understood they had a better chance of getting what each of them wanted by helping each other.

So, while Iluzisto developed their plan, Okulo made sure to keep the High Council from suspecting anything. The liaison also was good at giving him 'limited passes' into the Human World—since part of the illusionist spirit's plan involved that other world—not just the Ghost Zone.

Still, Iluzisto had to keep constantly reminding himself that he had to put up with Okulo until their plans came to fruition—but _only_ until then.

Sighing, Iluzisto finally spoke up and replied, "You have nothing to worry about, Okulo. Our plans have not been compromised. As you know, Justeco asked to speak privately to me once I had secured the crossbreeds."

"What did he say?" Okulo lightly demanded.

"He was surprised and concerned to learn I can create illusions even with these power-inhibiting bands on," Iluzisto replied, lightly rubbing the black bracelets on his wrists as he said that.

"Well, we both know you should not be able to use your illusions at all if it were not for this trial," Okulo answered.

"…Yes," Iluzisto replied slowly for some reason, before he continued soberly, "Still, even before this trial, it has been thanks to my absorbing countless of ghosts' energies over a century that I have been able to slowly gain access to a _portion_ of my powers at all. But it has not been enough!" Iluzisto suddenly fumed.

"What did Justeco tell you?" Okulo asked again, forcing the other spirit to get back to their conversation.

Iluzisto shrugged in disregard as he replied, "He originally wanted to have the power-inhibiting bands checked. He did not think what powers he had allowed only during the course of this trial would be that strong. However, I told him that I, too, was shocked at the intensity of my powers at the trial today, but that I had not questioned them at first because I had to capture the young criminal. But then, I told him that I was frightened at having used all that power after not being able to for so long that I immediately had you check the bands and had them repaired. Then, to be sure, I had him dismiss that idea by _showing_ him they were as active and effective as ever. The fool believed me."

Okulo's eye curved into a slight smirk when he didn't miss the other spirit's emphasis on 'showing'. He knew then that Iluzisto had tricked Justeco into a false sense of security once more.

"To make our pompous leader's usually droll lecture short, he said he would be speaking to you about making sure that my accidentally using my powers would not happen again. So, I would think he will be summoning you fairly soon," Iluzisto finished with an annoyed voice.

"I see…," Okulo replied thoughtfully. Another irksome hitch in his plans. But then focusing back on the illusionist spirit, he said seriously, "Then since you have put me in a delicate position, make sure he _believes_ that I have taken heed of his order. In short, do not _ever again_ do something as stupid as you did in that trial room a moment ago. I will not let you ruin my plans, Iluzisto. So, I suggest you put a _personal_ restraint on yourself. Is that clear?"

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes as he replied, "You do not need to say that to me. If you have forgotten, I am also interested in _our_ plan's success."

"Then, make me believe it," Okulo retorted.

Iluzisto didn't reply, though he thought to himself, _"Yes, fool. I will make you __**believe**__ it very well…"_

Okulo then suddenly asked, "Now, what is happening with the younger half-ghost prisoner that has you in need of my help?"

"His human body is sick," Iluzisto replied. "So much that I am not sure he will be able to attend the final part of his trial tomorrow."

"That cannot be, Iluzisto," Okulo said unhappily. "It will postpone our plans and I cannot have that—especially when you told me you are close to acquiring enough power for us to proceed!"

"That is why I require your… expertise," Iluzisto answered coolly.

Okulo narrowed his eye a bit as he demanded, "And why is it that the young prisoner is so sick that you think I should intervene?"

Iluzisto shrugged. "He is clearly a weakling. All of my other prisoners do just fine here. So, what other explanation is there except that Danny Phantom is simply as pathetic as they come?"

"Whom do you think you are talking to, Iluzisto?" Okulo challenged. "I know exactly what you do to the prisoners under your 'care'. And it seems to me that Danny Phantom just gets so badly under your skin that you hold no restraint to your ire towards him. Or, did you not think I noticed how ruthlessly you prevented his escape?"

Okulo suddenly moved closer to Iluzisto as he added in a darker warning tone of voice, "Do not forget we need those creatures, and if you kill them beforehand, you are going to be enslaved by the Observants for all time. There is no second chance to this. So, this is the last time I warn you to control your ire with them."

Iluzisto just kept pokerfaced and didn't reply.

However, as the liaison pulled away he added, "Come, let us go tend to him. Have you given them nourishment?" he further asked as they headed out of the office and towards the prison.

"At the trial," Iluzisto replied calmly, though he kept out the fact that he had taken away their food prematurely and so the hybrids had not gotten all that much to eat.

The two unlikely allies did not say anymore as they headed towards their destination. But when they finally arrived, Okulo halted in his tracks when he saw the older hybrid, though human, leaning over and readjusting his warm ghost cape around the younger one in hopes of stopping his violent shivers.

But it was hardly the man's actions that caught the liaison's attention, but something else. And abruptly turning around, he angrily demanded, "Why are those prisoners in the same cell, Iluzisto? You know that the High Tribunal strictly prohibited their interaction! And with good reason, too!"

Although Danny was still unconscious, Vlad heard Okulo's words and he jolted at the sight of him and Iluzisto.

"_Him?_ This is who you brought to help the boy?" Vlad growled out as he pulled himself to his full height and coiled his hands in fury. This was the last Observant—after Iluzisto, of course—that Plasmius wished to see! Not to mention, he highly doubted the uncaring Observant could help Daniel.

Iluzisto only glanced at the older crossbreed, though he mentally frowned to himself. He had forgotten to reactivate the shield and separate the two creatures again. Honestly, the illusionist spirit did not understand why all the Observants were so wary of having the two crossbreeds together… Then again, as Iluzisto thought about it, their worst misbehaviors had been committed while they were together…

Okulo growled in his throat before he floated over to the prison cells and barked out, "You, prisoner 484! Step away from the other prisoner and return to your cell at once!"

Vlad narrowed his blues eyes as he growled back, "Make me."

Alright, so that wasn't the best choice of words, but the billionaire was too furious to care. Not only had their second escape attempt failed and Danny was very sick, he now had to deal with this particular wretched and arrogant Observant. And what really angered Vlad most was the fact that he could easily make this pathetic spirit suffer if only he didn't have the blasted power-inhibiting collar on!

Okulo's eye narrowed with the older hybrid's insubordination. However, before he could say anymore, Iluzisto finally interfered.

"Do as he says, crossbreed," Iluzisto warned as he floated up next to Okulo and pulled out the remote for the man's collar.

Vlad instantly tensed, but he just gritted his teeth and didn't budge.

Surprisingly, Iluzisto wasn't angered, but rather, amused. The illusionist spirit knew he could easily subdue the older crossbreed, but he liked the sight of Okulo seething with the fact that the older crossbreed's had no respect for him. So, instead, of punishing the man right away, the illusionist spirit opened the cell and stepped in.

The billionaire just kept a firm glare on his face as he refused to leave the son of his love alone with these two unpitying Observants.

"Crossbreed," Iluzisto warned lightly as he stopped in front of the man and raised the pointed tip of his staff towards him. "Do not obligate me to take forceful measures with you."

"You have been quick to do it before," Vlad replied hatefully. "Why not now? Oh, wait. One of the _zoo_ _keepers_ is present, so you are forced to show some restraint, hmm?"

Iluzisto narrowed his eye this time, but before he could say anything, Okulo intervened as he floated up behind Iluzisto and warned, "Be careful, prisoner 484. I will only tolerate your crass behavior for so long."

"You know," Iluzisto interjected calmly again. "It was you who _begged_ me to assist the other crossbreed. Your disobedience is only hurting him."

This time Vlad's angry look faltered, but he quickly said, "I hardly doubt… _he_ can help Daniel. After all, he has been worthless with everything else, except that art of branding human beings like cattle!"

"That is enough!" Okulo growled. "Subdue this creature at once, Iluzisto!"

"As you command," Iluzisto replied his eye curving into something of a smirk before he abruptly released an ecto-blast from his staff; and before Vlad could do anything, it struck him in the stomach and slammed him into the opposite wall.

But the force of the hit had hurt his human body so much that he instinctively turned into Plasmius in order to withstand the pain.

As the man lay stunned, Iluzisto quickly reactivated the shield, only for Okulo to push past him and walk up to the shield. And seeing the older hybrid slowly attempt to stand as he groaned and held his stomach, Okulo sneered at him, "Know something, prisoner 484. You are powerless against us. And you are _nothing_ compared to us. In fact, you are merely a prisoner whom feels the need to fruitlessly challenge me and my kind—nothing I have not seen before. In fact, we have dealt with plenty like you; and each time, it was they—as it will be you—who loses. Keep pushing, prisoner 484. Believe me, you will discover we can push back a lot harder."

Vlad just stared back coolly at the liaison before suddenly walking up to the shield. He was quiet for another second before he finally replied, "Such bold words. Funny how you had the courage to say them _only_ after this shield was raised…"

"Think as you want," Okulo replied coldly. "Just do not forget the influence I have with those that will decide your fate…"

Before Vlad could say anything, the liaison turned away and headed over to the shivering teenager, who had his eyes closed; but by his incoherent mumbling he seemed to be a bit more conscious now.

However, as Okulo pulled out his crystal ball, Iluzisto bent down slightly behind him, enough to whisper at him, "Insufferable, are they not? Not so easy to keep one's temper…"

Okulo just shot the Prison Head a quick glare before turning his attention to the boy. He was clearly sick in the human-sense of the word, but also in the ghost-sense. That meant, he would not only have to use his healing powers, but also provide him with some ghost energy.

With an annoyed sigh, Okulo stretched out the hand holding his power-sphere and suspended it right above the teen. He then withdrew his hand just as he released the crystal ball. However, the sphere didn't fall but remained levitated above Danny and it immediately began to pulsate with its green power, which crept downward toward the teen like green smoke. But the moment the green energy touched Danny, it encased him in a green hue and the boy's body began to shake a bit more.

With the two spirits in the way, Vlad could not see much except for a green aura that illuminated them from the front, which made him extremely nervous; still, he kept quiet, knowing there was nothing he could do, except hope Okulo really was helping Danny—and not hurting him like all his instincts were screaming at him.

In a matter of seconds, the young hybrid's body slowly stopped shaking and the perspiration on his face began to dry. In fact, even his ghostly glow returned a bit.

Danny just moaned softly as the green hue around him vanished and his head fell to the side as he stilled again, looking exhausted but physically better…

Okulo grabbed the floating sphere just as it stopped glowing before slipping it back into his robe.

"I better not need to come do this again," Okulo quietly warned the other spirit before he suddenly turned and headed out of the cell, soon disappearing down the hall.

Iluzisto watched him go before glancing down at Danny and noticing he was very out of it, but looking better. In fact, the spirit was tempted to siphon some of his energy right there and now; but he couldn't risk the boy not recuperating before the trial tomorrow.

Glancing over at the other crossbreed, his eye curved smugly as he commented, "See? No harm done."

Vlad immediately glared. "No harm done? You almost killed him, you fool! And on top of that, you're starving him!"

Iluzisto instantly matched his ire with the man's insult and sneered, "Neither of you are getting any food, if that is what you are implying! I am done being merciful! If I have to starve you both an inch from death to keep you in line from here on, then so be it!"

"Merciful?" Vlad exclaimed furiously, clearly unable to control his emotions after everything that had happened to him and the boy today. "You do not even know the meaning of the word! You have tortured us in almost every way imaginable! The least you could do is provide us with nourishment; if not for me, then at least for the child! If you do not, Iluzisto, even that pitiful snitch-of-an-Observant will not be able to help him. And you will lose the boy before you can fulfill your evil intent with us!"

Iluzisto quickly lowered the barrier between Danny and Vlad's cells and stormed over to older hybrid, who backed up the moment the spirit raised the pointed end of the staff at his chest.

"And what do you know of my plans?" Iluzisto growled menacingly.

But tired of being intimidated by the illusionist spirit, Plasmius steeled himself and narrowed his eyes. "I know that you are as much a prisoner as we are to the Observants. I know that you are at least looking to change that. And I _know_ you need us to fulfill your plans."

Iluzisto just stared darkly at the older hybrid for a moment. But then, his eye curved into a wicked smirk. "I do not need you two. What I need is your powerful and unlimited _energies_…And that is something I can take whenever I want."

Vlad gritted his teeth as the needle began to slowly embed itself through his clothes and soon his skin. He knew he was still too physically hurt from the blast to turn human, but he stayed calm as he replied, "Even our energy has a limit. And if you continue to keep us under these conditions, if you continue to treat us like dairy cattle, your energy supply is going to come to an end sooner than you wish."

"You most certainly have a way with words," Iluzisto said with a chuckle, lowering his staff. "Still, you two will receive nothing right now. Perhaps after you are found guilty tomorrow. Or, perhaps if you two behave during the trial, I might consider providing you with some nourishment and water…"

Vlad's look briefly betrayed his inner fear, for he also knew they would be found guilty. And just the thought of spending the rest of his days in this jail with Iluzisto was enough to bring him close to panic. The billionaire honestly preferred execution over anymore of this torture…

And as if reading his thoughts, Iluzisto looked evilly at the man. "Do not fear. Your suffering will not be forever. I will grant you death. But only after I watch you and the younger crossbreed's spirits shrivel up. I know it will not take long. I can already see the helplessness in your eyes."

Vlad just hardened his glare, though he said nothing. But as Iluzisto continued, neither he nor the spirit was aware that Danny was finally stirring again…

"I must admit, I had not expected a second escape attempt, especially not at the very trial. I had thought your first attempt with the boy had made it clear to you both that your efforts are futile. Or, have you forgotten how I used that woman you cared so much about as an example of the punishment that awaits you for trying to escape?" Iluzisto narrowed his eye further as he added, "I am no fool, crossbreed. I am most certain you were the instigator of the other crossbreed's attempt to escape. And look what happened. I really should have killed him like that woman."

Danny, who had been rubbing his spinning head, froze with those words. His mind was still fuzzy, yet he didn't miss the fact that they were talking about his mother. A bad feeling began to sink into his stomach as his mind slowly cleared, but all he could do right now was just stare at Iluzisto and Vlad.

Although he was angry, Vlad forced himself to calm and use his head. Smirking a bit, the man replied fearlessly, "As I said, you are not going to kill either of us because you need our 'exceptional energies' for your plans. As for Maddie… You might have fooled me before, but I am now certain it was all an illusion. Your illusions might be good, but not good enough to mimic someone I have known for over twenty-one years without making noticeable errors. I have seen past your tricks, Iluzisto."

"…There is no doubt you both still have some fight left in you," Iluzisto countered with a shrug. "No matter. I already know how to subdue you both. And as for that woman, we both know there is still some doubt left in you. However, if she means so much to you, perhaps, I can make you an offer…" Iluzisto's eye sparked with mischief when the man frowned in confusion. But following his new evil little idea of how to mess some more with this crossbreed, he added, "Do not look so unsure, crossbreed. You like to negotiate, do you not? I am simply attempting to speak to your understanding. You seemed to be immensely worried for the welfare of the other crossbreed; well, if you cooperate and give me what I want, I might consider going easy on you both… I could even… reward you…?"

Vlad gasped and quickly jolted away from the spirit when the form of a smiling Maddie replaced Iluzisto.

But because the illusion was only being projected at the older hybrid, Danny could only frowned in confusion, unsure of what was going on.

"What is wrong, crossbreed? Is this not the woman that has claimed your meager human heart?" Iluzisto asked, masking his voice with Maddie's voice. "Would she not make a fair trade? Your energy for her?"

Vlad suddenly felt something grip his mind as the image of Maddie approached him. He immediately tried to shake the intensifying, all too familiar, thought. But dread then clawed at him when he could feel a pained memory, coupled with a terrifying emotion being foist upon his mind. In fact, that feeling was now so compelling that a moment later the last agonizing memory of the love of his life came into as much focus as if it were real again! And worse, he was still ghost and now not only too physically exhausted to turn human, but was also too panicked to think straight.

"It's not real," he whispered to himself, as he continued to back up. But when he suddenly felt the far wall of his own cell seem to shove him back, he tensed. But that was enough to rivet him back to reality.

"Enough!" he suddenly exclaimed angrily, knowing that it was Iluzisto who was coming at him in spite of seeing Maddie.

'Maddie' stopped about two feet from the man and smiled pleasantly. "I do not understand why you are so upset," _she_ said with a small chuckle. And remembering everything he had seen at the trials regarding the woman and her relationship to the hybrids, Iluzisto continued his cruel illusion of pretending to be Maddie. "We both know that even when I was alive, you would have never been able to have the real me. So, really, what's wrong with an illusion?"

Knowing the man was too distressed to focus on anything but what he was projecting, Iluzisto used his powers to move his illusion forward. This time, instead of masking his presence with the image of Maddie, he stayed back and watched as his image of 'Maddie' moved closer to the man.

Vlad was so distressed that even when he knew it was not real, the illusion of Maddie was actually able to physically touch him. Could it be that deep down inside he wanted it to be real? Or was he just going crazy?

"You should know that what is real is ultimately in the eye of the beholder…," Maddie told him, running a hand against the older half-ghost's face.

"You're not real," Vlad replied, trying to recoil away from the illusion.

"Define _real_," Maddie answered with a giggle. "Is it not something you can see, hear… _touch_…What more do you need?"

Plasmius squeezed his eyes closed as 'Maddie' drew even closer. It was terrifying how well Iluzisto could will his powers. Even when the man _knew_ it was not his Maddie, all his senses screamed that it was!

He couldn't take it.

"Iluzisto, whatever it is that you want, I'll do it. Just… Just stop!" Vlad exclaimed, as the Maddie illusion continued to caress him like some school girl.

Danny was frozen in horror. He had not seen the illusion of his mother, but by Vlad and Iluzisto's conversation, he had pieced together what was going on. He would have been highly disturbed, if he wasn't worried about the growing dread in his chest. Had he heard right? Had Iluzisto said he had killed his mother?

But before the teen could react, the spirit's next words quickly reeled his mind even more…

Iluzisto's eye curved even higher, before he allowed the illusion to vanish. "You truly are clever, crossbreed. I am impressed you have figured out so much given so very little information. However… I think it is time to talk forwardly; so, yes, you are right. I am looking to escape from my own chains."

Vlad just stared warily at the spirit as he took a few steps closer to him, and being in ghost form didn't make him feel any better.

But the man's thoughts soon vanished as Iluzisto confessed, "You see… a long time ago I use to be one of them. One of the Observants, that is." Iluzisto distractingly inspected the sharp end of his staff as he continued, "And although I am sure that fact is not news to someone as clever as you, the fact that I used to be one of the _head_ Observants might be. But, you see, the problem with my race of spirits is that they lack an imagination. They have no vision beyond what is placed in front of them. But my unique powers have granted me vision beyond what is perceivable. And that was something the Observants never appreciated," he ended, glaring briefly at the glowing bands around his wrists.

Vlad swallowed, realizing this was his chance to find out exactly what the spirit was up to. Sure he knew the spirit was trying to escape… But with what purpose?

"That's quite a story…" the man carefully muttered. "But if you are just another of their prisoners, then it seems to me that they have placed more trust in you than can be considered wise…"

Iluzisto laughed at the comment, much to the older hybrid's surprise. "You are not the only one that is clever, crossbreed. In spite of their wretched devices keeping me from my true potential, I have used my abilities to trick them into a false sense of security. They believe they have complete control over me from the use of these bands; but it is only a self-made illusion on their part again. The Observants are a prideful race. And it is because of their need to hide their shame over one of their kind being corrupted that they have made the mistake of putting me in charge of so much. It took several pathetic ghosts' energies to regain enough power to counter these bands and to use my illusionist tricks against them, but I was successful. And then, much to my fortune, the fools willingly gave me _more_ power just so that in their apprehension they may be guarded against you two pathetic crossbreeds during your time here. Ever since then, it has been effortless to fool them all. And yet, with all my efforts, I still remain here—trapped and under their reign…"

Vlad gasped loudly, masking the boy's own, when Iluzisto suddenly gripped the man by the neck and pressed him against the wall. "I have waited for _centuries_ for the chance to escape my own chains, crossbreed. I have destroyed countless of ghosts in hopes of finding one with enough power for myself to use to completely destroy these devices keeping me subdued. But each time, they would all just fade out of existence; and none of them ever had enough power. But then… then I heard of you and the boy…"

Vlad just stared coldly as the spirit inspected him like he was some sort of priceless object.

"Half ghost… Half human…," Iluzisto continued, amused for some reason. "Freaks of nature—or of _fate_, perhaps… Either way, your power and the boy's are well known around here. The Observants have believed you two a threat since the moment you both came into existence—and more so when destiny has brought you two together within the timeline. And yet, they have never dared to take action against you two—unless through the means of using their most priced guard dog: Clockwork."

Iluzisto inadvertently paused at the thought of the Time Master, and his mind wandered a bit. Time _Master_, indeed! If anything, Clockwork was master of nothing but servitude—to the Observants, and really, to Time itself. True, the power-inhibiting bands that the Observants kept on Iluzisto also placed the Illusionist spirit within the grasp of time—which meant Clockwork's powers could affect him—unlike with the other Observants. And yet, Clockwork did nothing to stop him, simply because the Time Master knew he could not interfere with those in the timeline without consequence.

The Time Master was just as much a prisoner as he….The thought was very pleasing…

In fact, the Prison Head was so pleased, he hadn't realized that he began to muse out loud, "The Time Fool has his hands tied. All he has done has been to play into my hands in the end, because above all, he would never have warned the Observants about this. And once I escape my own ties, then I will once more be more powerful than he…"

But then, realizing that he had been speaking to himself rather than the crossbreed, Iluzisto interrupted himself and glared at Vlad before growling, "Indeed, the Observants were fools to not have truly come after you…. and if it was not for my interference, they probably never would have…"

Vlad's eyes widened with the realization. "You set us up."

His grip tightening on the man, Iluzisto just stared evilly and replied, "Yes, I did. It was as simple as an illusion…I needed to find out for myself if the rumors about you two were true—the most important of those rumors being about your limitless and unique energy. So, to test to see if you two were what I needed for my plans, I tricked the Observants into bringing you both here, and putting you on their petty trial. Ironical, though, that you both seem guilty as the Observants have charged. In any case, once I had you two here, I had to continue to 'experiment' with your capabilities. Why else do you think I have made you both suffer in every way possible?"

"Out of sadistic pleasure," Vlad replied angrily.

"Well… I suppose that is true enough," Iluzisto answered with a small chuckle. "However, it has been more than that. I needed to make sure you two were strong enough and that you would not wither away like those pathetic ghosts I have destroyed in the past. But now that I _know_ you both hold exactly what I need to finally be free, I will make sure you two never leave this prison—at least, not until I get what I want…."

Iluzisto's grip on the man's neck intensified even more as he added darkly, "Do you realize just how tempting it is for me to feel what I need coursing right below your flesh? I could so easily take it all right now…"

Vlad tensed at seeing the spirit begin to glow brighter with the intention of sucking out his ghost energy. But he forced himself to stay focus and boldly replied, "But you will not, because you will not risk the Observants discovering your intentions beforehand."

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes at the man, though he violently released his hold on him and shoved him away. "It is all a matter of your idea of 'time', crossbreed. And you can prolong your suffering by resisting your fate or you can accept it and I will make it as quick as possible. Either way, I will get what I want from you and the other crossbreed. But until then, I want no more tricks from you both. As we both know, tomorrow is the final day of trial, as well as, your sentencing. We also both know that you and the other crossbreed will be found guilty—as I had planned. But your sentence is yet to be seen. Even so, I am certain they will condemn you both to the worst fate they can deliver. But, you see, the Observants believe themselves to be a respectful group of spirits. So, they will offer you one last day of life if you wish it before they carry out their sentence on you both. You two **will** accept that one day."

Vlad glared this time. "Do you really think I'm going to do as you want? Hear me well, Iluzisto, I rather die before I allow you to use me anymore than you have."

"Same here," Danny suddenly replied, capturing the others' attention. Although he still felt weak, thanks to Okulo, he was recovered enough to stand and glower at the illusionist spirit as he continued, "I heard everything you said. And you are not getting away with your twisted plans. Even if it means it's the last thing I do, I'm gonna make sure you are trapped here for the rest of your after-life!"

But the boy's defiant words ignited Iluzisto's rage; and before the teen knew what had happened, Iluzisto was in front of him, slamming the middle part of his staff across his face.

"Daniel!" Vlad called out as the teen fell to the ground.

"You two think this a game, is that it? But if you continue to resist your fate, then I will show you that it is I that is in charge of it! So, I recommend you do as I say, or I will make sure your death does not come quick!"

With that, Iluzisto spun on his heel and exited the cell. This time, he made sure the shield was on and that the doors were all locked before storming down the hallway.

Vlad made sure he was gone before moving closer to the invisible shield and staring worriedly at the teen still on the ground. The man was glad to see the teen was physically better. Actually, it was quite a shock to Vlad that Okulo really had helped the boy. But now... Iluzisto had really let him have it..

Danny didn't need to see the green blood oozing from his lip; he could also taste it inside his bleeding mouth. He cradled his jaw, trying to rub out the pain. He didn't know how much of this abuse he could take, especially when he could tell that he was not healing as quickly as he normally did.

However, there was more serious matters on the teen's mind, and staring at Vlad, Danny voiced the first in a small fearful voice. "Is it… true? About my mom? I heard Iluzisto say that…"

But realizing what the boy was talking about, Vlad quickly shook his head. "No, Daniel. Your mother—your parents are fine. Iluzisto hasn't captured or harm them."

"B-But I heard what he said, Vlad!" Danny exclaimed in sudden panic.

The billionaire sighed before seriously saying, "Daniel, it was only an illusion. He tried to make me believe that he had captured your mother and had… It wasn't real," the man said firmly. "Believe me. It's alright."

Danny just looked at his arch-enemy for a long moment, though he finally understood why the billionaire had been so upset after their first escape attempt had ended in disaster—though the second one hadn't been much better.

Knowing he had no choice but to believe the man in order to keep focused, Danny's eyebrows creased in worry at his next thought and asked, "What are we going to do, Vlad? We can't let him carry out his plans, but we can't really do anything to stop him," the teen said, unconsciously rubbing his aching jaw once more.

Vlad lowered his gaze, unsure of what to say. He honestly did not care about Iluzisto's plans to escape from the Observants. Actually, it would serve those imbeciles right for being foolish enough to actually give such a dangerous spirit so much liberty. But the man was worried over their own fate. They were running out of time.

"We gotta tell them. We gotta tell the Observants about Iluzisto, Vlad," Danny said seriously when the man wouldn't answer him.

But the older hybrid shook his head. "They will not believe us, Daniel."

"We still gotta try!" Danny exclaimed, letting go of his jaw and standing up. "I won't help him escape! It's the least I can do for Jazz, Sam, and Tucker!"

The man looked up at the boy at that comment, instantly recalling his words a moment ago when the teen was unconscious… The least he could do for Maddie was to make sure her son didn't die here…

Vlad sighed deeply, but he nodded. "Alright. But we will have to bring them more than our word, Daniel, since we both know the Observants will believe Iluzisto over us each time. Therefore, we have to _show_ them the truth…"

Danny smiled at the glint in the man's eyes. He had an idea. And the teen did not hesitate to say, "Just tell me what I gotta do."

* * *

**Pearl: Heh. The hybrids just don't give up, huh? I suppose that's a good thing; hopefully it won't incur Iluzisto's wrath once more. Still, I hope you are enjoying Vlad and Danny's 'alliance'. It's nothing like checkmate, of course, since the two here are working together for a common interest—and not because they have stopped being enemies. But I think that's what I like about Vlad and Danny's relationship. It's so complex that you can write it in so many ways and take it to so many places. Trust me, for a girl that has a Vlad muse, this is too much fun! Lol! Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying this! Much more to come! Thank you all for your support! Until next time!**

**truephan here: Well, did we surprise anyone with this chapter? I sure hope so! But that doesn't mean we're through with y'all. There's LOTS more to come and you'll just have to stick around and see. In any case, I hope you give us your always delicious thoughts! They are wonderful! Thanks for reading and see you later. **


	19. Chapter 19: Trial of Survival

**Pearl: Hello all! I know I've been quiet for a bit, but I'll say more about that below. And, hey, at least you can always rely on good ol' Sid to be on time and continuous! That's what's great about having a co-writer! You get stuff done faster and it rocks! Heh! **

**truephan here: I totally agree with you, pearl! And now, without further ado, it's time to tune in what's happening with all of the principle players! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom, though our muses pretend like they do…**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Trial of Survival**

* * *

"Frostbite, we can't thank you enough for all your help," Jazz said as she, Danny's friends, and Skulker stood on the edge of the Far Frozen with its leader.

"You need thank me not," Frostbite replied, pulling all three kids into his arms in a tight hug. "A privilege it is to be able to aid the Great One and his sibling and friends." Then releasing them, he added with a small sad smile, "Hope I do, however, that next time you all visit the Far Frozen, it will be with the Great One and on better circumstances."

"It will be," Sam assured him, returning the smile.

"Just don't forget to set up one of your feasts for us again!" Tucker added with a grin, while placing a hand on his stomach. "Man! You and your pals know how to make a guy's stomach happy!"

"It will be our pleasure, young one," Frostbite replied with a chuckle before looking over at Skulker who had just been quietly watching the kids and the ice nomad's interaction. With a calm smile, he told Skulker, "Hunter, I bid you farewell. Although I would prefer if you keep away from the Far Frozen after today, it was an honor to have met you. Truly, you have changed my perspective of you; and for that, you have my respect."

Skulker nodded. "Likewise. It was an honor for me as well. And fear not, I know my limits," he added with a small smirk.

Frostbite smirked as well; but then, everyone looked at Tucker when he pulled out the Infi-Map.

"Well, I guess we better get going," the boy said with a small nervous smile.

As Tucker opened it up, Skulker and the others stepped closer. And while a determined frown set on Sam's face, Skulker and Jazz stared at the mystical map in awe.

Jazz, of course, had never seen anything like it before. But while Skulker had seen many ghostly artifacts in his time, this one was by far one of the most astounding. He had never been one to collect relics or other things as such, preferring the thrill of the hunt; but this mystical map… It would definitely be a worthy addition to anyone's collection. Still, he had made a promise, and he would uphold it. He would make sure no harm came to the map, but also that it did not fall into the wrong hands.

"Come on, Skulker," Jazz suddenly urged, snapping the hunter out of his thoughts.

And seeing the three kids had already grabbed onto a part of the map, Skulker finally reached forward and took the remaining edge. With the girls in the middle, they all looked at each other and nodded that they were ready.

And being the one to have a clearer image of where they wanted to go, Skulker opened his mouth and commanded the map, "Take us to the Realm Beyond Time."

In an instant, the map lit up and encased its holders with its power.

Frostbite watched as they all zoomed off into the horizon, quickly disappearing from view. With a sigh, the ice nomad muttered, "Good luck, friends…"

* * *

It was incredible to watch the path that they had traveled once before move past them in a blur. And it was just as amazing that a trip that would have taken them a full day with the speeder, would now only take them two hours with the Infi-Map.

Still, two hours was two hours and after the first one, the kids looked as if they were regretting the large breakfast they had had back at Frostbite's land—at least, the girls were.

"Ugh. How come it didn't take this long to travel with the map when we used it that one time with Danny?" Sam moaned before taking a breath and closing her eyes to block out her rapidly moving surroundings. In spite of her question, she knew the reason was because of the large distance between the Far Frozen and the Realm Beyond Time. But, complaining made her feel a bit better.

"You two have done this before?" Jazz questioned with a grimace. "You could have warned me, at least."

"Ah, come on, ladies," Tucker said with a smirk. "This isn't so bad. Just think of it as a two-hour rollercoaster! Can't get _that_ in the Real World!"

"And it's probably for a good reason, considering we are only an hour in and I'm about to be sick," Sam groused.

"I don't even like rollercoasters!" Jazz complained, resisting the urge to cover her mouth. She didn't dare let go. Still, she took a slow, deep breath, trying to settle her stomach.

"Hey, come on," Tucker said, now worried. "I don't think this map comes with brakes; and even if it did, we cannot afford to make anymore stops. We're on what? The fifth day since Danny was taken?"

"Indeed," Skulker suddenly spoke up, sighing deeply. "It would not be so troublesome if it was merely the Observants behind his and my employer's disappearance. However, with this Iluzisto spirit in the game… We can only hope we get to them in time."

"Okay, can we change the topic?" Sam suddenly asked. "My stomach is queasy, and the last thing I want to talk about is what could be happening to Danny in the hands of that creep—Iluzisto, I mean, not Vlad.

The hunter just rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

The group was quiet for several minutes. However, seeing the two female whelps looking even paler from the trip, Skulker decided to say something to keep them distracted from their ride—not because he cared, of course, but simply because he didn't want them to get too sick and then be useless in their rescue mission.

"It seems that with that flying contraption back at the Far Frozen, you whelps will have a hard time moving about in the Ghost Zone. Fortunately for you all I have already thought of a solution," Skulker explained. "And although it is not a solution I am too content with, it is the most practical thing."

"And that is?" Jazz prompted.

"I will simply carry you all," Skulker replied with a light shrug.

Sam raised an incredulous eyebrow, but it was Tucker who voiced her thoughts.

"Carry us? How are you going to do that?" he asked.

Skulker scowled as he asked, "What? Are you doubting my superior strength?"

Tucker jolted before quickly saying, "No, no! Of course not! I-I just don't see how you can do that with, um, two hands, when there is three of us." The boy ended with a nervous grin, internally glad Sam and Jazz were between him and Skulker.

The hunter's expression melded into a frown as he replied more calmly, "I recently discovered during our time in the Far Frozen that this improved suit has extra appendages. It should solve this small snag. And besides, once we land on solid ground, you all should be able to carry on without assistance."

"I gotta admit," Jazz suddenly said, "Your new suit is something else."

"No kidding," Sam muttered to Tucker beside her. They both knew the suit was the same one from the future—minus Technus' being the hunter's operating system. And although it had definitely been of a lot of help in the past few days, Danny's friends still didn't like the fact that Skulker now had this dangerous suit…

"Indeed. My employer has impressed me once again," Skulker replied with a grin of satisfaction.

Jazz hesitated just slightly before further asking, "Does he usually make your suits and weapons?"

Skulker didn't seem to notice the girl's slight suspicion under her curious tone of voice, and replied, "Not usually. He normally just gives me the tools I need to make my own devices and suits. However, we do like to exchange ideas _and_ inventions from time to time."

There was a slight pause then before Jazz further questioned, "How long have you known Vlad?"

However, this time, the hunter frowned in suspicion as he asked back, "Why are you suddenly so interested in my relationship with Plasmius, child?"

Jazz resisted the urge to glare at being called a 'child', but instead smiled weakly and replied, "I'm just trying to make conversation to focus on something else besides our speeding surroundings or my speeding stomach."

It was the truth; but not all of it. She also figured any information she could get from Skulker now could be useful to Danny later. Truce or not, Skulker was still one of her brother's more dangerous enemies.

Skulker was quiet for a moment, as he debated whether to answer the Ghost Boy's sister or not. However, he soon realized that answering her would hardly put him or his employer at a disadvantage later on. That, and, for some reason, he didn't feel as suspicious of the whelp's helpers as he had five days ago.

"I have known Plasmius for a good ten years now," the hunter calmly replied, though he turned his gaze forward.

The others eyes widened in disbelief, but it was Tucker who blurted out, "Seriously? _That long?"_

Skulker smirked this time as he retorted, "What? Do you whelps believe my alliance with Plasmius sprung out of our common interest in the Ghost Boy? No, humans. Although that is one part of it, our alliance is deeper than you three or the Ghost Boy know—or ever will know, let alone understand."

Danny's friends frowned, while Jazz looked thoughtful. She supposed she shouldn't be all that surprised. After all, her experience in psychology gave her an edge in perceiving a bit more than what was presented to her directly. The way the hunter spoke of Vlad and how he seemed to know the man so well could only come from someone who had interacted with the billionaire for a good while. Then again, Vlad also showed some signs of his deeper relationship with the hunter. Just the fact that the man trusted the hunter with the things in his secret lab and his more secretive scheming said enough.

Jazz smiled as she realized something, and she voiced it causally, "So… you two are more like friends…"

Skulker jolted and quickly glared before snapping, "Friends? We are no such thing! 'Friendship' means feeling emotions for another, and emotions are for the weak! And I am no such thing!"

Catching on to what Jazz was doing, Sam quickly jumped in and added, "I don't know. You seemed awfully worried about Vlad ever since you found out that illusionist spirit was behind this…."

"I'm worried about losing my benefits with Plasmius," Skulker hissed back.

"But weren't you fine on your own before Vlad came along? So, why does it matter to you so badly unless… you really do care for him as a _friend?_" Jazz argued back, barely containing a grin. This was definitely getting her mind off her motion sickness, and at the same time, she might get a bit more information from Skulker if she kept pushing the right buttons.

And she soon realized she succeeded.

"You humans know nothing!" Skulker replied with thick annoyance. "Even if we were friends—_which we are not_—that is nowhere near as important as our respect for each other! As I said, we have many common interests, and from there we have developed a certain amount of loyalty towards one another over the years—something you whelps are too young to understand!"

"Well, explain it to us," Tucker urged with a small smile.

Skulker scoffed. "I cannot explain to you humans ten years of growing respect and loyalty in less than one hour! Besides, it is no concern of yours no matter what."

"You're right; it is none of our business," Sam readily agreed before casually adding, "And I guess we were wrong that you were friends. Not that I can blame you, 'cause Vlad didn't seem the type that would have any friends anyhow."

Skulker's eyes reflexively flared, but Sam didn't flinch. She had him.

"I'll be the one to decide whom it is I associate with, whelp!" Skulker protested with a frown. "And I will be the one to decide if that individual is worthy of my association!"

Sam replied in a feigned apology, "Hey, like I said, you're right, I mean if you don't want to talk about it because it's too emotionally personal for you, then—"

But Skulker loudly interrupted her, "I have said no such thing, pup! And _I_ decide what and what I will not talk about!"

"Right. Then, start with how you met Vlad," Jazz suggested, trying to squelch a snicker. "I mean, it's gotta be a good story, considering everything…"

Skulker frowned slightly, but then he slowly nodded, one of his eyes narrowing a bit when it finally dawn on him what the two humans had been doing. So, that was it. Well, he didn't have to go along with it…Still, he couldn't exactly let go of the Infi-Map to protest their prying, either. Very well, then. He could keep them entertained and keep it short, too. He finally said, "It is quite a story… At least, it was for me. See, I have been a hunter for as long as I have been around, and that is quite a long time, whelps."

"Were you ever human?" Tucker asked carefully.

Skulker scoffed. "No. And I am glad for that. You creatures are too unstable for my taste. I am one of those ghosts that _formed_ here in the Ghost Zone—though my physical form was not always as it is now. In other words, I did not always have the need of some maniacal suit." He then warned them, "However, that is a story I have only shared with one person, and I intend to keep it that way, so don't even try asking."

The kids remained silent, though they all knew who 'the one person' with whom he had shared his story was.

"As I was saying," Skulker continued, his voice calming again. "In all my time, I have come across many interesting ghost specimens. My interests as a hunter have always been limited to the Ghost Zone. Even until today, I only go to the Human World when I must; and as I said, humans rarely interest me—and back then, they did not interest me at all."

Skulker paused in thought before adding, "Well, until I met Plasmius. I only heard of him at first. He was just establishing himself in the Ghost Zone and amongst its inhabitants. So, when I began to hear talk about a powerful creature that was part human and part ghost, my hunting instincts had me seek him out."

Skulker smirked to himself, though the kids took notice of it as he continued, "In terms of handling ghosts, Plasmius is nothing like the Ghost Boy. The moment my employer understood that the only way to gain true respect and power in this realm is through forceful means, he didn't hesitate to challenge , defeat, and if need be, destroy all those who stood in his way. Still, even with all the reputation he quickly began to obtain, I was hardly intimidated. I have hunted stronger prey than myself before. It is all a matter of outsmarting said prey…"

Suddenly interrupting him, Tucker asked in disbelief, "So, wait. Are you saying, you met Plasmius because you started _hunting_ him?"

Skulker raised an eyebrow. "Of course. You do not think I would let the chance of adding such a fine specimen as a half-human-half-ghost hybrid to my collection pass by, do you? Why do you think I was thrilled when I discovered the Ghost Boy's existence? It meant I could collect that desired prize after all!"

"Yeah? Well, you should move on to a more realistic desire," Sam grumbled.

Skulker just grinned evilly back and replied. "Unlikely."

However, before anyone could say anymore, he continued, "I am no fool, whelps. Before I attempted to capture Plasmius, I did what any good hunter does: study your prey. At first, he did not take notice of it, but eventually he did. And I later found out that Plasmius did not take action against me right away. He also had been studying me. It was actually quite thrilling…" Skulker added with a growing excited smile. "I had never had any prey attempt to stalk me back. I realized, then, that Plasmius was no prey—he was too cunning. He was a hunter, like me; except his hunt was for power and knowledge."

"Still," Skulker continued more thoughtfully. "We eventually confronted each other. I will admit, it was one of the most violent fights I have had; yet, we both had no intention of destroying each other, but rather, to challenge one another's strength, power, and intelligence. Perhaps… 'fight' is the wrong word. It had been more like a… game—one, which still rivals even some of my best hunts." The hunter smirked again and added, "What can I say? My employer knows how to craft an engaging battle. After all, he makes such a worthy opponent for anyone…"

However, suddenly realizing how he was grinning with the memory, he cleared his throat and sobered up. And with a light shrug, he said, "To make a long story short, once we both understood each other's potential, a mutual respect grew naturally between us. Over the years, we became allies and I eventually began working for him. He provided me with my physical needs, I provided him with knowledge. It has been like that ever since."

Skulker paused suddenly as a deep frown fell over his face and his voice quieted, "A lot can happen in ten years, humans. Just as I have aided my employer in difficult times, he has also aided me—one of the most recent events was when Walker locked me up. He got me out. He returned my freedom to me. It is why I must now do the same for him."

The hunter looked determinedly at Danny's friends and sister as he said, "My actions are deeper than just simple worry over losing my benefits with my employer. This is a matter of loyalty and honor for me. It is a matter of debt. I owe Plasmius this. So, whether you humans feel the need to call it 'friendship' or anything else, it hardly matters to me. I know why I am doing what I am, and that is all I care about."

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker were silent after all they had heard. They… never thought Skulker felt this strongly about this rescue attempt. And, they never thought Skulker was so… deep. In spite of the hunter being their friend and brother's enemy, the three kids couldn't help but admire Skulker's loyalty at the moment. He really was very different from most ghosts they knew. And even if they had done it just to get some information out of him, they felt a bit bad for teasing him about all this.

Friend or ally, having Skulker on your side was certainly worth it. Vlad truly was lucky for that.

"I guess it's good to know we are all equally determined to get to Danny and Vlad," Jazz said quietly with a small smile, breaking the silence at last.

"As I said, we can only hope we make it to them in time," Skulker replied seriously.

"We have to," Sam added with a troubled look. "Danny has to be all right. I just know he knows we're coming for him, and that all he has to do is hold on."

"Yeah, and by the looks of that huge whatever-that-block-is, we're coming for him a little **too** fast! Look!" Tucker abruptly exclaimed, pointing up ahead.

The girls and Skulker reflectively looked in that direction, only to gasp when they saw that they were seconds from slamming into some kind of glowing purple barrier.

"We are back at the invisible barrier, but-but it is visible now!" Skulker exclaimed in alarm.

Indeed, they were at the barrier which had stopped them the first time from going further into the Forbidden Region; only that it was temporarily visible now because the magic of the Infi-Map was able to counter the Timeless Magic since the map's magic was stronger coming from the Ghost Zone side.

The kids and Skulker cringed, fearing they were going to crash right into it, since they knew from their first attempt that the barrier was impenetrable due to its being created by Timeless Magic. But much to their surprise, a strange feeling came over them and they gasped again.

The kids and Skulker didn't see how the map and they suddenly turned into pure green light and shot right through the magical shield. The only thing they felt was a strange tingle, like intangibility, and the sudden inability to breathe—well, at least, for the kids, anyways.

It was only when they were on the other side of the barrier that they realized they had shut their eyes, and snapped them open. And while Danny's friends and sister gasped for air, Skulker glanced back and realized they had passed the shield.

"We made it across!" the hunter exclaimed with surprising excitement.

The kids quickly looked back and cheered when they saw it was true.

However, their victory was short lived when they suddenly felt as if an invisible force had wrestled the map right from their hands and abruptly yanked it back, pulling the entire map right under them and sending them flying forward, as if they had been in a car collision with no belts on.

"Ahh!" the kids screamed, while Skulker gasped as they were separated.

Using his jets, the hunter quickly halted his out of control flight and spun around towards the map. Though he now was several yards away from the barrier, his eyes widened when he saw what look like some kind of purple hand extending from the barrier, which now had a firm grasp on the Infi-Map and was pulling it back towards it.

As if alive, the map struggled against the pull, like a bug caught in a spider's web. But, clearly, it was losing the battle.

"Timeless magic," Skulker muttered.

Indeed, the map had done its job and had managed to get them past the barrier which, as it turned out, was not too far from the actual entrance of the Realm Beyond Time. But now that the Infi-Map was here within this space between the barrier and the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time, it seemed as if the timeless magic had finally sensed the map and where it was going. And since the magic within the barrier was stronger on this side closest to where time actually stopped, it was finally able to counter the map's magic and stop it before it could reach the area which marked the Entrance of the Realm Beyond Time.

However, when the hunter saw the map's green energy flickering, he began to fear the Infi-Map was being more than forced back out: the timeless magic was attempting to destroy it!

And guessing the same thing as the Ghost Hunter, Sam desperately yelled out to him, her voice echoing eerily, "Skulker!"

The hunter didn't hesitate any longer and shot forward. He quickly grabbed the map and attempted to yank it out of the timeless magic's grasp; but it was too powerful. And soon, Skulker found himself in bigger trouble when the barrier shot forward more of its magic in an attempt to grab him, as if it also wanted him gone from this area of the Forbidden Region.

But the hunter jumped to the side just out of its reach, before he used his rockets to thrust further away from the shield's clutches.

"Curses!" Skulker growled out, not knowing how to save the map without also being trapped by the timeless magic himself.

"Skulker, send it back!" Sam suddenly cried.

The hunter looked back at the girl, who was now floating some distance away in the green void of the space between the Ghost Zone and the entrance to the Realm Beyond Time.

"You have to get it out of here before that barrier does something to the Infi-Map!" Sam added.

Skulker nodded and quickly charged back towards the map. He knew now what he had to do. Avoiding the barrier's attempt to seize him once again, Skulker reached the map. And grabbing it firmly with one hand, he ordered it, "Return home!"

As if regaining its power, the Infi-Map burst into green light, breaking the timeless magic's hold on it. In the next instant, the map turned into a ray of green light and shot right back out through the barrier, disappearing into the depths of the Ghost Zone.

However, Skulker had no time to wonder if the map would be alright or not, since at that moment, the barrier suddenly seized him in its powerful hold. Skulker yelled as he was suddenly pulled back towards the barrier. However he quickly turned his rockets on full blast and propelled forward. And yet, he didn't get too far since the timeless magic began to pull back even harder.

"Whelps! I have a bit of a problem!" he yelled at them.

"We can see that, but we can't reach you!" Jazz exclaimed back as she wiggled around, trying to propel herself to move forward, but all she could do was float there.

Getting an idea, Tucker quickly said, "Hey, don't you have one of those nets with you. Maybe you can reel us in!"

Skulker immediately pulled out his net gun and fired it towards Tucker. Luckily, he was close enough to Jazz that the two managed to grab each other's hands just before Skulker's net wrapped around them.

However, Skulker didn't reel it back in just yet and watched as Tucker used a small laser beam from his PDA to get them out of the net. They then quickly used a part of the net and threw it over at Sam, who had landed a little father away than the rest of them.

With a little wiggling, Sam managed to grab the piece of net and Tucker and Jazz quickly reeled her in. Once the three were together, Skulker quickly pulled them towards them.

"Okay, now what?" Jazz asked, as Skulker continued to fight against the barrier's pull. Interestingly, though, oddly, the barrier did not attempt to trap the three humans in its hold.

"I do not know!" Skulker grunted. "But we need a solution quickly before the barrier forces us out and we are left back at square one!"

Sam looked out in the direction which the map had been taking them before the barrier had stopped it. They had to have been close to the entrance since the map had been 'programmed' to take them to the Realm Beyond Time.

"Tucker, what was it that Danny said about the entrance to this place? Something about time stopping?" Sam quickly asked, trying to think of something quick. Danny had explained to them a while back how he usually got to Clockwork's, but she and Tucker never really thought more about what he had told them—until now.

"He said time stops at the entrance of the Realm Beyond Time. And then, he's just teleported in. But, how are we going to figure out…?"

"Your PDA, whelp!" Skulker interrupted. "With the upgrade I gave you, it should be able to detect fluctuations in the space around us, and if there is a point where time stops nearby, it should show up. I would do it myself, but as you can see, I am focusing all my power on keeping this barrier from pulling us out!"

"But what if the entrance is not nearby? What if we are _nowhere_ near it?" Tucker asked fearfully.

"Then, we have failed," Skulker replied soberly.

"We can't fail!" Jazz exclaimed. "My little brother needs us!"

"Tucker, try it," Sam said firmly and emphasized, "We can't be too far away when the map was supposed to take us to this place's entrance!"

The boy nodded and quickly began typing commands on his PDA. Beads formed on his forehead when he could feel that the barrier was slowly pulling them further and further back, which was slowly decreasing the chance of this working.

Soon, a red beam of light, like a laser, shot out of Tucker's PDA and it began to scan the immediate surroundings. The seconds passed by, and they all began to sweat in dread.

Then, suddenly:

'beep-beep'

Tucker gasped. "There!" he pointed at some vacant and ordinary spot in the vast green atmosphere in front of them, though he quickly showed the hunter his PDA, so he could see the exact coordinates.

"Alright," Skulker said, quickly raising his arm and typing something into his own system, though he grunted as he was yanked back a few feet by the barrier's power.

In an instant, a different sort of weapon appeared on Skulker's wrist, looking like a grappling hook. He then said, "I am going to fire a line at the spot, and I need you all to 'climb' your way across. I am going to recommend the most physically fit to go first."

"You go first, Sam," Tucker quickly said.

Sam would have rolled her eyes, but something more important was on her mind and she frowned at Skulker and voiced it. "What about you? How are you going to get to the entrance when the barrier has you trapped?"

Skulker replied seriously, "I am not. I have no means of escaping its hold. However, you three must go on. Just give me your word that you will also get Plasmius out."

The three kids stared fearfully at the hunter. They had become so use to having him around, _helping them_, that the thought of losing that now was terrifying.

"But…," Jazz began softly.

However, when Skulker was yanked back a yard, they all jolted, and the hunter quickly exclaimed, "There is no time to discuss this! You all must go now, or we are going to fail our mission; and, whelps, I do not fail my missions." Just as he extended his gun at the spot where they assumed the entrance to be and fired, he commanded, "Now go!"

A steel-like grappling hook shot forward, and with Skulker's experienced aim, it hit its mark perfectly—with the help of locking the weapon onto the exact coordinates, of course. But it had not hooked into anything in particular. Instead, it kept rigid and suspended in one place, as if it were a cobra rising out of a basket under the musical spell of a snake charmer.

Sam frowned, hesitating a bit at leaving Skulker behind, but she then narrowed her eyes and grabbed the steel rope and began to pull herself across it using all her experience in gymnastics and her determination to find Danny as her fuel.

"Thanks, Skulker. And… you have our word," Jazz muttered sadly before turning and following Sam.

Tucker gulped and glanced at Skulker, who surprisingly smiled at him in encouragement. But then with a deep breath, the boy also began his way across.

However, even when they were trying to go as fast as possible, Skulker was slowly being pulled back more and more, in turn, pulling the line floating ahead away from their targeted location.

"Whelps, hurry!" Skulker shouted when he realized his rockets were close to giving out under the constant assault of the timeless magic.

In fact once again, it was as if the spirit power perceived what was going on, for the shield was not just trying to yank him back out, but was now also trying to destroy him—like it had tried with the map!

Skulker was glad for his stronger suit, but he knew even it was no match for something as powerful as timeless magic.

As the hunter continued to yell at the kids to move, Sam was doing just that. She could see she was about to run out of line and she had yet to see her watch stop ticking!

"Come on, come on!" she pleaded while she panted and continued to pull herself forward, while glancing at her watch frantically. But then suddenly, she ran out of line.

"No!" she yelled when she found her watch still ticking away. She stared out frantically, trying to think of something. But then going on a limb—_literally_—she wedged her foot into the claw at the end of the grabbling hook before she moved even further out, to the point that the only thing keeping her connected to the line was her wedged foot, while her body was now floating in the green atmosphere.

"Sam!" Tucker yelled, picking up speed, though he was still half-way across the line. Now, he really regretted skipping fitness class all those times!

Jazz was also still some space away from Sam, though she was closer. "Sam, be careful!" Jazz cried out, knowing if Sam lost her hold on the line and she separated from them, she would be left stranded, especially if Skulker and the rest of them ended up being pulled back completely by the shield.

The goth girl ignored them and carefully stretched her hand across. "It **has** to be here!" she grunted.

But just as Skulker was yanked a foot back, Sam gasped as she accidently fell lower, now dangling below the line. But before she could panic, she froze when she stared at her watch and saw time had stopped.

"I found it," she whispered in awe before she screamed at the others, **"I found it!" **

"Go, then, Sam!" Jazz yelled, knowing there was no way they were going to get to her before Skulker was pulled away and they missed their chance at the entrance.

"Keep going! Get Danny and Vlad! We'll find another way!" Tucker added at his friend.

Sam couldn't really look at Jazz or Tucker since she was dangling below the line by her foot which was still caught in the grabbling hook. But she knew the others were right.

She reached further out, trying to get closer to the entrance, which now that she was brushing against it, she could feel almost like a small pull from the invisible opening. Yet, it was not teleporting her like Danny had said it would do with him!

She soon reached as far out as she could, grunting in desperation, "…Danny..."

Suddenly, her form blurred; but then, whatever force had now swallowed her up seem to spread, traveling up the grappling hook, across the line, and quickly taking hold of everything connected to it, which included Tucker, Jazz and Skulker.

In an instant, they abruptly vanished out of existence.

Skulker shouted as his rockets, which had been on full blast, suddenly propelled him forward like a sling shot. But realizing the reason for it was because he had escaped the barrier's hold, he quickly cut off the rockets before the others could be yanked along with him.

For a moment, the hunter just floated there, trying to clear his spinning vision, but when he finally looked around, his mouth fell open.

They were not in the Forbidden Region anymore.

"This is it… The Realm Beyond Time," Skulker whispered in awe, as he stared at his never-before-seen surroundings. There were still familiar things, like floating doors and whirling Energy Novas. But… there were also differences. There were islands in the distance that looked different than what he was used to. Somehow, everything looked and even _felt_… still.

"Skulker!"

The hunter quickly looked behind him, finally remembering the three humans. "Whelps, we are here," he told them.

But seeing Tucker and Jazz still clinging to grappling hook's line, while Sam had finally lost her hold on it completely, Skulker quickly flew over to them.

"Here, give me one moment," Skulker said as he raised his arm and typed something up. In the next moment, four large claws came out of Skulker's back, but they were crackling with electrical energy.

Sam and Tucker's eyes widened, recognizing the arms as the ones Skulk-Tech had used to attack Danny during the incident with Evil Phantom.

"Oh, wait. I cannot go electrocuting them," Skulker muttered to himself, realizing he had accidently turned on the electrical energy on his extra appendages.

He finally turned it off before moving the extra appendages around, trying to get a feel for them since it was his first time using them. He then carefully stretched them out and grabbed one of the kids in each of the claws before using his real hands to retract his grappling hook back into his weapon.

"Are you sure about this?" Jazz asked, feeling uncomfortable with a huge claw around her waist, especially when she saw it had previously spurted out electricity.

"Of course. There is no place safer," Skulker assured her with a calm smile. But then looking at Sam, he nodded and said, "Whelp? Not bad."

Sam smirked. "I'll take that as compliment."

"It was," the hunter replied with an impressed smile. The girl really was resilient and resourceful, which was quite admirable.

"So, where to now?" Tucker asked, looking around.

The others did the same as Skulker's expression melded into a frown before he and muttered, "We are out of leads and this place is obviously as infinite as anything in the Ghost Zone. Therefore, we now have to rely purely on hunter instincts and tracking to find our way towards the Observants' territory. At least, we can only hope that that is where they are keeping Plasmius and the Ghost Boy."

The others just nodded before they all began to make their way through the Realm Beyond Time. They were all quiet and watchful, though, knowing that they were now in forbidden territory.

Skulker was being extra cautious. He knew that they could not risk getting caught when they were so close and yet so far from their objective. He also kept his instruments on, hoping to pick up either Danny or Vlad's ecto-signature, while he sniffed the air for any traces of their smell or… Iluzisto's. Oddly, though, Skulker noticed that his instruments were 'glitching' a bit ever since they arrived in to the Realm Beyond Time. Still, it wasn't so bad that he was concerned about it, especially when it was not affecting his efforts.

However, about what they guessed was ten minutes into their travel, they saw an unexpected sight in front of them.

"What is that?" Jazz wondered out loud, while Skulker frowned with uncertainty at the strange large structure ahead of them.

But Sam and Tucker knew what it was and they both voiced it at the same time.

"It's…. Clockwork's Tower…."

* * *

"Day three of trial 789: Prisoners 484 and 485 verses Time and Existence will now commence," Konsilisto began to read from a scroll. "Appointed Defender: Spektanto. Master Prosecutor…"

Danny rolled his blue eyes and just tuned out the judge's counselor, having heard this same gibberish too many times before now. He glanced at Vlad, who was just quietly listening and also in his human form. It was a big effort on their part, considering their weakening bodies. But… it was all part of their plan. They were determined to unmask Iluzisto before this whole thing was over…

And speaking of the evil spirit, he was now standing close by. It seemed that after Danny's attempt to escape at the trial yesterday, the Council was not taking any more chances…

The boy lightly touched his branded forehead as he thought about this nightmare. Vlad and he knew that the chances of them getting out of the Observants' fate for them was practically nil; but they had agreed they wouldn't go down without a fight. And Danny had meant what he had said: even if it was the last thing he did, he was going to make sure Iluzisto never got free.

Fortunately, Okulo's healing powers had helped enough for the teen to feel strong enough to even attempt to put up a fight again. His fever was gone and he was much more alert. Still, it did nothing for his half-starved body and weakening ghost core.

Danny suddenly glanced at Vlad, and realized he wasn't looking all that much better. It was strange. The teen hardly thought much of his arch-enemy's age, especially when the man was so fit and powerful. But as he looked at him now, Vlad suddenly looked so much older than he really was. He had dark circles under his eyes and, well, he looked tired underneath his façade to appear strong.

"….Proceeding today's trial there will be a short recess to allow the Observant High Tribunal to discuss and come to a decision on the final verdict against the prisoners. Directly after their conference, we will proceed to the final part of trial 789: the sentencing," the counselor finished.

"I, Honorable Tribune, accept the commencement and proceedings of this final day of trail 789. What say you, Observant High Council?"

"Aye!"

"Nay," Vlad whispered, annoyed.

"Then, let us begin," Justeco said before glancing down at some papers in front of him. "As it has been announced, we are on the third and final day of this trial. Therefore, both the defending and prosecuting parties should bear in mind that this is your last chance to present evidence for and against the accused, Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius. Since the commencement of this case, we have covered crimes against reality and existence, and ergo, time itself. And in these crimes, both of the accused have been equally involved. Today, we will be addressing individual charges. And the first charge that will be discussed is against Prisoner 485: Danny Phantom."

The teen frowned with uncertainty, unaware that Vlad had also frowned, though there was curiosity hidden as well behind the man's eyes. Still, neither hybrid said a word.

"According to what is known, the accused _directly_ tampered with the time-stream with the use of three of the most dangerous and powerful crystals in existence: The Gem of Form, the Gem of Fantasy, and the Gem of Life. Prisoner 485 is believed to have aided an evil human criminal by the name of Frederich Isak Showenhower, commonly known as Freakshow, who has been charged for his crimes through human laws. The Prisoner 485 is said to have willingly partaken in gathering the gems and allowing this dangerous human to harness their powers through a device known as the Reality Gauntlet. Not only is Prisoner 485 suspected of conspiring with this human criminal to alter reality itself, but he is also suspected of directly using the gems powers for his own gain!"

Gasps and murmurs quickly erupted in the courtroom, forcing Justeco to call order. But Vlad quickly took the opportunity to look over at Danny, who looked as utterly shocked as he did. Still, he asked the boy, "Is that true? You have seen and used the Reality Gauntlet?"

"What? No!" Danny quickly exclaimed in defense; but then he was forced to backtrack, "I mean, yes! But it's not like that… I… I had no other choice!" he added, now really upset.

But when Justeco finally managed to regain order, Vlad pulled the teen close and quickly whispered, "Focus on the plan, Daniel. Remember that no matter if you are innocent, they are going to find a way to prove otherwise. So, stick to the plan."

"Silence!" Justeco demanded, noticing the older hybrid's whispering. But the judge then looked at the Council members and said sternly, "I understand that the accusations against Prisoner 485 are severe. However, we must keep order. And we must remember that we have still to present the evidence; therefore, no prisoner can be assumed guilty until proven."

"_Yeah? Well, it just sounded like you thought I was guilty,"_ Danny thought angrily.

"Appointed Defender. The courtroom is yours," Justeco announced.

Spektanto nodded and stood. "Thank you, Honorable Tribune. For this part of the trial, I would like to call the accused directly to the stand. Prisoner 485, if you would…?"

"The name is Danny," the teen grumbled back, but got up anyways.

However, as he was escorted to the interrogation seat, the boy glanced back at the older hybrid, who gave him a discreet, though encouraging smile.

Still, Clockwork had noticed the exchange, but said nothing and continued to quietly wait for his turn to speak.

"_Okay, Fenton,"_ Danny thought as he took the seat. _"Showtime. Or… more like 'reality' time…" _

Spektanto nervously cleared his throat before saying, "Danny Phantom…Is it true that this human, Frederick, escaped from the human authorities and had somehow acquired the Reality Gauntlet at that time?"

"Yes," Danny replied, though there was an unsure look on his face. Could it be that Spektanto was finally going to say something to actually _defend_ him?

"Could you tell the Council in your own words what happened next?" his defender requested.

Danny hesitated, still somewhat surprised he was being given the chance to finally speak freely.

"Okay… Well, I can't really say where he got the gauntlet, but he came after me and, well, he revealed my identity. We… I mean, my friends and I, managed to get the gems away from him; but then he captured our parents as ransom and gave us an ultimatum. I…uh… had no choice but to get the gems back from the places we had chosen to hide them. But I _never_ had planned on giving them back to him! Still, he tricked me and he got the gems again. But I did managed to beat him and I fixed everything and destroyed the gauntlet," the boy finished before looking around to see the Council's reaction.

But they were all silent.

"So, would it be correct to conclude that your intentions were just to save your parents from your former enemy who was seeking out revenge against you because you were involved in an earlier incident with a ghost-controlling staff?"

This time, there was whispering. But Justeco quickly brought order.

Danny frowned, not liking how the question was worded. Even he could see that Spektanto was bringing up things that Clockwork was easily going to pick up on to accuse him of this whole mess… So much for finally defending him.

"The Council awaits your answer, Danny Phantom," Spektanto prompted.

Danny glanced over at Vlad, who was staring intently back at him. It was hard to tell what the man thought of what he was hearing, but he knew what the older hybrid was waiting for…

"_No matter what you say, they are still going to find you guilty…"_

"Prisoner 485?" Justeco called this time.

But Danny shook his head before suddenly gripping it. "I-I… no, I didn't understand the q-question…," he suddenly whispered weakly.

Spektanto frowned, asking cautiously, "Are you alright?"

The teen took a shuddering breath, but still nodded, "I-I'll be fine…"

The Council members glanced at one another while Spektanto glanced over at Justeco. Meanwhile, Clockwork watched the teen closely, though his expression gave away nothing.

"Alright…," Spektanto spoke up, "I shall repeat the question: Would it be correct to conclude that your intentions were just to save your parents from your former enemy who was seeking out revenge against you because you were involved in an earlier incident with a ghost-controlling staff?"

This time, Danny knew he had no choice but to answer and he replied, "…Yeah, it's true."

Spektanto smiled proudly. "There. My defendant is clearly innocent. He only committed his crimes to save his family."

Vlad rolled his eyes at the ghost's choice of words, knowing he had just contradicted himself in the same statement. And as he expected, the Council began to murmur on the fact.

Meanwhile, Danny had to force himself not to glare at his useless defender and instead placed a hand against his head and closed his eyes, while he lowered his other hand and wrapped it around his empty burning stomach…

"If you have no further questions, Appointed Defender, then I will leave the floor open to the Master Prosecutor," Justeco said.

"No further questions, Honorable Tribune," Spektanto replied and then sat down. But as he did, he quietly assured Vlad, "Clockwork cannot beat that."

The billionaire glanced dryly at the spirit beside him and told him, "I'm not even going to bother answering you."

As Spektanto blinked in confusion at the older hybrid, Clockwork stood and took the floor.

The Time Master briefly took in the boy's sick look and asked him, "Are you certain you are well?"

Danny resisted the urge to harshly snap at the time spirit and instead coldly said, "Just get to the point already."

The Time Master frowned slightly, but then he nodded and began, "It was not in my original plan to bring before the Council your previous involvement with the human, Fredrick. However, since your defender has done so, then I am left with very little choice…But a choice nonetheless."

Clockwork strangely paused before continuing in his same passive voice, "So then, Danny Phantom, explain to the Council how you met this human criminal. I do believe that for many years this human kept many ghosts as his slaves, forcing them to steal and commit other crimes for him. Would you agree with me…?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow at the strange way the spirit was wording his comments. However, the teen seemed to be oblivious to it, being that he was having a hard time controlling his anger and resentment with the Time Master…

"Freakshow was using ghosts for his own gain," Danny answered, not wanting to say that he agreed with his treacherous former mentor.

"Then, did he use _you_ for his own gain, Danny Phantom? Did you not also fall under his staff's control?" Clockwork calmly retorted.

The teen began to get nervous, knowing where this was going. "I-I… At first. But I broke out of his control. I stopped him! Just like I stopped him the second time around!" he suddenly said defensively.

Vlad tensed, realizing the teen was straying from their plan. _"Blast it, Daniel!" _he thought anxiously, _"Don't mess up!" _

"What happened to the staff after you defeated this human and freed the captured ghosts from his control?"

"You know what happened to it!" Danny replied angrily.

"What matters is not what I know, but what the Council knows," Clockwork reminded him with a raised eyebrow.

Danny paused, realizing he was letting his anger cloud his judgment. "…I destroyed it," the boy said in a calmer voice.

"Did you ever use the staff?"

"No."

"Did you use the gems' powers through the Reality Gauntlet? If so, why did you use them?" Clockwork continued.

"I used them to stop Freakshow."

"Could you elaborate? Or, rather, why do you not explain to the Council how this human revealed your identity in the human world, which turned you into a fugitive of the human law?"

"I…," Danny began, only to pause and suddenly groan. Still, he continued, "It-It's hard to remember… My memory is a bit… murky."

"Then, allow me to help you along…," Clockwork replied before bringing up an image of when Danny was battling Freakshow, who was now controlling all reality.

"Feel free to correct me if you do not agree with my retelling of the happenings," he told the teen and then turned to address the Council. "As you all can clearly see, this human managed to take control of all reality after Danny Phantom retrieved the gems. However, the alternation of reality began from the moment this human activated the gauntlet, which occurred just before the boy's secret was revealed. So, then, Danny Phantom. Would I be correct to conclude that you are responsible for all these happenings, happenings which you then altered with the use of the Reality Gauntlet just after you defeated this human?"

Danny squeezed his eyes shut. "C-Could you repeat the question?"

Clockwork suddenly sighed and addressed Justeco. "Honorable Tribune, how can any of my questions, as well as the Danny Phantom's answers, have any validity when it is clear that something is wrong with the boy? I cannot conduct a proper questioning in such a way!"

Justeco's eye curved into something of a frown and impassively looked over at Danny. "Is this true, Prisoner 485? Are you ill?"

Danny shook his head, but weakly replied, "It's… n-nothing… my stomach…Ugh…Sooo… hungry…"

Everyone suddenly gasped when the teen fell out of his seat and collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Justeco quickly rose to his feet, clearly shocked as well. But hearing the Council's uproar, he quickly called order.

"Guards, pick up the prisoner!" he then commanded. But then Justeco quickly looked over at Iluzisto with confusion. "Iluzisto, why is this prisoner weak from lack of food?"

Vlad had to place a hand over his mouth to hide the smug smirk that curled on his lips at witnessing the shock written all over Iluzisto's face.

"I… It seems…," Iluzisto hesitated, unsure of what to say at first, but then thinking quickly on how to keep his cover, he hurriedly replied, "I was unaware of how much nourishment these half-human, half-ghost creatures required, Honorable Tribune."

"Clearly more than you have been supplying," Justeco said seriously.

Iluzisto resisted the urge to glare at the Tribune and instead said to the judge, "If the Council permits it, I can rectify my honest mistake right now."

Justeco sighed in annoyance but nodded. "Very well. We will have a short recess." And with that he slammed his gravel and turned his attention to Konsilisto and began whispering something to him.

Iluzisto tightened his hand on his staff before nodding over to the Observant guard who had picked up the unconscious teen and was now carrying Danny in his arms. The guard quickly moved over to Iluzisto, while another quickly grabbed Vlad and ordered him to follow them out of the courtroom.

As they finally reached the same small enclosed room with a single table that the hybrids had used just yesterday when they got their quick _meal_, the teen began to moan himself awake, capturing everyone's attention.

"Put him down," Iluzisto ordered angrily.

Danny wobbled on his feet for a moment before he looked up and saw the Prison Head glaring darkly at him.

"You think you are clever, do you not?" he sneered at him.

"What?" Danny asked weakly.

Iluzisto growled in his throat before snapping at the guards. "Feed these creatures! I will return for them in ten minutes. So, they better be quick," he added, glaring back at Danny and Vlad before finally storming out of the room.

The two hybrids said nothing as they sat at the table.

"Do not move," one of the guards warned before he and the other guard walked off to some adjacent room to get their meals.

Vlad glanced over at another guard watching them from the doorway before looking over at Danny and whispering, "For a moment there I thought you were going to forget our plan…"

"For a moment there I did," Danny muttered. "Clockwork is such a jerk…. I guess you were right about him…," he added sadly.

"…So I was…," the man replied in thoughtful, yet odd, voice.

Danny looked around them again to make sure they were still alone and whispered, "Did they buy it?"

Vlad smirked. "We wouldn't be here if they had not, dear boy. I must say, that whole 'sooo hungry' line and your little fall were a bit over the top… But not bad… for an amateur."

Danny grinned. "Admit it, Cheese head, I was totally great in there." But then the teen paused, and with a slight smile he added, "I mean, it's not that hard to act when you are not really acting. I really am starving, you know."

Vlad smiled back. "Don't worry. That will be fixed shortly."

Sure enough, a moment later, a simple plate of food and a glass of water was placed in front of each of them. It wasn't that much better than the bland grey stuff and liquid Iluzisto normally gave them, but it was food.

Vlad just ate the bland stew-like food he was given, and placed the small loaf of bread that had come with it to the side. His attention, though, was on the door, while Danny was all but gulping down his food.

But briefly noticing that, the man placed a hand on the boy's hand holding his spoon and advised, "Slow down, Daniel. You don't want to make yourself sick."

"We only got, like, ten minutes, Vlad," the teen reminded him.

"Yes, but if you get sick, you are not going to retain any food. So, calm down."

Danny sighed but nodded.

However, all too soon, Iluzisto walked in. "You two have two minutes left of your worldly time," he told them.

Vlad and Danny didn't reply and just continued to eat their meal. However, when the man lifted his glass of water to his lips, he whispered to the teen, "Time for part two…"

A smirk ghosted across the boy's face before he suddenly turned ghost. And soon after, Vlad followed his lead…

As expected, Iluzisto instantly looked over at them and stared in confusion. How odd. The hybrids always avoided their ghost forms around him. But what intrigued the spirit most was how… their energy felt much stronger now that they had nourishment…

"I think we got his attention," Danny said in between his teeth before taking a gulp of water.

"Good. Now, watch this…," the older hybrid whispered back.

"You have one minute, crossbreeds. I suggest you stop talking and finish your meals…It might be your last after today," Iluzisto added evilly.

Plasmius suddenly stood up, much to the illusionist spirit's surprise. "Perhaps," the man said with a light shrug. "But then that means you will no longer be able to siphon off our energy," he assured the spirit, approaching him.

"Sit down, freak!" Iluzisto demanded, raising his staff in threat.

"I rather that this be my last day of life than be locked up for all eternity in here, _like you,"_ Vlad continued smugly, though he stopped a few feet from the spirit and crossed his arms. And seeing the fury swell in Iluzisto's eye, the billionaire chuckled in satisfaction and mockingly added, "You are not getting out, Iluzisto. You are going to be the Observants' little slave for all eternity."

"Why you arrogant fool!" the spirit exclaimed furiously; and faster than Vlad could react, Iluzisto was right in front of him and slammed the end of his staff into the man's stomach.

Danny gasped in alarm as the older hybrid fell to his knees, the air knocked right out of him. The teen knew this was part of their plan… but, geez, did the guy have to get himself beat up that badly?

The billionaire cringed, feeling one of his recently healed wounds in his abdomen reopen with the attack…Good.

"Does the truth make you angry?" Vlad wheezed out as he pushed himself back to his feet.

Iluzisto growled and grabbed the man by the neck, pulling him closer. But the moment he did, the spirit gasped when he instantly felt the older hybrid's energy like never before. It was as if…it was willingly being offered to him!

Vlad smirked in spite of the throbbing pain in his stomach when he saw Iluzisto's hungry look.

"Like what you feel?" the billionaire taunted, narrowing his eyes slightly.

The illusionist spirit forced himself to snap out of it and quickly released the man, going as much as taking a few steps back to resist the temptation in front of him. But it was then that he finally noticed the older hybrid's aura was glowing brighter than usual. This freak was tempting him on purpose!

"You are playing with fire, crossbreed," Iluzisto told him seriously.

"It's my specialty," Vlad retorted with a grin as he continued to circulate more of his energy to the surface of his body.

"Excuse me, Prison Head," one of the guards suddenly interrupted. "The Council is waiting."

Iluzisto didn't reply and just kept his glare on the older hybrid. He was sure the freak was up to something; but he couldn't figure out what exactly. All the spirit knew was that he was consciously fighting off the urge to grab the man and take the power that was radiating off his body. Even when he wasn't touching him, Iluzisto could _feel_ it. It would be _so easy_ to take his delectable and powerful energy when the foolish crossbreed was so willingly presenting it to him…

"Prison Head?"

"I heard you!" Iluzisto suddenly snapped, finally ripping his gaze from the man and glaring at the guard. However, the illusionist quickly looked back at Vlad.

"I cannot decide if you are foolishly bold or just plain foolish…," Iluzisto muttered before forcing himself to move away from the older crossbreed. He couldn't risk trying to take the freak's energy right now—not with all these Observant guards around.

"Bring them," Iluzisto then ordered the guards, not trusting himself with his two powerful prisoners at the moment.

As Vlad and Danny were restrained again, they were brought up next to each other. And the teen didn't waste the chance to tell the man, "I hope this works. The way he was staring at you was seriously scary…"

Vlad nodded. "I hope so, too," he answered quietly, knowing what would happen if they returned to the prison where Iluzisto could do whatever he wanted to them… The man lightly touched his abdomen, feeling wetness cling to his hand and he instantly knew he was bleeding again…

When they finally made it to their seats, they remained in their ghost forms, much to Iluzisto's discomfort. But now the boy was doing it, too! They were intoxicating him with their energy!

Justeco blinked curiously, noticing the hybrids' brighter than normal ghostly hue. But deciding it was just because they had properly been fed and their energy was back up, he dismissed it and commenced with the trial again.

"Being that Prisoner 485 was clearly in no condition to answer questions during his last charge, the Observant High Council and I have agreed to file the charge under ambiguous evidence."

"Yes!" Danny whispered, and the older hybrid smirked knowingly.

Iluzisto, on the other hand, was now watching the two closely so he didn't miss the exchange. So…. They had planned this…Well, were they not clever… No matter. It would do them little good. Just because one of the boy's charges had been voided did not mean they were off the hook with all the other previous charges…

"We will proceed, then, to the last charge against Prisoner 484, Vlad Plasmius," Justeco continued. "The accused prisoner's infraction directly involves the natural order. High Council, Prisoner 484 is being accused of unnaturally creating a living being; and therefore, altering Time and even Fate itself."

There were gasps of disbelief from the Council, while Vlad rolled his eyes. Oh… so this was about Danielle. _Splendid_.

Danny, however, just frowned. He couldn't say he didn't agree with the Observants that the whole cloning thing was utterly wrong of the older hybrid… But… the teen knew this was no time to point fingers. They had to stop Iluzisto. Even if it was the last thing he or Vlad ever did…

"Master Prosecutor. You have the lead this time," Justeco then said, looking over at Clockwork.

The time spirit nodded and stood. But he then looked over at Vlad before turning to face the Council.

"I wish to call the accused to the stand."

Justeco nodded. "Prison Head, bring Prisoner 484 forward."

Iluzisto tensed, knowing that meant he would have to get close to the man. But not having any other choice, Iluzisto walked over to Vlad; yet, instead of touching him, the spirit pointed his staff towards the witness stand.

Plasmius smirked knowingly at Iluzisto and whispered, "Are you afraid to touch me? Can't you control yourself for even the mere duration of a trial?"

The illusionist spirit just slightly narrowed his eye in reply, but didn't say anything.

Vlad chuckled quietly before turning and doing as he was told.

Clockwork had watched the exchange with mild interest, but he, too, did not say anything.

The older hybrid quietly sat at the stand, though he winced a bit and placed a hand against his stomach.

Noticing it, Clockwork raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"You mean besides this whole farce?" the man retorted, emphasizing what he meant by waving a hand in the direction of the Council.

"That's in the eye of the beholder. Then again, those around you have yet to be given a reason to agree with you," the time spirit said, his face as neutral as ever.

Vlad frowned in confusion. But before he could think of what to say to such an odd comment, Clockwork brought up an image of Danielle.

"Do you know who this is?" the Time Master calmly inquired.

Vlad rubbed his chin, pretending to think about it. "Hmm…Why, yes, yes I do."

"Could you tell us?" Clockwork requested.

Vlad smiled calmly and answered, "She's my daughter, Danielle."

"Your daughter?" the Master Prosecutor repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right. Can you not see the resemblance?" Vlad asked with a grin.

The time spirit glanced at the image of Danielle before replying, "Not exactly."

"Well, you know what they say: 'looks are deceiving'," Vlad quipped back.

But much to the man's surprise, Clockwork calmly agreed, "Indeed…"

Danny creased his eyebrows, now curious at the billionaire's own look of bewilderment. It was strange to see the emotion on the man's face.

"_Well, at least I now know I'm not the only one who finds Clockwork's way of speaking weird,"_ Danny thought dryly.

"Did you create her?" Clockwork suddenly asked, snapping the billionaire out of his confused thoughts.

Vlad frowned hesitantly at the time spirit for a moment, but then he shrugged and offhandedly answered, "Aren't all children _created_?"

The Council suddenly burst into whispers with the comment, but not enough for Justeco to need to call order.

Clockwork just stared calmly at the man for a moment, very well aware that the older hybrid was purposely being difficult.

"Alright. Let me ask another question. What is _your daughter's_ relationship with Danny Phantom?"

"I believe they are cousins," Vlad replied.

"How is that possible when you and the boy share no ties—at least, not the family type?" Clockwork questioned.

Vlad frowned again. Was the time spirit messing with him? Or was his manner of speaking naturally so encrypted?

Now annoyed, the billionaire seriously replied, "Why do you keep asking me such pointless questions? You already know the truth! And if you did not, it would not make a difference to you or these other fools here!"

The Council instantly fell into an uproar, forcing Justeco to rein back order again.

"As I told the boy, it is not what _I_ know that matters. It is what this High Council knows," Clockwork told the man as everyone settled down. But then he suddenly added, "So then, are you going to show them?"

"Did he mean 'tell them'?" Danny whispered to Spektanto beside him, noticing the time spirit's mistake in words.

But his appointed defender shrugged and uncaringly replied, "Same thing."

Vlad slowly nodded at Clockwork, his annoyance and anger gone from his face. He was quiet for a moment as he glanced down at the hand holding his still bleeding abdomen. He was a bit dizzy…

But knowing the Council was waiting for him to say something, the man sighed and finally spoke up. "The boy's parents are old friends of mine… That is why I consider Daniel family—a son, in fact, which is also why my daughter Danielle can be considered _his cousin _as well.

The teen blinked in surprise at that, but remained quiet.

"I was under the impression that you and Danny Phantom were enemies," Clockwork replied seriously.

Vlad chuckled, though it sounded slightly pained. "Well, that depends on the day and occasion."

"And what exactly was _the_ _occasion_ that made you decide to clone Danny Phantom?" Clockwork retorted.

"Ah, so we are finally speaking forwardly?" Vlad quipped.

"Answer the question," the time spirit simply ordered.

Vlad blinked back the spots in his eyes but then chuckled weakly this time. "I think I might have overdone it…," he muttered to himself.

"Come again?" Clockwork asked.

Danny, however, knew exactly what the man was talking about. The teen knew it was part of their plan. But, he agreed with the billionaire: the guy had overdone it…

"I would gladly answer your question, but my mind is a bit unfocused right now," Vlad said with a sigh. "…I suppose _this_ might have something to do with that…," he added, finally raising the hand against his abdomen and revealing it was covered in green blood.

There was a chorus of gasps from the Council, while Iluzisto's eye widened in disbelief. Why was the older crossbreed bleeding? He had not…

The illusionist spirit instantly tensed with restrained anger. So, that's why the man had been mouthing off to him! The crossbreed had _wanted_ to be hurt so that he could now show it to the Council!

"It seems I am once more forced to detain my questioning," Clockwork said, a frown of annoyance on his face as he stared at the injured man before looking at the judge. "_Clearly,_ this man is severely hurt."

Justeco, who had been shocked by the sight, finally snapped out of it and quickly called order. He then stood and looked over at Iluzisto with a firm expression. "Iluzisto, have prisoner 484 taken to the infirmary at once! You are then to report back to me _immediately_."

"As you wish, Honorable Tribune," Iluzisto replied in a forced calm voice.

Justeco looked back at the Council and then said, "We will have to take another short recess. And considering the condition of prisoner 484, I think you will all agree with me that his last accusation against him should also be filed under ambiguous information."

"Aye!" the Council replied, though probably a bit begrudgingly.

"Then, we shall take this time of recess to discuss this trial and come to a final verdict," Justeco said before slamming his gavel.

As Vlad was helped to his feet by a guard, he unexpectedly smirked amusedly at Clockwork and told him, "…You are quite clever, Time Master."

"Anyone could say the same thing about you," Clockwork answered calmly, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Plasmius chuckled weakly, but said nothing else since he was finally helped towards Iluzisto, who was waiting for him besides Danny and Spektanto.

Iluzisto narrowed his eye at Plasmius when he was finally standing in front of him. "I know what you and the boy are doing," he said with restrained anger. "It will not work."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Vlad replied innocently, though he was smiling smugly at the spirit.

Danny just watched the exchange, barely suppressing a smug chuckle himself. It felt good to see Iluzisto squirming for once.

Iluzisto stared at Vlad for another moment before glancing over at the younger hybrid. Both were still purposely exposing their energy at him, which just made the illusionist spirit even more furious. Still, it was clear their conscious exposure of their energy was weakening for the two, especially the injured older one, since he was currently bleeding. So, it made no sense! Iluzisto didn't understand why they were doing _this_ exactly, unless, of course, just to anger him!

"Escort these two to the infirmary," Iluzisto suddenly commanded the Observant guards beside them. "I will be there shortly."

"_Both_, Prison Head?" one of the guards questioned.

"Yes, take them both… Have them checked fully to make sure neither has another 'surprise' for the Council hidden up their sleeve somewhere…," Iluzisto replied with a sneer.

Vlad and Danny glanced at each other, but didn't say anything as they were escorted once more out of the courtroom. Iluzisto stared after them for a moment before turning and walking towards Justeco's private meeting room. Luckily, Iluzisto already knew exactly how he was going to handle the crossbreeds' little tricks…

* * *

On their way to the infirmary, Vlad had actually blacked out. The teen at first thought the guy was faking it, but he was pretty startled when Danny realized that it wasn't an act. Vlad had seriously overdone it.

"Hey, Cheese Head, wake up," the teen said, shaking the man's shoulder, while he stood next to the bed on which the man was. They were still both in ghost from, though neither was currently exposing any more of their energy outwardly at the moment…

Vlad slowly came around and blinked up at the boy. "Was I out long?"

Danny sighed and muttered, "I can't tell. These ghosts, or rather, _spirits_, around here don't believe in time. But, I guess, like, ten minutes." The teen moved back and sat down on his own cot that was lined up right beside the man's a foot away.

"You're crazy, you know that?" the teen added dryly.

The billionaire slowly sat up on the bed with a pained chuckle. "What? Are you jealous that I can put on a better act than you, little badger?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "That wasn't an act, Vlad. You were seriously bleeding again!"

"Well, it worked," Vlad answered with an uncaring shrug. But then he looked down at himself and realized the top part of his jumpsuit was gone, though he had white gauze wrapped around the wound on his stomach.

"They fixed you up while you were out," Danny explained. "They added some weird stuff that supposedly will help you heal faster. It kinda looked like that stuff you used on me back at your house after Iluzisto's first attack on me. I'm not sure, but they also checked me over and cleaned and wrapped up my injuries, too. I feel better, at least," Danny added, briefly touching one of his sore arms. Although he already had his ghost jumpsuit back on, he knew that he had a few wrappings under it.

"It was probably some spectral plant remedy," Vlad distractingly answered as he looked around for his clothing. He not only found it, but noticed it was all cleaned up. Still, all the man did was reach towards it, and the top part of his ghost outfit and cape dissolved in a puff of pink smoke, before just as quickly reappearing back on his body. Vlad knew it would hardly take any more effort than it would be for him to call back his own energy.

Danny just raised an eyebrow at the man's comment and also at his actions, but he decided not to ask further. However, the teen glanced over to the two guards watching them from the infirmary's entrance, unaware that Plasmius had slipped his hand into his unseen pocket and pulled something out.

"Daniel?"

The teen looked back at the billionaire, only to blink in surprise when he saw the man was offering him a napkin-covered loaf of bread, the same one they had gotten with their recent meal.

"Hold on to it. You might need it," Vlad told him seriously.

Danny was completely floored by the man's actions. He had saved the bread for him? The teen would have laughed at the weirdness of that if it wasn't for the fact that in their situation, the action was quite significant.

The young hybrid just stared at the older one with a mixture of emotions. "I… why?"

Vlad reached over and placed the bread in the teen's hand before smirking and saying, "Don't read too much into it, little badger."

Danny blinked at being thrown back his own comment that he had uttered to the man when he had prevented him from bleeding to death.

"Thanks," the teen finally was able to say, though he briefly looked away in embarrassment.

Vlad waved a dismissive hand and said, "Don't mention it."

Danny quietly watched the man lay back down on the bed and drape an arm over his eyes. But the teen's own green eyes slowly lowered down to the ground. He couldn't believe how things had changed so drastically in a matter of days. One minute he had been sleeping on his bed and the next he had been attacked by a ruthless spirit named Iluzisto. And now… here he was with his arch-enemy, both locked up and staring death in the face. But they were also now working together. They both knew and had accepted how slim their chance of getting out of this was. But, they had also decided that they were not going down without a fight. And they were going to make sure Iluzisto did not get what he wanted—or at least, die trying…

"Do you think it's gonna hurt?" Danny suddenly asked, his hands gripping the edge of the bed on which he sat.

Vlad moved his arm from his face, though he kept his eyes focused on the ceiling. "What do you mean?" he asked soberly, though he really had a pretty good idea what the boy had asked.

The teen was quiet for a moment, but then he took a shaky breath and quietly said, "I really don't want to die."

The billionaire quickly sat up and stared worriedly at the boy. Daniel's fear of death hardly surprised the man. After all, he was only fifteen. And if Vlad was honest with himself, he would say he also shared that same fear.

Sadly, Vlad knew he couldn't even lie to the teen and tell him everything was going to be alright. They both knew the truth. They both knew how very likely it was that the Observants were going to charge them with the worst of fates…

"Daniel, don't think about that now, alright?" Vlad asked softly. "You know what will happen if we are left even another day under Iluzisto's hand…" The older hybrid paused and sighed. "I honestly do not care what Iluzisto's plans are past his wanting freedom. But you know it cannot be anything good. And I know you don't want him wrecking havoc. Our only chance of stopping him is to prevent him from gaining that freedom. And there is only one way we can do that…"

"Yeah, I know," Danny answered soberly, though he kept his gaze lowered."I guess I just wish I could have seen my parents one more time…"

Vlad was suddenly glad that the teen wasn't looking at him, or Danny would have seen the pain that passed through the man's eyes, as he suddenly thought of Maddie. But Plasmius pushed down his emotions as he pulled himself up and reached forward. He grabbed the boy's chin and made the boy look up at him.

"If it means anything to you," Vlad said in quiet sincerity. "I know for certain that they would be very proud of you, Daniel. Very few can go through everything that you have in these past days and still hold onto their fighting spirit as you have. You are strong, little badger. And any parent would be proud of that."

Danny smiled at the man's words. He had never heard his arch-enemy say something so nice to him. But considering the circumstances… Besides, the teen had to admit that the man's words did make him feel better.

"Thanks… You're pretty cool when you're not acting like a fruit loop," Danny replied.

"That's good enough, I suppose," Vlad said with a wistful sigh before letting go of the teen's chin and lying back down.

They were quiet again for another moment, this time both lost in their own thoughts and fears. But remembering something, the billionaire looked up at the teen and suddenly asked, "Daniel, how exactly did you meet Clockwork?"

Danny looked up with a questioning frown. But before he could even ask why the man was asking him such an 'out of the blue' question, Iluzisto finally entered the infirmary.

"Looking much better, I see….," Iluzisto said with sudden smugness before gesturing the Observant guards to move away for a moment.

Vlad and Danny instantly tensed with unease. They really did not like the triumphant look in the spirit's eye. Still, they kept quiet, even when Iluzisto walked right up to Vlad, who although in ghost form, was no longer presenting his energy so invitingly as before.

"I want you to know…" Iluzisto whispered evilly at the man, "—when you are both found guilty and are returned to my prison, I _will_ be taking that energy with which you were so invitingly taunting me. And have no doubt; I will remove it from you both _slowly and painfully._ And then…" The spirit chuckled darkly and looked over at Danny. "_You_ will be dessert..."

"We'll see about that," the teen sneered, his hands clenching at his sides.

"Yes," Vlad agreed with a glare. "So, until then…" The older hybrid instantly let his energy flare out. "I recommend you back away unless you want to be discovered."

Iluzisto squeezed his staff in order to keep himself from lunging at the older crossbreed and taking his energy at that instant. It was just so alluring! But looking around, the spirit knew there were too many witnesses.

But sure things were going to work in his favor, Iluzisto's eye curved as he took a step away from Plasmius.

"You are right. We best hurry, then," he said smugly before looking at the guards and gesturing them over.

Vlad and Danny glared at Iluzisto as the two guards forced them on their feet and restrained them again.

"Here we go," Danny whispered fearfully over at Vlad.

"Yes… here we go," Vlad replied back, this time a bit of fear leaking from his own voice.

* * *

**Pearl: Heh-heh! The hybrids are playing with fire, especially Vlad, but he's **_**so**_** good at it. And he should be with his having a hot core, as he said, 'it's his specialty'! lol! But it should be fun to see what the he and Danny are up to! At least, they seem to be making Iluzisto squirm for once! *winks* Anyways, on to more serious things… Well, I know it's been a while since I've updated CM or DoaS, and to be honest, I have not even started editing the next chapter for CM. It have been SO busy lately—more than usual, anyways. Also work has been killing me with Disney being so busy these past weeks. And, finally, I am trying to get back on track with school, so I've hitting the books again so I can take the MCAT. I've held it off long enough. *sighs* But, I will try my best to start working on CM this coming week and have it soon. Thanks for your support and patience, my dear readers! Until next time! Happy and Blessed Easter!**

**truephan here: Hey, first of all, I want to thank NewGhostGirl for her AWESOME trailer for this story. It gave me goose bumps. Check it out when you can at this address (of course, don't forget to erase the spaces and such: ****http : / / www. youtube. com / watch?v=0KZCTbSFR0k****.) (Pearl: Or, you can go to my profile and find the link there, too) Now, back to the chapter…**** So, what did y'all think? Did we have you biting your nails? Have you on the edge of your seats again? Well then, we're still doing our job! Heh-heh! But, seriously, we would LOVE to hear all your thoughts on the chapter. And speaking of that very fact, we had not originally planned to give you an update on Team Phantom and Skulker until later on, but since we always listen to your comments and suggestions, and that you wanted to know what was happening to the foursome, we actually added to this chapter to keep you happy! And speaking of 'happy', have a very Happy and Blessed Easter, y'all. **


	20. Chapter 20: Path to Condemnation

**Pearl: Hello all! Yes, I am still alive, and it's time for more Sid! I'll write any further comment below. Oh, except for one: Happy Mother's Day to those reading this who are mommys! If not, then happy Mother's Day to all my readers mothers! I hope God blesses them all the more on this special Day! Enjoy the chapter!**

**A/N: truephan here: I'm with ya, pearl! And I would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there! You deserve the best…And now for your pleasure, it's time to tune in to what's happening with all the crew…And I can't wait to see what's happening, either! Heh-heh, *permission to groan* Ahem, you know, I know what's going to happen, and…So, OK. I did have to get a Mother's Day joke in there…well, it's in there somewhere, I think, uh, maybe!**

***Better quit while you're ahead, dearie!***

***truephan gulps* What did you mean by 'a head', Ms. Hyde? Do you want mine?***

***Why, of course, dearie, unless you shut up and let the chapter begin!* **

***Uh-uh, right, right! Happy Mother's Day, y'all and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom, though our muses are working on it…**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Path to Condemnation**

* * *

"So…that is the Time Master's abode," Skulker mused as he and those he was carrying inadvertently slowed down.

Now that the Ghost Hunter's jets were not thrusting forward as hard, the three teens got a better look at the floating purple and black building that they were still nearing.

"Gee, do you think all those gears and clocks all over the place are really necessary to let everyone know that the Time Master lives there?" Jazz said with a smirk, though she was really so awed by the sight that she really didn't know what she was saying.

Skulker's eyes widened a bit with Jazz's words, finally realizing something he had not when he initially heard the Ghost Boy's friends say that this was the Time Master's terrain. "Wait a minute," he suddenly added suspiciously before craning his neck and looking at Sam and Tucker. "How do _you two_ know that that is Clockwork's abode, whelps?"

Sam and Tucker jolted a bit and hesitated. Now they had done it. They knew, of course, that Jazz and Skulker didn't know Clockwork like they did. And even though Danny considered Clockwork his friend, they were always a bit intimidated by the Time Master from what they all had experienced when they had accidentally 'met' him in the whole 'Danny's putrid future evil self' affair. Not to mention the fact that the last time Sam and Tucker saw Clockwork, he had been trying to waste their half-ghost friend… Still, with everything Danny told them after that event, they now had a strong hunch that Clockwork might be willing to help them find the Observants—that is, if the Time Master didn't throw them out first. Still, they weren't certain how much they had to explain to Skulker about Clockwork—and, really, they didn't want to. So, now, they couldn't make up their minds on what to do next, and silently glanced at each other.

But noticing their hesitation and even nervousness, Skulker readily frowned and asked, "What is it, whelps? What is with those looks?"

"And shouldn't we get moving?" Jazz added, though she still had no idea what they were going to do now when they had no more leads on her brother and Vlad's whereabouts.

Danny's friends swallowed hard; but then finally, Sam and Tucker's eyes told each other that they knew they had to convince the others to go in, and that it was going to be up to Sam to start to not only suggest their newest idea, but also convince them of it….

"Remember what Frostbite told us?" Sam began, gritting her teeth in determination.

"Yeah, r-remember h-he said that Clockwork worked for the Observants?" Tucker barked out.

Sam frowned at him and Tucker's eyes widened before he bit his lower lip when he realized he had actually told them more than what Frostbite had.

"He did? I do not recall any of that information," Skulker insisted, narrowing one of his eyes with even more suspicion. "The Leader of the Far Frozen did not mention specifics about Clockwork's 'relationship' with the Observants."

And just as he suddenly throttled his jets with the intentions of passing the castle, Skulker strongly added, "So, if what you pups say is true—which, by the way, I do not know _why _you know it to be true—then I do not trust this 'Clockwork' any more than I trust the Observants. And, therefore, I do not want to linger near this 'Clockwork's' territory any longer."

"Wait! We can't leave!" both Sam and Tucker automatically yelled in objection. "We need to go to see Clockwork!"

And while Skulker instantly halted, his eyebrows rising up with their abrupt suggestion, Jazz, who was now just as interested in what was going on, turned towards her friends and asked, "Why?"

Once more, the two youngest teens hesitated, before silently glancing at each other. They really didn't want to reveal anything else than what was necessary. Still, they really thought that Clockwork might be able to help them, and that meant they would have to get their comrades to agree to go.

And Sam was determined to do whatever it took to get to Danny.

Tucker could easily see from his female best friend's resolute look that she was about to tell the others what they knew. He pursed his lips but nodded slightly to her to let her know that it was okay with him.

She finally said, "Okay. We really don't have time to go into details, but it's like this: Danny, Tucker and I met Clockwork a while ago and he ended up being our friend. I think we can trust him to at least talk to us. But I don't know if he'll help. But we have to try."

Her companions looked at her in silence at first.

Tucker, of course, completely agreed with her, but waited for the other two to speak first.

Though Jazz was both a bit shock at having just learned that her brother and friends had dealt with such a powerful spirit as Clockwork, she was not going to overlook any means to helping her brother. She finally voiced her thoughts, "I totally agree with Sam and Tucker, then. I think we should try anything that might help Danny and Vlad."

All three of the humans then turned and looked at the Ghost Hunter.

Skulker narrowed his eyes and replied, "Do not think that you can out-vote me this time! I have the means of transportation, remember? It counts for at least three votes! I will not agree until you explain more about this 'Clockwork' spirit. And it better be good, whelps, because after all the rumors I have heard of this Time Master, I am not willing to risk myself by chancing a confrontation with this time spirit without good cause. I have already spent more than enough time being almost destroyed by a certain spirit named Iluzisto to know I do not want to meet another. Oh, and let us not forget you both also led me to those set of beings of the Far Frozen in whose company I felt uncomfortable! So, then, unless you start talking, I am not moving us anywhere near _Clockwork's_ abode!"

Sam did not want to take the time to go into more details, but knew she must somehow convince the Ghost Hunter to go see Clockwork. She gritted her teeth and said, "You just have to trust us on this one, Skulker. And I don't know why you're arguing about us going to Frostbite's. You were safe all the while you were there and you know it. And as long as you don't try hunting something in Clockwork's Tower, then you'll be just as safe!"

Skulker had his arm extension reel the goth girl in until she was eye-to-eye with him. Jazz and Tucker's own eyes widened at Skulker's reaction and held their breaths in slight fear.

His eyes flaring a bit, Skulker growled to the goth girl, "Tell me more about what you know about the Time Master and I will consider stopping at his abode!"

But Sam merely squared her chin, crossed her arms in defiance and growled back, "_Tell me_ how you ended up needing to use a mechanical suit and I'll tell you what I know about the Time Master!"

Jazz and Tucker hitched in their gasps at Sam's audacity. Their friend may have overdone it a bit, especially when they felt the mechanical arms around their waists tighten slightly and saw that the Ghost Hunter's eyes and hair had flared even more.

But then, Jazz and Tucker startled before they slowly exhaled when Skulker suddenly _began to laugh _and the mechanical arms around their waists slackened!

"You are a shrewd bargainer, whelp," Skulker chuckled, "And you give the Ghost Boy competition in the hunt as well….But, very well. We will go and see this 'Time Master' and see if he is willing to help us."

Only after Sam heard Skulker's decision to go to see Clockwork did she finally relax before she silently nodded to the Ghost Hunter….

Finally, the foursome was floating in silence at the front door of Clockwork's Tower, with Tucker closest to the door.

Jazz was the first to beg the question, "Now what?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," Sam admitted, getting a bit nervous.

"I thought you whelps said you have been here before!" Skulker suddenly thundered, growing suspicious once again.

Sam frowned in irritation and replied, "Okay, so we didn't go through the front door before!"

"M-Maybe there is a doorbell or something?" Tucker quickly suggested as he reached out to grope for some kind of button.

But as soon as the boy touched the outside of the building, the door, which was really some kind of drawbridge, suddenly opened on its own!

"What did you do?" Skulker demanded as he and the others floated back to allow the door to come down fully.

"I-I just touched it!" Tucker sheepishly said.

"Well, at least the door's open. Let's go in before it decides to close again!" Jazz insisted.

Skulker revved his jets and just as they crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them, its loud noise echoing eerily down the corridor that lay just ahead of them.

Skulker released the three teens and as soon as each of them had solid ground under them, the foursome looked all around them.

Fortunately, the hallway was lined with blue-flamed torches that, oddly, seemed to flare in time, as if they were perfectly choreographed dancers—only there was no music and the flames also didn't make any sound.

"Uh, shouldn't we say 'hello' or something?" Jazz finally whispered, her voice echoing down the corridor in spite of its low volume.

"Greetings!" Skulker bellowed out and the three teens jumped as the hallway magnified the Ghost Hunter's roar.

But there was no answer to his call. How could Clockwork _not_ hear that?

Skulker silently motioned for them to move forward. The three teens reluctantly obliged him and as they all walked down the corridor, the only noise that they heard were the same creepy echoes of their footsteps.

The four travelers had gone several yards without seeing one door. Still, they continued to delve into the bowels of Clockwork's Tower.

Finally, Tucker broke the eerie stillness, "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Jazz said, her voice echoing as much as Tucker's had.

"The main room. That's where Clockwork was when we first saw him," Sam replied.

"I see a door just ahead!" Skulker interjected.

The group reflexively tensed when they all drew closer to the lone door. But none of them hesitated to enter it, only to find another hallway full of _a lot_ of doors.

"Oh, no!" Jazz sighed in frustration.

"We'll just have to try them all, that's all," Sam dryly said as she headed to the first door, only to find it was… locked.

Tucker frowned at that before he suddenly looked over at Skulker and asked, "Hey, couldn't you…?"

"This is the Ghost Zone, pup," Skulker interrupted him, knowing what the teen was about to ask. "Intangibility rarely works here. Let us just do as your female friend said and try them all."

The others finally took Sam's lead and spread out, trying the first door that came their way.

They all turned to each other after trying the first group of four doors and said all at once, "Locked!"

This time, Skulker commanded, "Keep searching!"

They all continued both walking down the hallway and testing each door, only to find that all of them were locked.

Finally, Tucker yelled in triumph, "This one's unlocked!"

The others quickly joined them, and then Tucker carefully turned the knob. Behind the door was a narrow flight of stairs leading upward.

Sam and Tucker didn't hesitate and quickly bounded up the stairs, with Jazz and Skulker right behind them.

Once they all had passed the threshold, at least Sam and Tucker knew that this was the main room of Clockwork's Tower. Jazz and Skulker, however, stood in awe, taking in everything about the room.

Jazz and Skulker had never seen so many cogwheels turning precisely in sync with each other, no matter if they were small or large in diameter. They also noticed a small area in the middle of the room that looked like a round mirror posted on top of a pedestal made from a small cogwheel.

And the two large windows separated by a section of wall were just as odd.

One was ornately decorated with a set of sheer purple drapes that were pulled back by a purple cord that looked to be made of velvet. The foursome could see the rest of the Realm Beyond Time's green and black atmosphere just beyond its pane. The other window, however, was bare and its pane was opaque.

But Sam and Tucker immediately knew that there was something missing and they both said in unison, "Where's Clockwork?"

"Maybe he's in another room?" Jazz suggested with a wince.

"Greetings!" Skulker bellowed out once more and the humans jumped again at the loudness of the Ghost Hunter's voice.

"Will you stop doing that?" Sam demanded in irritation.

"We will not be able to accomplish anything if the Time Master is not here. And if he is indeed not here, then we should go," Skulker said with impatience.

Sam walked right up to the Ghost Hunter and looked up at him and said in exasperation, "And then what? We don't know where the Observants' home is!"

"Why don't we just wait a few minutes and see if he comes back?" Jazz offered while moving between the two to purposely separate them.

Skulker glared at both girls and then folding his arms across his chest, announced, "We will wait for only a few minutes and then we will go. I can always use my superior hunting skills to track where the half-ghosts could be!"

Sam rolled her eyes and Jazz sighed in relief.

"Well, we might as well make ourselves comfortable," Tucker said as he sat on a nearby small bench and pulled out his PDA.

Sam just folded her arms over her chest and grunted in frustration before she purposely looked away from Skulker and glanced over to one of the windows.

The Ghost Hunter stood his ground, kept his arms folded over his chest, and started surveying the room with his eyes again.

Jazz, however, started to walk around the room, watching everything in awe once more. Finally, she was drawn to the mirror posted on a pedestal in the middle of the room.

When she was right next to it, she reached out to it before saying, "Why is this thing in the middle of the room?"

Upon hearing what Jazz had asked, both Sam and Tucker had glanced over at her just before she was about to touch the orb on the pedestal.

Both of the younger teens yelled at the same time, "Jazz, don't!"

But it was too late. In fact, Jazz had startled at their cry and her hand had then brushed against the reflective surface of the orb.

Instantly, the orb emitted a loud 'beep' and the 'mirror's reflective surface melded into static.

A moment later, a still image showed up on the Time Viewing Orb.

Jazz gasped and reflexively backed away as the others actually drew nearer.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Jazz uttered out, "I didn't mean to touch it!"

"That's okay, Jazz," Sam said, her eyes still glued to the screen. "Maybe, as Clockwork would say, 'it's fate'. Let's watch."

The foursome crowded around the Time Viewing Orb, which was still just showing the same frozen image that had first appeared on the screen. And, oddly, that image was a picture of a window—a strange looking decorated window. But the window was perfectly aligned within the Time Viewing Orb.

Tucker was about to comment when, suddenly, the image began to 'move'. And the way it moved was as if the viewer was a bird and was seeing things through its own eyes as it began to fly forward and through some window 'pane'. In other words, it was like being on one of those popular '3-D' virtual rides that simulated roller coasters or being on the space shuttle.

At first, the speed of the virtual flight was slow, though the teens and Skulker kept their eyes glued to the scene. The images of what they saw remained focused and did not sway to either side of what was being shown. And the 'flight path' seemed to be dead straight and never appeared to turn either to the left or to the right.

At first, all the '3-D movie' seemed to show was the endless green and black atmosphere of the Realm Beyond Time. But occasionally, small, strange floating abodes flew past and then the momentum of the 'movie' sped up so that everything around that could have been seen was now a blur.

Finally, after several minutes, the 'movie' slowed to a virtual stop in front of an odd glowing ring within a larger glowing ring, which spun as if observing its surroundings. However, as if shifting gear, the moving image soon continued forward again, this time speeding up slightly as it dove right through the center of the smaller ring.

In an instant, the four travelers were at a new location and saw a strange looking floating green boulder in the near distance and just to their right. As they drew 'nearer' they could see that it was some kind of sculpture—shaped just like an….eyeball!

Then, all of the sudden, Jazz yelped, "Look! Just ahead!"

What they saw….they could only guess. But, really, none of the foursome could say they were wrong to conclude by the 'eyeball' decor that their virtual ride was coming upon the Observants' fortress.

It was hard to miss the multi-tiered dome-shaped bluish-green and white buildings all clustered together stacked upon a floating black craggily mountain.

Several of the buildings had what looked like telescopes jutting out of them. Others also looked like they had fully retracted their telescopes yet had not closed the rectangular opening in their dome roof.

But what made each of companions convinced that this must be where the Observants were was the huge green orb shaped just like a bloodshot eye including a green pupil. The eyeball-like orb was nestled right in the bosom of the multiple buildings and seemed to glare at the viewers.

Even as the Observant citadel came 'closer' through the viewing screen of the Time Viewing Orb, the foursome remained mesmerized at the sight.

Then each of the companions reflexively uttered a "Whoah!" when their virtual ride took a hard turn to the left and each of the companions weren't even aware that they had leaned to the left as well.

The scene continued to twist and turn rapidly; and occasional utterances of "whoahs!" and "ahhs!" erupted by some of the four watching the scene as their virtual ride continued on its seemingly wild flight path. Before they knew it, however, they were diving down into a large dark hole within the roof of the leftmost dome-shaped buildings.

For a moment, the Time Viewing Orb seemed to turn itself off because its screen remained black for several seconds.

The foursome was about to look at each other, confused by what they had just seen, when Tucker yelled, "Look at that!"

Four sets of eyes reverted back to the screen when they could see a bright light fast approaching the black tunnel that they had been in. A heartbeat and core constriction later, they squinted their eyes briefly when total brightness flooded the screen.

But the scene on the screen did not end there. The area came into sharp focus even though the four companions' virtual 'ride' had not slowed. Rather, it sped up.

And even though the scene was moving quickly, the four sets of eyes saw where they were, and knew that they had approached the area from the ceiling.

They were in some kind of room, but it wasn't square like most rooms they knew. It had blue corner-less walls curving symmetrically inward on all sides. Black seams accented the curves and were the only adornments on the walls except for several ugly orb-shaped screens that clung to the walls with some kind of thick, red rope. And each of those screens mirrored their surroundings like the Time Viewing Orb had when it was off.

But then, as the screen moved quickly downward and forward, the four companions saw that they were 'approaching' some kind of glowing being entirely clothed in a full-length purple cloak, its hood shielding its face and head, standing at a nearby table. But, oddly, its head was tilted upward toward them, as if _it_ were looking at _them._

Though they strained to see if they could recognize that creature, their virtual escort rapidly pulled them right up to where the creature's face should be. Before the foursome knew it, a set of red eyes flared at them before the red eyes suddenly blinked!

Then all of the sudden, several images flashed as fast as lightening across the screen. They moved and changed so quickly, the foursome could only catch snippets of the 'snapshot' pictures. Some of the images were blurred. Others were more focused but changed too rapidly to comprehend what they were.

Still, when several more images flashed by, Sam or Jazz would utter loud gasps when they thought they saw something familiar in them, while Tucker's eyes stayed widened with his own anxiety; even Skulker stood up straighter at what he saw… But before the four viewers knew it, the images—which in reality had lasted only a few seconds—disappeared. They suddenly heard a loud beep and then jumped when the next thing they were looking at was their own reflections!

They knew then that when the Time Viewing Orb beeped it had shut itself off.

Team Phantom and Skulker stood stunned in front of the now inactive Time Viewing Orb, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Tucker broke the silence and said, "What was that all about?"

Sam looked at him before her eyes drifted to what was behind her friend. The goth girl then suddenly yelled, "Look! Over there!"

Her cohorts swung on their heels and looked in her direction. They frowned a bit when they saw that Sam was only pointing to one of Clockwork's windows.

"Don't you get it?" Sam excitedly said, walking over to the overly decorated window even as she saw their frowns. "That is the _same_ window that was at the start of that weird video we just saw!"

Now just as excited, Jazz hurried over to the window and said, "Sam's right!"

"That video is indeed strange," Skulker added, one of his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "But it is even stranger that it appeared at the time that the Ghost Child's sister activated that viewing screen."

"It's called the 'Time Viewing Orb'," Tucker quipped back with a smirk. But then his face dropped and he gulped when Sam frowned at him.

But neither Jazz nor Skulker missed that exchange between the friends and both of them turned to Sam and Tucker with an 'Okay-we-know-that-you- know-something-you-are-not-telling' look.

Sam finally said, "Like we told you, we met Clockwork before. And…I think that strange being we saw just before the Time Viewing Orb deactivated looked a lot like Clockwork—well, at least it looked like Clockwork's robe."

Jazz raised an eyebrow and ventured to ask, "So, if it was, uhm, who you said was under that cloak, and he is Danny's friend like you said before, do you think maybe he sent this video to help us, sorta like a high-tech message-in-a-bottle kind of thing?"

"Exactly!" Sam said.

"Yeah, I mean, the flashes of the images we saw at the end also looks like something Clockwork could do," Tucker added. He frowned as he added, "I don't know what those images at the end could mean since they went by so fast… but… I'm pretty sure I saw glimpses of Vlad and Danny and…"

"Iluzisto," Skulker muttered, also knowing he had seen the evil spirit. But as he tried to think back on those quick images, Skulker was almost sure he had seen images of his employer and the Ghost Boy not only inside a prison, but in other images, they and Iluzisto were inside a strange circular room—the same room the kids and him had seen the virtual trip lead them to…

But even with all that proof, Skulker still didn't like any of this and he readily voiced it. "I still do not trust all of this. If this 'Clockwork' is supposed to be such a friend, why wasn't he here in person and just tell us what we needed to know?" Skulker asked, his voice still ringing with suspicion.

Tucker hesitantly replied, "W-Well, one thing we know about Clockwork is that he's very mysterious and doesn't like to really get involved in things. Maybe this is his way of getting involved without getting involved—er, or something like that."

The foursome fell silent for a moment before Jazz finally said, "Well, I may not know all about that ghost—"

"Spirit," Skulker corrected her.

Jazz rolled her eyes before continuing, "_Spirit_, but Mr. Clockman—"

"Clockwork!" both Sam and Tucker correcting her this time.

"Arghh! Whatever! But if he is trying to help without appearing to help, then showing this weird video would kinda make sense," Jazz said with some exasperation.

"You have a point, whelp," Skulker said, a bit more satisfied at the turn-of-events. He walked up to Sam who was still standing at the window with the purple curtains and purple velvet-like sash. "Then, if Clockwork is that strange, and if it is true what the Ghost Boy's female helper said about this window being the same as the image of the window that had started that strange film, then that would mean that it must be at _this_ precise window where _we_ need to start!" Skulker surmised.

"You might be on to something there, Skulker," Jazz agreed, her face brightening with hope.

Tucker then added, "Yeah, and that wild simulated ride was perfectly straight until the very end and we saw plenty of landmarks, too. Plus, where it ended could be the Observants' place."

"Or…it could have ended up showing us _how_ to get _into_ the Observants' fortress!" Sam offered with a triumphant smirk.

Addressing Sam, Skulker said with his own smirk, "I still like how you think."

"Uh, thanks," Sam hesitantly said.

"Still, exactly how far is it from here to there?" Tucker asked.

"It does not matter," Skulker replied, now throwing his gaze among each of the teens. "But we best be going and not stray from the path that the video showed us. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" the teens said in unison.

Not wasting any more time, Skulker pushed a button and his extra arm extensions shot out.

None of the teens hesitated this time and didn't flinch when the large bands at the end of the arm extensions wrapped themselves around their waists.

But as soon as the humans were secured, Skulker quickly raised one of his larger guns, and without hesitating, fired a blast at the decorated window.

"Skulker!" Jazz exclaimed when the window exploded out in tiny shards. "What are you doing?"

The hunter who was about to fly them out, paused and frowned at the older human girl and replied, "What is the problem?"

"You broke Clockwork's window! You can't go destroying other's private property!" she scolded.

The hunter raised an irritated eyebrow and said, "I am a ghost. I destroy private property all the time. And why are you making such a fuss over something so trivial, human?"

But annoyed for the delay herself, Sam added, "Really, Jazz, if we all agree that Clockwork probably knows we are here, wouldn't you think he would understand that we broke his window?"

"Um, guys," Tucker interrupted, and pointed at the window.

Skulker and the girls looked over at it and blinked when they saw the window was intact again.

"Maybe some more of that timeless magic stuff?" the boy suggested.

"Either way, problem is solved!" Skulker announced and quickly raised his gun up and blasted the window again. And being careful with his passengers, Skulker dove through the broken window before it could reform.

"Ghosts…" Jazz grumbled under her breath, but said no more on the issue, while Danny's friends were just eager to be on their way.

They continued straight as an arrow toward what they hoped was the Observants' domain, not knowing that it would take them many hours to get there, nor that the fifth day since Danny and Plasmius had disappeared would have melded into the sixth day...

* * *

While the hybrids were at the infirmary getting checked and fixed up, the Observant High Council had left the courtroom to discuss the half-ghosts' sentencing in private. And yet, because Justeco had also asked to speak with Iluzisto in private in regards to Vlad Plasmius' injury, the Prison Head had _also_ retreated with the judge and council members…

As for the spectators, they had also taken advantage of the brief recess to leave the courtroom as well—probably to gossip more freely about the trial's happenings.

Only two spirits were left in the courtroom:

Spektanto and… Clockwork.

The Time Master quietly glanced over at the defending lawyer and saw him completely immersed in his writing. And yet, as if suddenly realizing someone was staring at him, Spektanto slowly looked up from his writing and his eye connected to the Time Master's.

"Master Prosecutor?" Spektanto questioned softly as he glanced around their empty and quiet surroundings in confusion. "Where did everyone go?"

Clockwork raised an impassive eyebrow as he almost dryly replied, "Justeco called a short recess so that your… elder client's injury could be addressed and so that they could decide his and the boy's fate."

Spektanto blinked twice before his eye widened a bit in understanding and he answered, "Oh, yes. That is right. I had forgotten and lost track of time…" He glanced at the paper on which he was writing before muttering, "There is just so much to tell…"

"Interesting how a being that is not influenced by time believes he could possibly have any notion of it," Clockwork commented calmly, glancing back at his time staff and inspecting it slightly.

Spektanto blinked again, this time in confusion. "Yes, well, as the upstanding Observant lawyer that I am, it is my responsibility to have a notion of everything."

"I, of all spirits, know how upstanding the Observants' notion of _everything_ is…," Clockwork answered. But glancing back at the lawyer, the Time Master added, "But is that what you are doing? Observing and recording your notion of everything?"

"It will be my greatest masterpiece," Spektanto replied, glancing back at the stacks of papers on the table.

"Then, you should continue to observe your masterpiece," Clockwork stated, this time a hint of annoyance in his voice as he turned his eyes back to his staff.

"Quite right," the lawyer agreed before readily resuming his vigorous scribbling.

A small frown settled on Clockwork's face as he studied the clock-piece on the top of his staff. However, he then reached forward and winded it, causing it to glow blue. But right after, the Time Spirit did something unexpected…

Clockwork slowly looked over at the air vent just above the oblivious lawyer—the very same vent Danny had attempt to escape through…

But as he continued to stare fixedly at it, the top of his staff continued to pulse with blue energy. It almost seemed like a minute before Clockwork finally blinked. His eyes flashed a deeper red for a second or two before he looked away from the air vent and watched as his staff dimmed and finally stopped glowing.

For some reason, Clockwork smirked to himself.

But then, he reflexively put on his poker-face when the main doors of the courtroom opened and the Observant spectators began filing in. A moment later, Iluzisto returned with the hybrids; and finally, Justeco and the High Council took their seats.

Clockwork frowned deeply as the High Tribunal began their long-winded speech about re-opening the hybrid's trial. As he did his best to block out their repetitive and tedious customs, the Time Master secretly decided that after all he had done, he would never again put himself through one of the Observants annoying trials again.

"Accused, please rise for the reading of your final verdict," Justeco finally ordered.

Danny and Vlad, who were now in their ghost forms, looked at each other before they did as they were told. But Clockwork and Spektanto also rose.

"Before we pronounce sentence, I would like to provide this Council and those observing this trial an explanation as to why Prisoner 484 had to be taken to the infirmary," the judge continued. "You see, it has been brought to my attention that the prisoners attempted to escape for a _third_ time—right after their second attempt right here in this very court room. And therefore, Prison Head Iluzisto had had no choice but to use forceful measures to subdue them. It was necessary to bring this new information to the Council's knowledge before proceeding."

Danny and Vlad looked at each other, suddenly angry when they realized that Iluzisto had managed to thwart their second attempt to unmask him in front of the Council. He had made up that they had tried to escape again! But what upset the hybrids most was that denying it would be pointless. Still, it didn't matter, for Vlad and Danny had one more idea up their sleeve...

"Even so," Justeco proceeded, "Both accused prisoners' last counts will be eliminated, as has been agreed, to prevent any chance of a mistrial. We shall then proceed with the rest of their suspected crimes. But before then, I would like to leave the floor open to any last words from any of the participating members of this trial, including any that the accused may want to voice themselves."

However, it was Clockwork who first nodded to show he wanted to say something. And getting the 'go ahead' nod back, he turned to the High Tribunal and said, "I would like to speak, though not as these two hybrids' prosecutor, but as whom I am: the Guardian of Time… I have seen both Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom's actions and choices through their timeline. I have watched as they have grown powerful and infamous through the course of it. And I have seen the things of which they are capable when brought together. As the Master of Time, I find their existence dangerously influential to the natural movement of time. Such uninhibited power as they have is too great a threat to all Existence and Time. Therefore, the wisest choice would be that they were eliminated."

Danny's eyes widened in disbelief, while Vlad frowned deeply, not sure what to make of the time spirit's comment.

Meanwhile, the Council quietly muttered to themselves.

Justeco lightly banged his gavel before looking over at Spektanto and asking, "Do you have anything to add?"

Spektanto thought about it briefly before he nodded and said, "Yes, I agree with the Master Prosecutor. But since I am their defender, I will instead say that they are innocent."

Vlad's eye twitched with Spektanto's comment, while Justeco slowly nodded, clearly baffled by the defender's conflicting words.

Justeco then looked at the hybrids. "Prisoner—"

"Yes, I have something to say!" Vlad cut him off, ignoring the High Tribunal's frown. "I find the Observants system of justice barbaric and ridiculous! That is why I shouldn't even bother pointing out how you all have no right to judge, let alone condemn us! We are not some figurines inside some snow globe that you can get rid of simply because you do not like how we look! We are free beings! We have the right to do what we want and live our lives as we choose! How _dare_ you put us through this!" Vlad fumed, slamming a fist on the table in front of him, and startling both Danny and Spektanto. However, what Vlad said next shocked the teenager even more…

"If all you Observants do is _observe_ then how could you all be so _blind_ as to not see all the good Daniel and I have done for the ghost and human world alike? Yes, perhaps I have made a few mistakes and have done my share of evil. But who has not? My existence has placed a certain order in the ghost realm. If it wasn't for my influence and my allegiance with many of the powerful ghosts that exist, you would have them all trying to conquer the world or wrecking havoc upon existence instead of doing my bidding—which is a lot more ordered than the things of which these ghosts are capable. Then, there's the fact that I am as equally important to the hierarchy in the human world's economy as I am to the power-hierarchy here in the Ghost Zone!" Vlad exclaimed; but his voice grew harsher and more defensive as he further said, "But if you believe _my_ actions are all pure evil, then why don't you all take a step back from your arrogance and acknowledge that the boy beside me is innocent! The stubborn boy is so blasted _good,_ it even sickens me!" he sneered. "And yet you all accuse him of being pure evil? You all are fools! **Stupid, narrow-minded, fools!"**

"That's enough, Prisoner 484!" Justeco demanded, finally fed up, while Danny just continued to stare at his arch-enemy in absolute disbelief. Did Plasmius just defend him?

But then the judge continued just as angrily, "I have given you the chance to speak on your behalf, _not_ to insult this upstanding Council and our laws!"

"Oh, that's right," Vlad sneered. "I forgot how much you all dislike being told how worthless you all are. Fine, then, allow _us_ to show you…"

Danny jolted out of his stupor with the older hybrid's last words, and knowing this was their cue, the teen quickly narrowed his eyes at the Council and followed Vlad's lead.

Justeco frowned in confusion when both hybrids' ghost hues suddenly flared brighter than ever before…

"What in the…?" the judge began.

But before he could finish, Vlad suddenly turned to Spektanto and said darkly, "I have been _dying_ to do this…" In one quick movement, Plasmius pulled his fist back and then punched the defense lawyer in the face with enough force that he flew back several feet with a cry of pain before he was knocked out cold.

With the sound of the Council's shouts and gasps around him, Danny jumped into action and charged right at… Clockwork.

But seeing his intentions, the Time Spirit raised his staff in a horizontal position in front of him to block the young hybrid just as the boy reached him with his fist drawn back.

The teen growled at the block, knowing he could not punch the spirit anymore as he had wanted. But he quickly reacted and instead gripped the staff placed in between him and the Time Spirit.

"I see you are angry with me," Clockwork said calmly, though he held the staff steadily between them.

"That's an understatement, you jerk!" Danny snapped back before yanking the staff towards him, trying to take it from the Time Master.

"I do what I must… Allow me to prove it to you," Clockwork answered before his staff suddenly began to glow blue.

Danny gasped when his entire body also lit up with the blue power, unaware that the same hue was also encasing the Time Master. But the teen was very aware of the sudden pain that shot from the staff into his hands and soon coursed through his body.

The boy screamed in agony.

Vlad, who had been fighting against the guards trying to restrain him, quickly turned his attention to the teen at hearing his cry of pain.

"Daniel!" he exclaimed, only to be tackled down by two guards. Still, he used all his might to force them off and continued to fight against them

"Iluzisto! What are you waiting for? Restrain them!" Justeco demanded angrily, while the Council and everyone else were in an uproar.

Iluzisto, however, only tensed some more. He finally understood what the hybrids' plan was. They wanted him to be discovered. And with their energy so exposed as it was, Iluzisto knew that if he touched them, it was exactly what would happen! He wouldn't be able to stop himself from taking their energy—not when his body sensed how close it was to reaching its full potential and the crossbreeds' energy was all it needed…

Iluzisto suddenly thought of using the restraining collars on the crossbreeds to subdue them. But then…that would weaken them; and all the energy they had clearly gathered just to get him discovered would be wasted! If he weakened them now, how was he going to siphon off their delectable energy later?

His hands were tied!

"Or… are they?" Iluzisto whispered, his eyes flashing red with his sudden idea. In an instant, there was a ripple throughout the courtroom—one which no one noticed…

That is, except for Clockwork...

But right after, Iluzisto quickly flew over to Plasmius, who was still holding his own quite well against the Observant guards in spite of not having ghost powers thanks to the power-inhibiting device on his neck. In fact, the older crossbreed had somehow gotten possession of one of the Observant guards' weapon and was now blasting them away with it.

Iluzisto was briefly amazed by the older crossbreed's resilience. Still, it did not matter. The illusionist spirit had to regain control of this before he really was discovered. After all, Iluzisto could already feel his own power-inhibiting devices on his wrists fighting against the amount of power he was currently using to keep his cover…

Meanwhile, Vlad spun around, kicking a guard in a gut when it tried to tackle him from behind. He then quickly used the stolen Observant guard weapon in his hand and blasted another away before striking a third guard with it, sending him flying across the room.

And knowing this wasn't the first time he had used the Observants own weapons against them, Vlad grinned as he commented to himself, "To think, these fools have yet to learn to keep their little toys away from me."

But his triumph was short-lived and he suddenly gasped when he barely caught a glimpse of a familiar staff swinging towards his face. Still, Plasmius managed to dodge it, and quickly raised his own weapon to fire it at the unseen creature in front of him, only to have a strong energy blast knock it out of his hands.

The man gasped even louder when a hand was just as quickly wrapped around his throat and Iluzisto's stealth mode melded off his body, confirming just who it was that had seized the older hybrid.

"How? They can see you!" Vlad choked out, not believing the illusionist spirit was using his powers so deliberately.

"What?" Iluzisto said smugly, pulling the man closer to him as his grip around his throat tightened. "Do you think the Observants are unaware of my doings? Do you think they do not know how I have been torturing you and the other crossbreed? Do you think they… _care_ that I am milking you and that other freak for your energies?" Iluzisto chuckled evilly before darkly adding, "Fool, they do not care. _Observe_…"

Vlad cried out when Iluzisto suddenly stole his energy right in front of everyone. And yet, the man didn't see the ripple that traveled through the courtroom yet again. All Plasmius was aware of was how his body quickly weakened.

But although Iluzisto soon stopped before the man was completely depleted of energy, Vlad was suddenly so weak that when the spirit released his hold on him, the man fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily as he tried to push back the black spots in his eyes.

He had not expected Iluzisto to drain him of his energy in front of everyone! But Plasmius also didn't understand why the illusionist spirit had only taken enough to subdue him…

At that instant, a burst of blue light erupted from the Time Staff, and Danny, who had still been crying out in pain, suddenly was thrown back and slammed into the interrogation stand. He slid down the side of the stand and crumbled to the ground.

Clockwork was also pushed away, but only a few feet, so he was able to quickly steady himself.

However, as a result of the odd explosion, both Danny and Clockwork had lost their hold on the Time Staff…

The Master of Time quickly looked over at his staff, which was now suspended in mid-air on its own. However, it suddenly stopped glowing and fell on the ground with a light thud.

Instead of moving to pick up his staff, however, Clockwork just placed a hand against the desk beside him before he glanced over at Iluzisto, who was still occupied with the older hybrid. There was another sudden but final ripple throughout the courtroom, just before Iluzisto turned his gaze towards the younger hybrid and commanded his guards to restrain him.

Danny softly moaned as he slowly got to his feet, his ghostly aura now a bit dimmed. That had really hurt! But before he could recover, two guards were suddenly upon him, forcing him forward and back to his seat.

The teen hardly heard the upheaval still going on throughout the courtroom. In fact Danny hadn't seen anything that had happened with Vlad and Iluzisto; therefore, he did not know that Iluzisto had drained Vlad of his energy right in front of everyone. The boy also wasn't aware that the older hybrid had seen part of what had happened to him with his encounter with Clockwork.

Suddenly, the loud sound of Justeco's gavel pounded against the boy's ears as the judge demanded order.

However, just before Danny reached his seat, Iluzisto intercepted his path and darkly whispered at him, "Nice try, crossbreed… You are going to further regret this, though..."

Danny glared back, though the Prison Head's words sent a chill of terror down his spine. Danny knew that they had failed to unmask Iluzisto in front of the other Observants, but he wasn't about to let on how helpless he was. Yet, before he could get himself to snap something back, the guards holding him yanked him forward and forced him to take his seat next to a weakened Vlad….

Iluzisto moved away as well, heading back towards his corner of the courtroom. However, as he did, he finally noticed Clockwork, who had finally moved away from the desk and over to his staff.

The illusionist spirit's eye curved into something resembling curiosity and confusion when he saw the Time Master actually bend over to pick up his Time Staff. However, hearing Justeco finally regain silence in the room, the Prison Head dismissed Clockwork's oddity and returned to his post. Iluzisto didn't take his eyes off the hybrids after that.

Meanwhile, Danny had finally noticed Vlad's condition and quickly asked, "Are you alright?"

"No, not really," Vlad muttered, taking a breath before rubbing his suddenly aching skull. But glancing worriedly at the teen, he added, "And you?"

Danny was a bit surprised by the man's honest response; but hearing his question, the teen grabbed his own pounding head and answered, "Been better."

The two shared a weak smile, knowing their last attempt to unmask Iluzisto had been blown out of the water. Still, it had been worth a try.

With the thought, Danny turned his gaze away from the older hybrid and stared coldly over at Clockwork. He had just wanted to get at least _one_ hit on the treacherous spirit. One hit in the name of his sister and friends... After all, he still didn't understand how Clockwork could have done all those horrible things to him.

"Why is it that every time we meet, you two end up causing mayhem in my courtroom?" Justeco suddenly exclaimed angrily, getting everyone's attention.

Vlad and Danny just quietly glowered back at the judge from their seats. But neither said anything. It would be a waste of breath. Vlad especially knew the bitter truth after he had just discovered _just how much_ the Observants didn't care.

However, everyone glanced toward a sudden moan from somewhere on the left. They had forgotten about Spektanto, but could now see that he was finally stirring after being knocked out by Vlad's punch.

Iluzisto rolled his lone eye before ordering the Observant guards, "Take him to the infirmary."

There was a brief silence; and wondering why, Danny and Vlad glanced up toward Justeco.

They could see that the High Tribunal's advisor was whispering something to him. And then right afterward, the judge nodded in response to whatever he was being told before looking back at the hybrids.

"I should postpone reading the final verdict due to your disrespect to this council—_again!_ However, because I do not want to see either of you in my courtroom again, then I am going to proceed with the reading. Get them on their feet, Prison Head. And this time, make sure they are well restrained," Justeco commanded angrily.

Iluzisto instantly snapped his fingers and two guards close to the hybrids quickly forced the half-ghosts to their feet again, while roughly pinning their arms behind them. The Prison Head then floated toward the two prisoners, pulling out two pairs of handcuffs as he neared them. Danny and Vlad just grunted in discomfort and frustration as their hands were clasped behind their back. They staggered a bit as well, not only because of their harsh treatment, but also because they were still drained from their little battle.

Once finished, Iluzisto did not leave the crossbreeds' side this time, and said to Justeco, "It is as you have ordered, High Tribune."

Sighing to restrain his anger, Justeco finally continued, "Before we start, I must first let it be known that every circumstance and happening throughout this entire trial has been taken into consideration by myself and the High Council. That said, I ask the High Council for permission to proceed in the reading of the verdict."

"Proceed," they all said.

Justeco picked up a scroll that was in front of him with an engraved eyeball on the back of it centered on the top of the parchment. He then unrolled it and began to read straight from it, "Vlad Plasmius. Danny Phantom. You have both been charged with several counts, all on which the Observant High Council will voice their decision. Count one against Prisoner 484—Vlad Plasmius and 485—Danny Phantom: Illegal usage of the Infi-Map; and, in turn, illegal alterations to the time stream. What say you, High Council?"

"Prisoner 484: Guilty. Prisoner 485: Not guilty," the High Council answered.

Danny blinked in surprise, while Vlad just frowned. Still, neither said anything and let Justeco continue.

"Count two is also against both Prisoner 484 and 485. Both are being accused of direct time travel on several occasions and indirect alterations of the time stream in the form of an evil future ghost formed through the combination of the prisoners' ghost halves. What says the council?"

"Prisoner 484: Not guilty. Prisoner 485: Guilty."

Danny just sighed, although he was not surprised that he was found guilty about his evil self. Though, ironically, Vlad, in their opinion, was not guilty of that…

"The next counts are in direct violation against the safety of Existence. Count three against both prisoners: Endangerment of both the Ghost Zone and Human World by the releasing of Pariah Dark and his servant, Fright Knight."

"Prisoner 484: Guilty. Prisoner 485: Guilty."

"Count four against prisoner 484—Vlad Plasmius: Assisting a dangerous ghost named Vortex in his escape, and endangerment to the natural order. Count four against Prisoner 485—Danny Phantom, also includes the ghost Vortex. However, the accused endangered the natural order by directly using the weather ghost's powers."

"Prisoner 484: Guilty. Prisoner 485: Guilty," the High Council continued to announce.

Vlad and Danny just looked at each other with a sober look, hardly shocked at this point. In fact, there was a bit of acceptance in both their eyes…

"The following counts have been filed under insufficient evidence or ambiguous information," Justeco then read off. "Charge five: Future endangerment of all Existence in space."

"Prisoners not guilty."

"Count six for prisoner 485—Danny Phantom: The usage of the Reality Gems, which led to the alteration of reality itself. Count six for prisoner 485—Vlad Plasmius: Bringing unnaturally into existence a being by the name of Danielle Phantom."

"Prisoners not guilty."

Vlad and Danny's eyes widened in disbelief this time, before the teen quietly whispered, "Uh, did I do the math right? Are we three for three?"

Plasmius slowly nodded. Was it possible that they were tied? Three counts of 'not guilty' and three of 'guilty' for each of them? The man couldn't believe it… They actually had a chance of being let off the hook!

"As everyone knows, this trial has not been effortless," Justeco intoned, lowering the scroll in his hand that he had been reading from and addressing the courtroom. "Both of the accused have been uncooperative for most of its duration. However, we cannot legally base our _final_ verdict on their actions in the courtroom alone. However, if you all recall, it was brought to our attention by Prison Head Iluzisto at the very beginning of this trial's preliminary briefing that Prisoner 484 and 485 resisted arrest—_even after_ the reasons for their detainment had been calmly explained to them."

Danny opened his mouth to protest that as a lie when he felt a slight nudge to his side, which silenced him. He turned to see that it was Vlad who had slightly bumped him since the man's hands were still cuffed behind him. And he could tell by not only the man's prodding, but also from the expression in his eyes that Vlad had silently sent Danny the message that it was now pointless to try and defend themselves anymore.

"Furthermore," Justeco continued, "we all have witnessed an escape attempt in this very courtroom. And as previously mentioned, one took place prior to that one while they were in their cell rooms; and a _third_ attempt to escape occurred just outside the courtroom after the one that was witnessed by us all. Finally, their actions just now cannot be ignored, either; and can further be easily seen as a _fourth_ attempt to escape. So, taking all this into consideration, the High Council must now decide the final verdict of this trial against Prisoners 484 and 485."

The High Tribune paused and glanced around at the Council's _faces_ displayed on the large screens around the room before asking, "What say you, Observant High Council?"

As that final question rang throughout the courtroom, Vlad's jaw tensed with hate, already sure what they would say. But Danny was still hopeful. Didn't they see that he was the 'good guy'?

The Council didn't answer right away. Instead, they spent several minutes quietly murmuring amongst themselves. But they soon turned back to Justeco, clearly having made their decision.

"We, the Observant High Council, find Prisoner 484 and 485, respectively Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom, guilty to the highest degree!" they chorused.

Danny just lowered his gaze, while Vlad glanced sympathetically at him.

The Tribune nodded before intoning as well, "I, Justeco—High Tribune and leader of the Observants, too, find both accused guilty on the discussed three counts, as well as a fourth and fifth count: resisting arrest and resisting imprisonment on several occasions. Therefore, I will proceed to the sentencing."

The hybrids could only stare back at the judge with heavy frowns as they waited for the spirit to get this over with.

"Danny Phantom. Vlad Plasmius," Justeco began gravely. "In light of the severity of your crimes and the danger that both of your unstable alliance and unique powers pose on Time and Existence, this High Council, including myself, has found no other alternative but to sentence you both with the gravest condemnation: Execution by means of Timeless Magic."

In spite of the fact that both hybrids had been sure that their execution was going to be the Council's final sentencing, it did nothing to quell the dread that clenched their hearts and minds at finally hearing their fate out loud. It didn't matter that they didn't understand how the 'Timeless Magic' would be used for that purpose.

This was the end for both of them.

Vlad bit his lip to keep calm, but hearing the teen's soft shallow breathing, he carefully leaned to his side and brushed against the boy. The man honestly was more frightened for the teen than himself. But what made it worse was that hearing Justeco's verdict forced the man to acknowledge that he had failed Maddie. As much as he had tried, Vlad had not been able to save her son. He couldn't keep himself or the boy from the Observants' dark fate…

Danny understood and appreciated the man's awkward gesture. He was sure that the man had guessed how frightened he was, and, really, the man wasn't far from the truth. But there was more. Danny was fighting back his tears also because he knew he had failed his sister and friends…and that he was never going to see his parents again… The only thing that was keeping him from just breaking down right there was the thought that he wasn't going through this alone. He was certain that that was what Vlad meant in that brief touch of concern. How ironical. He was a bit relieved with that knowledge even as he knew that this was the end for him.

However, whatever little comfort the two enemies could provide for each other was suddenly ripped from them as Justeco suddenly called out Okulo's name before explaining, "As is customary, the Observant liaison must now make tangible that these prisoners here today have been proven guilty of their crimes and therefore their fate has now been decided…"

Vlad and Danny tensed when they saw Okulo approach them while Iluzisto moved behind them and grabbed them firmly by their bound hands.

They had no idea what the judge meant by making 'their decided fate tangible'; but when the liaison pulled out that horrid orb from his cloak, the hybrids knew they were not going to like it. But before they could protest, the orb that usually would glow green, turned blood red and they just as suddenly felt the brand on their foreheads burn.

Vlad and Danny squeezed their eyes shut and hissed at the biting pain. The brand had not hurt this much since they first had been placed on them. However, the uncomfortable feeling was soon gone and all that was left was a dull throb.

"It is now proper for all who lay eyes on these prisoners to know that they have been justly condemned and await execution," Justeco continued, while the hybrids recovered and Okulo returned to his seat, though a small smirk ghosted his lips as he left…

"Our normal proceedings grant prisoners one full day in terms of the timeline before this sort of sentencing is carried out," Justeco explained. "And, it is in the prisoners' right to accept or refuse it. However," Justeco then said, finally addressing the hybrids directly, who were both now glaring darkly at him. They had finally seen on each other what the judge had ordered Okulo to do: the brand on their forehead was no longer the white color. It was now a pulsing blood red color that might as well have been a neon sign that said 'we are killing the hybrids!'

Still, ignoring their hateful looks, the judge calmly continued, "However, Prison Head Iluzisto has explained to me that he wishes to rectify his unintentional mistake of keeping you undernourished. He also believes you two are in no condition to make a lucid decision in this regard. And although, I honestly could care less, considering all the trouble you have caused me and this Council, I am forced to make sure there are no misgivings for the sake of the Observants' good name. Therefore, the High Council, alongside your Prison Head, have decided to make the decision for you and grant you both that day of rest—perhaps even two, if Iluzisto deems it necessary for your recovery. In that time, he will make sure you both fully heal and are correctly nourished so that everything can be done in proper order. Only until then will we proceed with carrying out your sentence."

Vlad's mouth gaped open. So, that's why Iluzisto had looked so smug when he had gone to retrieve them at the infirmary! He had twisted everything they had done for his gain!

"No!" the older hybrid suddenly said angrily. "We don't want your _considerations!_ I will not be put under the care of _that_ barbaric spirit for even one more day!" the man exclaimed, pointing at Iluzisto.

"You cannot speak for both—" Justeco began, only to be cut off by Danny.

"He doesn't need to speak for me! I don't want any days, either! If you want to waste us, then just get it over with!"

Justeco stared at the two hybrids in confusion. He had never seen any prisoners so set on being executed right away. Actually, most begged for more than just one or two days… So that could mean only one thing…

"You two are clearly unwell. So, in right conscious, I cannot do as you ask," Justeco replied.

"What 'right conscious'?" Vlad screamed. "You are going to kill us, you fool! And your guard dog is going to torture us for the next one or two days before you do!"

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes at the insult, but kept quiet.

Danny's breathing suddenly grew heavier. This couldn't be happening! If he was going to die, he refused to have his last days be used by Iluzisto to gain freedom and hurt others!

"Don't you guys get it? That's what Iluzisto wants!" the boy suddenly exclaimed, sounding panicked. "He is trying to use us to escape! He's going to escape if you guys leave us with him for even one day!"

The Council began to murmur with the serious implications against Iluzisto.

But Iluzisto growled under his breath before a ripple suddenly passed through the courtroom again. It was only then that the Prison Head spoke up, "High Council, with all due respect, you cannot possibly believe a word these two prisoners are saying. How could I possibly do as they say?" he asked, showing them the restraints on his wrists. "Furthermore, look at them and think about all they have done. Listening to them, or worse, _considering_ their claims is equal to paying mind to two demented and dangerous beings."

Justeco and the Council looked at Danny and Vlad and gasped at the sight of them. But the hybrids frowned in confusion, not getting their strange reactions. Sure, they probably looked a bit ruffled after the illusionist spirit had stolen a good amount of Vlad's energy and Danny had gotten attacked by Clockwork's staff, but they couldn't look so bad as to have the Observants stare at them in such shock…

"Yes… they are clearly unwell," Justeco said seriously.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow at the judge's comment, but stayed as quiet as he had been throughout all this.

"Please, allow me to take them back to their cell. I will make sure they are given everything they need," Iluzisto requested.

"Very well," Justeco replied. "This trial is then adjourned. You may take them back, Prison Head."

Danny gasped before he shouted, "No! You guys don't know what you're doing!"

But Justeco just slammed his gavel, putting an end to the trial.

The teen looked beyond distraught as he and Vlad were forced back to their feet.

But Plasmius' eyes suddenly narrowed and he looked around the Council room before saying seriously. "My only regret is that I won't be around when your stupidity brings everything crumbling down around you! Mark my words. You all will regret this!"

Justeco sighed in annoyance. "Take them away already."

"As you command," Iluzisto said, internally grinning. "Bring them," he then said to the guards.

Finally turning human, Danny and Vlad grunted as they were forced out of the courtroom. However, as they walked down hallways back to the prison, the man looked over at the teen beside him and sadly said, "It seems… I just made things much worse for us…"

Danny looked up at Iluzisto, who was walking several feet in front of them with an obvious bounce in his 'step'. "It was worth a shot, Vlad," he told him seriously. "We… can always try to escape again."

Vlad forced a smile on his face and nodded. But he knew that escape was only an illusion. And he had a feeling that the boy did, too.

They all too soon got to their cells and they glanced at one another when they heard Iluzisto order the Observants guards to leave just as Iluzisto's personal guards replaced them. Now, with no one to hold the spirit back, he ordered his guards, "Tie them up again."

In spite their struggles, the hybrids soon found themselves chained up by their arms, though, this time, they were at least allowed to keep their shirts on and their feet were touching the ground.

Vlad kept his eyes narrowed on the illusionist spirit as he calmly strolled over to his cell; and wanting to be alone with his victims, Iluzisto dismissed his guards, and then finally opened the cell door.

"Do not believe I'm going to make this easy for you," Vlad told the spirit angrily when he was standing right in front of him.

"That's what's going to make this all the more satisfying," Iluzisto whispered evilly. But then he glanced over at Danny as he added triumphantly, "You two are mine now. And just so you both know, you two are not going to live long enough to see your execution day. _I'll_ be executing you _my way_ first… But before that…"

The hybrids gasped as both their bodies unwillingly turned into their ghost forms.

"No! How did you…?" Vlad choked out, only to trail off when he willed his black rings to return to his human state, only to find that he remained in his ghost form after his efforts.

Danny also tried to turn human, but no matter how many times his rings washed over him, he stayed as Danny Phantom.

Iluzisto's eyes curved upward into a hideous smile as he brought his staff up with the tip pointed at Vlad's ghost chest. "As I said, I will only become stronger as your concept of time moves forward… However, I will let you both in on a little secret: I cannot control your forms; however, the illusion of it is just as good. What do you think? Can you tell if you are really in ghost form or not?"

But not waiting for a response, Iluzisto's eyes flashed a darker red as he added with sadistic pleasure, "I can… "

Danny squeezed his eyes closed when, with an evil laugh, Iluzisto raised the sharp end of his staff, and in one quick motion, stabbed it into Plasmius' core.

The teen didn't know what was worse: hearing Vlad's screams of agony or the knowledge that he was next…

* * *

**A/N: truephan here: Gee, I'm shaking in my sneakers here! I can't imagine that the hybrids are going to get out of this! It looks like that they are at their ropes' end—literally! In any case, you'll just have to wait for what happens next. But while you're waiting, have a go at pushing that blue button below! That would be a wonderful Mother's Day gift…ah, for your mom, that is! Heh-heh…better quit while I still have my head!**

**Vlad muse: Yes… while you have a head… *grins evilly***

**Pearl: *sighs* Stop threatening Truephan, Vlad muse. You know how possessive Ms. Hyde is of her and then you both end up in some big fight and then Truephan and I gotta clean up the mess. *muse scowls* Yeah, Yeah. Anyways, I know you are all wondering what's up with me. But as I said before, I'm very busy as of late, and right now time to write stories is scarce. But don't worry; I'll get an update for CM and later for DoaS eventually. Can't say when. But, hopefully soon. I'm really sorry, and thanks so much for your patience and support! Take care everyone, and until the next update, which hopefully will be CM. Ta!**


	21. Chapter 21: Under Pressure

**A/N: truephan here: Hey, glad you could join us again! And thanks for all your wonderful reviews and thoughts. We just eat it up! Well, then, let's get on it! Hope you enjoy and see you at the bottom!**

**Pearl: Hello all! We have more 'Sid' your way and we are getting close to another exciting climax! Heh-heh! Thank you all for your reviews! Well, enjoy, and see ya all at the bottom!**

* * *

**Chapter 21:Under Pressure**

* * *

Even when they were soaring as fast as they could within the bosom of the Realm Beyond Time, Skulker, Jazz, Tucker and Sam felt time pressuring them, driving its dread as each precious second was lost, even when in reality time was not moving at all in this place. Still, all that did was fuel their already heightened anxiety and anticipation.

Finally, Tucker spotted that strange sets of glowing rings that they had seen in that 3-D video shown by the mysterious Time Viewing Orb and called each of his companions' attention to it.

Their hearts or core leapt a bit in both hope and fear that they may finally be nearing their designation.

Skulker stopped in front of the odd glowing ring within a larger glowing and spinning ring. He studied them for a few moments until he was satisfied that he had timed the rhythm of the movement.

As he reeled his four companions closer to him, Skulker said, "This will be a tight squeeze even if I time the movement of the center ring correctly. I suggest that you hold your breath."

Right after that, Skulker didn't hesitate to plunge right into the center ring.

But the foursome gasped in alarm at what happened next.

As if the green and black atmosphere in front of them had become liquid and was draining and spiraling down a sink, the area just past the center ring had fallen in on itself, instantly churning in a mixture of green and black. And the four 'riders' could not resist the strong suction that had enveloped them all right after, which pulled them rapidly closer to the eye of the vortex created by the swirling atmosphere.

"I don't remember this part!" Tucker whined just before he and his companions yelled at the rush of being swallowed up into that hole.

At first, they slid down what they could only describe was a slide of some sort, like one of the water tubes at Floody Waters. But then, the green and black tube seemed to stretch downward then to the right and to the left, as if the tube was now made of highly elastic rubber, all the while bringing them with it.

But that wasn't all. Whenever they brushed past a wall, a greenish-black slime stuck to them, until they were soon covered with it.

Skulker immediately reached for the controls on his arm band, but soon found that it was very hard to do because of the centrifugal force.

Finally, the tube stretched upward and before the foursome knew it, they were screaming as they were ejected from the tube as easily as a wad of wet paper through a pea shooter.

Still all together, they stopped shortly after that, floating in the green and black atmosphere—covered in green and black slime.

Tucker shuddered and blurted out, "Ugh, blowing my nose will never be the same!"

"Tucker!" both Sam and Jazz yelled before they both grimaced at the thought.

Skulker, however, wasn't listening. He was still pushing the controls on his arm band. And he was not happy.

"Whelps, there may be a problem," he began, when an aura finally surrounded him and his passengers and melted off the slime. He then added, "Correction, only a slight problem."

"What do you mean, Skulker?" Jazz asked, her face still lined in worry.

"I have been having trouble with my instruments responding when commanded ever since we entered this realm. But they are still responding, though not as satisfactorily. I can only conclude that being in a timeless place makes instruments' response times slower than normal."

Still looking down at his PDA, Tucker piped in, "Yeah, I noticed the same thing with my PDA. And there are some programs I can't even get into right now."

"Oh?" Skulker responded, one of his eyebrows shooting up in more concern. "Which ones?"

"The games that have a time limit," Tucker casually said. "I had been getting blown up way too often after they went all wonky."

All three of his companions rolled their eyes.

"All that matters is that the _important_ things work," Sam dryly said, frowning a bit at her male friend. "So, uh, shouldn't we get going?"

Skulker glanced over to the end of the tube through which he and the others had just been and lined all of them so that they and it were in a straight line.

Once he was satisfied that this was the correct direction, he turned around and pushed some more commands on his arm band. He frowned when it didn't respond again until he had pushed it a few more times.

His jet packs fired just after he lengthened the metal cords around the humans, raising them up a bit more to keep them out of the way of the jets.

And they were on their way once again; but unlike before, as they continued to pass the few landmarks they had seen in the Time Viewing Orb, time now felt like it was dragging or not moving at all, especially when their watches didn't work in this place and there was no sun or moonlight to indicate the time of day.

They only realized that it was late because of how tired they all felt. And in spite of the rush and need to find Danny, the kids eventually did drift off, though they would awaken often, clearly restless.

Skulker, on the other hand, just kept his eyes and focus locked on reaching their intended location, though he could see by the now darkened purple atmosphere that it was very late. He was a bit tired himself, but losing just one night's rest wasn't too bad for him. He was a hunter, after all.

Finally, as the atmosphere melded back into its eerie green, Skulker saw what they had all been anticipating and he quickly called to the sleeping teenagers, "Whelps!"

The three jolted awake; and since they had been more conscious than unconscious, the three instantly spotted the reason of their wake-up call.

"There's the fortress!" Jazz said in a hush, speaking for everyone, who had fallen silent with taking it all in.

The fortress was just like the video they had seen through the Time Viewing Orb. It definitely was composed of multi-tiered dome-shaped bluish-green and white buildings all clustered together and stacked upon a floating black craggily mountain.

They could now see that several of the buildings definitely had huge telescopes jutting out of them. But others also looked like they had fully retracted their telescopes yet had not closed the rectangular opening in their dome roof.

But then they knew they had to be in the right place after they saw that huge green orb shaped building right in the middle of those other observatories, especially since it still seemed to be glaring at them.

"Now we will proceed with even more caution," Skulker announced just as he slowed his jets and reeled the humans in closer.

Knowing that they would need to be extra quiet, each of the teens slightly nodded.

They continued to drift forward, though their movement was, eerily, as silent as a ghost since the jets were no longer making any sounds.

Skulker deftly maneuvered his suit toward the leftmost side of the cluster of buildings, making sure to stray clear of the projecting telescopes.

Sam tapped Skulker on his shoulder and when he glanced at her, she pointed to the building that matched the one that the 3-D video had 'entered'. "I'm sure that is the same building that we saw in the video," she whispered.

The Ghost Hunter nodded in agreement. However, not wanting to risk being caught nearing the Observant building, the hunter turned them all invisible before daring to approach and then land on the roof with the rectangular opening. They peered down and saw a retracted telescope just under the opening. It took them a bit of thorough inspection to find an opening. It was in a corner of the opening in the roof, and to the left of the telescope.

"It looks like some kind of large vent," Jazz muttered curiously as they all inspected the dark opening for a moment.

Skulker nodded in agreement again; but sure this was the entrance they had been shown, the hunter said, "I cannot see where this leads, but that would explain why the video made it seem we were in a black tunnel for some time. However, I think we all agree this is the way in…"

"Yeah, so let's get going," Sam urged.

The hunter just frowned back at her, but said nothing and flew into the opening with the three teens. They landed on a small platform and Skulker released his passengers and retracted his metal chords. The only light in the area was whatever had filtered in from the roof. Nevertheless, the Ghost Hunter immediately sniffed the air. Oh, this was definitely a large air duct, and by the smell of the accumulated dust, it was clearly not meant to be traveled through. But… since they were sneaking in, then it was the perfect route to keep from getting caught.

Satisfied with the results of his olfactory sense, Skulker turned to his other 'senses'—or more like _sensors_—as he lifted his arm and started punching on the keys on his arm control band.

Tucker, too, had pulled out his PDA and set right to work.

"Okay, once Tucker and Skulker locate Danny, then what?" Sam slightly whispered to Jazz, though she was still able to convey slight impatience in her dampened voice. She knew she had to keep the volume of her voice down, like all her companions, now that they were right in the pit with their enemies.

"I don't know. We'll just have to think this through—logically and carefully!" Jazz reflexively whispered back, grabbing her chin in thought.

"We've done nothing else but that for the entire trip," Sam impatiently hissed.

"I know, but now we have to do even more of that if we want to get Danny and get out all in one piece—that is, if they're even here," her female friend said, sensing the younger girl's anxiety. "But no matter what, all of us have to keep our heads straight."

Sam frowned a bit. Jazz was right. She said, "I'm sorry, Jazz, it's just that…"

"Hey, it's okay, Sam. I understand," Jazz gently interrupted her. "I'm worried, too, yet, I also have the feeling that we're at the right place. Danny has got to be here."

Meanwhile, Tucker and Skulker hadn't been listening to the girls while they were debating. All of the sudden, both of them uttered in toned-down excitement at the exact same time, "There!"

Jazz and Sam's snapped to attention and looked at the two males as they said in unison once more, "You first!"

"No, you go," Tucker whispered to Skulker.

"No, you go," Skulker quietly insisted.

"Tucker, what is it?" Sam firmly whispered, effectively cutting the two males off before this would become 'one of those' Tucker and Skulker rounds.

"I didn't tell you yet, but I interfaced the Specter Speeder's 'Real World' detector program with my PDA. Anyhow, I've, well, detected some 'Real World' items—three to be exact!"

"Three?" Jazz asked in bewilderment, keeping her voice down. "But who's the third person?"

"I didn't say they were _persons_, Jazz, but these three things are small. But they're definitely here."

No one knew exactly what that could mean, but Jazz then said, "What about you, Skulker?"

The three teens immediately shifted their attention to the Ghost Hunter.

Skulker quickly yet quietly replied, "I was not scanning for human things. I was scanning for energy readings. At first, things were all incoherent and I wasn't sure if my instruments would work. But then, they seemed to work and all I could detect were these level 'nine' energy readings—in fact, tons of them."

The three humans gulped a little with that information, but they still listened intently as Skulker continued.

"That was quite irritating because those artifacts were interfering with what I was really after and that was, of course, locating…"

"Danny!" Sam chimed in, now catching his drift.

"And _Plasmius!_" Skulker snarled, curing the side of his mouth in irritation that she had not only interrupted him, but had also purposefully failed to mention his employer—again. But he quietly hissed with a reprimanding glare to the girl, "Anyhow, before I was _so rudely_ interrupted…"

Sam frowned with a slight pout when she noticed that the Ghost Hunter's glare was meant for her. But she said nothing, as he continued once more.

"….I caught a glimpse of several confusing spikes of smaller energy signatures as well, all clustered in an area not too far from here. But then, among those energy readings, I detected two very unique spikes of energy signatures. At first, I was confused about that as well, because they are lower than I expected. But, if they have been injured here, that would explain it. But those entities would be at just hovering at a level 'eight', which would have to be Plasmius, and just below a level 'seven', which would be…"

Sam had bitten her lower lip when Skulker had said that Danny may have been hurt. But when she heard him conclude that there was a 'level seven' ghost signature nearby, she barely contained her excitement as she quietly butted in, "Danny!"

"Yes, the whelp!" Skulker sneered once again with that same irritated twitch at the side of his mouth. He then added, "And if it is indeed them, then we are closer to their location than I anticipated, though I cannot be certain."

"And according to my PDA, those Real World items seem to be somewhere close to that place you think Danny and Vlad are in," Tucker piped in.

The two males quickly compared their instruments and data again. They both then smiled. All five items in which they were interested were in the same direction and not too far from the others.

Tucker then asked, "Well, don't you think we should investigate those other three items? They might be important!"

"Why?" Sam replied with a slight growl. "They're just things!"

The ghost then chimed in, "I vote to ignore those human things and just get to our real mission. I do not like lingering here for longer than we have to."

"I'm with Skulker on this one, guys," Jazz finally said. "I just want to get to Danny and get out of here as soon as we can."

Sam then added her two-cent's worth, "And I agree!"

One of Skulker's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the girl's comment.

When Sam noticed him, she dryly replied, "With _Jazz_, of course!"

"Whelps!" Skulker grunted with a roll of his eyes. But then he grew more serious and said, "Since we all are in agreement, correct?..."

He looked at Tucker with an evil eye and the boy readily and nervously shook his head in compliance.

"Anyway," the Ghost Hunter continued, "I am sure that I do not have to remind you that we take extra care. Unfortunately, my instruments could not tell me any more than that. We do not know how many passages or rooms will hinder us to get to our target area where the two half-ghosts are. So, our trek will be slow and arduous. And since I can use my sense of smell with more superiority than yours, I should be the one to take the lead."

The three teens resisted the urge to roll their eyes and just nodded.

And then pointing to Tucker, Skulker added, "And I think that he should also be sure to back me up by monitoring his little machine as we progress."

"Agree, again," Jazz replied, speaking for all the teens just as Tucker nodded.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Sam asked as she pulled out her Fenton wrist ray gun from one of her boots.

One of Skulker's eyebrows arched in surprise and curiosity as he commented, "So! _Now_ I see why you have been so smug in your quips to me. You could readily defend yourself!"

"Uh, okay," Sam slowly said with a tight smirk. "But it's better that we don't go there. We have our 'mission', ya know."

Skulker smirked back but replied, "Let us make haste, I mean, a _snail's _haste, then! Also, keep your steps light, pups. We are in a vent, which further means we are walking on the ceiling, and we cannot have someone hear our footsteps below. Now let us move forward. We must find an exit to this vent, so we can find where these two energy-readings—which I believe belong to the Ghost Boy _and_ my employer—are coming from."

This time the three teens did roll their eyes but quickly nodded in agreement and grew sober.

With that, the Ghost Hunter proceeded to walking deeper into the large air duct, followed by Tucker and then the girls. They, of course, moved carefully and slowly, and they soon found out that it was a good thing that this had been their plan all along. The large space they had just been in quickly began to narrow and shorten, almost like they were in a rectangular funnel. In fact, they soon had to get on their hands and knees to fit through the narrowing vent. But this passage was also like a maze in that it was very convoluted and had many blind turns. And, of course, like their video had 'promised', it was very dark. They could hardly see each other's silhouette as they crawled onward.

"Heh. Did I mention I was a bit claustrophobic?" Tucker suddenly whispered as he continued to crawl behind Skulker now that the vent's passage had narrowed even more so that they could only continue in a single-file line. "In fact, this gives me major creepy déjà vu about when I had to crawl through that, brrrr, hospital's vents!"

"Please don't mention that," Jazz squeaked, taking a deep breath herself as she felt a bit panicked inside this dark and small place. A brief thought of being stuck inside this place passed through her mind, but she forced it away, not wanting to really go into a full-blown panic.

"Shh, We're gonna be fine," Sam scolded them both, not wanting to risk someone hearing them from below.

However, just as she said that, they all hitched their gasps when the floor of the vent suddenly widened and then steeped downward and they all inadvertently slid downward and ended up in a heap at the bottom.

They carefully pulled away from each other before they stopped and tensed a bit, listening to see if they had disturbed the stillness. And hearing that nothing seemed to be awry, they continued onward until they finally saw a faint light ahead.

They knew from what they remembered seeing on the Time Viewing Orb that they had to be near that rounded room. And since they were in the ceiling vent, that would meant that it would be below them.

Just moments later and they came up to a grate, which was the origin of the light; but just past the metal bars, they could see the floor of a room that looked like the one in the video…

They all strained to listen and relaxed a bit when they all concluded that no one was in the room below.

But they had to be sure.

Skulker immediately grabbed the grate and carefully pulled it up and away from ceiling vent hole and set it down. He turned invisible and slowly lowered his head through the hole and carefully peeked out. Once he had surveyed the area, he pulled himself back up, turned visible and gave the others a silent nod.

No one was in the room!

The teens needed no word from Skulker that he was going to have to get them all down to the floor. They watched the Ghost Hunter as he turned intangible and tried to phase through the narrow opening—only to find that he couldn't!

"Why can't you phase through?" Tucker begged the question when the ghost rematerialized.

"I have told you whelps that intangibility is not predictable in the Ghost Zone. But now it appears that it is definitely useless to phase through objects in this realm. Plus, I am sure that the more we penetrate this fortress, the more security there will be. I will not be able to get through this opening, then."

"But we can't go on without you!" Jazz protested, having a hard time keeping her voice low. "And we won't even be able to get down from here."

"The only way I will be able to go on is if I break through this vent's opening. And we cannot afford to cause any unnecessary noise or evidence that we were here," Skulker replied.

But Sam was way ahead of him. "Can you make some sort of force field with your suit, Skulker?"

"Of course I can, whelp! This is a very advanced piece of technology," he slightly growled, a bit insulted by her remark.

"That's been messing up here, that is," she dryly quipped back, though she immediately added, "Only because it looks like _all _technical things don't work well here because of the time thing."

"I second that!" Tucker piped in, but then winced when Skulker's eyes flared a bit.

"And your point…?" Skulker urged, one of his eyes narrowing a bit in irritation.

Not at all bothered by the ghost's reaction this time, Sam smirked a bit and replied, "Well, if you can create a force field around this opening and then use your ghost ray to make the hole bigger _within_ the that force field, then…"

Interrupting the girl, Skulker gushed, "Then I will be making the hole big enough for me to get out while the force field muffles any sound!" But then he realized how excited he had been by the idea and he cleared his throat and said more seriously, "That idea has merit to it, whelp. Then, let us hope that the force field works."

"But what about the big hole it'll leave?" Jazz suddenly asked.

"Really, guys, do you think it'll matter who will see what once they realize that we've managed to break Danny—and Vlad—out?" Sam pointed out. She then pushed her head through the opened vent and after checking around, she added, "And, by the way, right now there's still nobody down there."

Trying to encourage them to try out Sam's idea, Tucker piped in, "Okay, then. Maybe the Observants won't notice the hole since it'll be way up here. I mean, how many people look up when they're in a room?"

"Well, then, I vote that we, er, I mean, maybe you, Skulker," Jazz nervously chuckled. "What I mean is…"

But before she could finish her sentence, she slightly gasped when green light illuminated the area before a glowing green sphere seemed to ooze out the Ghost Hunter's suit, as if he were a blowing a soap bubble through a soap wand.

The force field's energy flickered a bit, but Skulker was determined to take advantage of whatever he could produce. He quickly produced a ghost ray and carved out and disintegrated a section of the vent's hole large enough to accommodate his suit, all without making a sound. He smirked as he rapidly worked, pleased that the raven-haired whelp's idea had worked.

Finally he was through and he dispelled the force field.

"Be ready," he commanded just before he slipped through the hole and hovered enough to extend his metal chords. Then, he reached up as, starting with Jazz, each teen scooted to the edge and pushed off—right into the waiting arms of the Ghost Hunter.

After securing Jazz in one of his arm clamps, Skulker rapidly looked around the room to make sure that all was still cleared before he reached for the others in like manner until all had been retrieved.

They all drifted downward until they had reached the floor. They scouted the area and their eyes all instantly widened.

"Dude….," Tucker gasped out. "This is some kind of a courtroom!"

"The Observant High Tribunal room I would venture to guess," Skulker muttered. "Yes, I have heard tales of this place… It is believed that the very Ancients gathered with the Observants in this very courtroom to discuss Pariah Dark's downfall and fate…"

"I'm sure it's all very historical and all," Sam said sarcastically. "But perhaps we can sightsee on another occasion. Look, there's a set of double doors at the other end."

After checking with each other, they moved as if one unit and slipped out of those doors…

In a way it was fortunate, even if it was also irritating, that the long hallway that Team Phantom and Skulker found themselves in had many darkened areas and even darker deep corners and niches that each of the searchers instinctively knew would be ready hiding areas in which to retreat should they come upon any Observant.

Finally, the hallway came to a turn and the foursome were about to put that tactic to the test. Two Observants were headed right to them! But Skulker had seen them first and quickly motioned to the three teens to blend into their surroundings just before he turned both invisible and intangible. There was not a moment to lose, either, because just as the Ghost Hunter had signaled his companions, the two Observants were plowing right through the intangible and invisible ghost.

Though he had not known if he could have been detected by the spirits even when intangible and invisible, Skulker was relieved that he was not found out and that his gamble had been in his favor. Yet, he was also irritated that he had been caught unprepared. He was concentrating so much on the half-ghosts' scents that he had ignored the scents of the approaching spirits. He knew that he could not fail again.

Fortunately, the three teens had reacted immediately as well and they jammed themselves into the nearby deep blackened corner. They gagged their gasps at their too close call, feeling the wake of the passing spirits.

However, one of the Observants suddenly halted in his slow flight when he thought he heard something amiss.

"What is wrong, Okulo?" The other Observant asked when he noticed that his partner had stopped.

"I do not know, Antovid. I thought I heard something."

"Like what?" Antovid prodded his partner.

Okulo suspiciously scanned the area around them and only saw the nearby dark corner. He floated toward it and the three teens felt the others tense with dread and each reflexively closed their eyes and held their breath.

Skulker, too, tensed, but he didn't dare cock his gun for fear of giving away his position. Still, he waited anxiously, ready to strike if that was the last option.

But then Okulo huffed indignantly and drew even closer to Skulker.

Skulker thought that the Observant's lone eye was piercing right through him.

Finally, Antovid flippantly replied, "You must have been imagining it! After what those two foreign prisoners did in the past six earthly days, you must be getting more paranoid! But I cannot blame you. You obviously have been a little too laxed in your job as 'Liaison to the Prison', or else you would have known what was happening to the prisoners! Perhaps you need more help."

Okulo reeled around in anger and floated quickly over to his companion.

Skulker bit his sigh of relief when the Observant moved away.

"I have not been laxed in my duties, Antovid! Since we do not have that many prisoners, the duty master has added more rotations elsewhere! But if it is like you said, then I will just have to request more rotations through the prison!" Okulo's eye curled in impertinence as he continued, "We would not even have had to do that menial task of making any rotations through the prison if it had not been that we were infiltrated by one of those very 'foreign prisoners' of which you speak in the past not too long ago. And since I would not want to ask _who_ was lax in his department to have allowed that infiltration to happen unless I needed to, then I would think you have no standing in telling me on how to do my job, do you not agree?"

Antovid frowned but nodded. He knew that Okulo had been referring to the time that the half-ghost prisoner, Vlad Plasmius, had been the one to break into Observants' fortress on his watch.

Then with a slight hiss, Okulo testily added, "And, by the way, I did not imagine that sound just now. I just cannot explain why there is nothing here!"

But knowing how quick-tempered his partner was— even if he had already done a good job at lighting that fire—Antovid decided that they didn't have time for this squabble. He held his arms up in surrender and replied, "All right, Okulo! Let us just be more cautious as we continue onward! But we better continue to our point of contact. The Tribune would not be pleased with our impropriety in tarrying any longer, especially when we have to report to _that_ section."

"You are right, Antovid," Okulo replied, calming down. "Let us make haste, then."

They then both continued in the direction they had been heading, increasing their pace as they did.

Right after the three teens were sure that the Observants were long gone, they let out their sighs of relief. Just after that, Skulker rematerialized.

"Man, that was way too close!" Tucker nervously blurted out, making sure that he kept his voice low.

Ignoring the boy and also keeping his voice low, the Ghost Hunter insisted, "As they all could very well be! Keep alert, then!"

Skulker turned right around and headed back in their original direction, periodically monitoring his instruments. He frowned when they still seemed to not be working well; and so just continued to rely on his sense of smell. Tucker, too, kept one eye on his PDA and one eye on making sure he didn't accidentally run into Skulker.

Unaware that they were walking down the _very same_ hallway that the hybrids had traveled through several times in their days of trial, the teens and Skulker continued, having to slow their effort even more when this new passageway contained a lot of doors. Plus, they soon came to a fork, with another empty passage that could prove hazardous joining it. They moved more swiftly past each door lest it unexpectedly open and reveal more than what they tried not to imagine was behind them. They didn't even care to notice the strange symbols that marked each even stranger door that they were passing.

They continued forward and had to retreat into a darkened corner only one other time. But this time, the Observants had moved past them without incident. Finally, after what seemed like hours of moving at a snail's pace, including each of them relating to how that snail might feel with the weight of its anxious anticipation on its back, the three teens slowed when they noticed that Skulker had come to a halt just before he reached the next corner. He motioned for the teens to come closer.

When they obliged him, he gravely whispered, "I can no longer get a reading on the level eight entity and the level seven signature's is unstable and weakening. But, fortunately, my superior sense of smell has already taken over. And according to my calculations, at least the level seven target is down _this_ path."

The three teens bit their lower lip. That didn't sound like good news at all!

Still, Tucker seriously whispered, "Unfortunately, my PDA sorta confirms that, but it's blinking out more and more. But the last time I checked, the three other Real World items were very close, not more than about ten feet.

Skulker scowled at the boy but the girls didn't notice that, but Tucker startled a little when he saw the ghost's reaction.

The Ghost Hunter continued, "Nevertheless, once there, we will have to take extra stealth when trying to break the two hybrids free. Somehow, I know it will be a challenge with or without creating any noise."

"Wouldn't have expected you to say anything else but that," Sam deadpanned.

The ghost frowned but then rolled his eyes and replied, "Then let us waste no more time!"

Skulker led the way once more. As soon as they turned this corner, however, they could see that this passage was longer and brighter than all the others and led to a dead-end. But then, they could see a door to their left that was not more than two feet from them. And there was also a solid heavy metal door to their right which was about twenty feet further on. In fact, that metallic door was right next to the abutting wall that closed the passageway. They were unaware that they had just found the entrance of the prison….

"Now what?" Jazz suddenly whispered, as she looked between the metal door and the normal looking door…

Both Tucker and Skulker hurriedly whispered back, "We take the big metal door on the right over there!"

"Of course it would have to be the furthest one!" Sam quietly groaned.

But just then, the foursome heard a noise that seemed to screech down their spines. And, unfortunately, it was an all too familiar sound: the slow, creaking sound of a door badly in need of oiling. And it was coming from the farthest door to their right, which was the heavy metallic one!

Skulker reflexively reacted and turned intangible and invisible once more. However, he almost gasped when he knew he didn't have enough time to scoop up all three teens, let alone have time to warn them to retreat—or even to where they _could_ retreat.

But having noticed what Skulker did right away, the three teens reflexively grabbed the nearest door handle—which was the normal door on their left—opened it and bolted inside. Skulker jolted, but hurried right in after them. And just as he quickly yet quietly closed the door, some prison guards finally filed out of the farther creaking door which had been opening.

The teens held their breath and Skulker waited in anticipation until they heard what must have been more Observants continue down the hallway. But then, they heard even more sounds coming from the other side of the door—and they were _slowing and drawing closer_!

The four slowly backed up, hoping that where they were would be a means to hide them—or for a quick escape. They quickly glanced behind them and saw that, fortunately, the room was empty.

But, unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide!

Skulker readied one of his weapons as the noise on the other side of the door grew closer. But then, the sounds continued onward and all fell silent.

Though the four were relieved by that, all of them had the same thought of not venturing out right away. And when the ghost and the teens finally turned fully around, they quickly saw that they were in a rather large room.

It was rather sparse, save for a small simple bed, a black bedside table and table lamp made of wrought iron. There were no decorations in the least in the spacious room except for a large tapestry predominantly covering the wall just opposite of the bedroom furniture.

The foursome was suddenly drawn to that tapestry, not because that it was the only thing in the room with color, but of what it depicted. They looked upon it with awe and bewilderment. It showed an Observant dressed in armor floating in the center of the picture. And the Observant held a black needle-like weapon that looked very familiar to the uninvited guests. Finally, the Observant was surrounded by four famous _human _battles. The teens looked it over and noticed the names of each of the victors of their respective battles were embroidered under each scene. And when the teens read the names, their stomachs tightened and chills shot down their spines.

"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Sam mused out loud, keeping her voice low as she studied the tapestry. But she was quickly pulled out her thoughts by Tucker.

"Hey! Even though the readings are going wonky, my PDA still senses those three 'Real World' items in here!" the bespectacled boy excitedly said.

Without another word, Tucker headed right to the small beside table.

"Tucker, what are you doing?" Sam chided him as she went after him.

In the meantime, Jazz had been examining the tapestry more closely and she had noticed that the bottom of the rug did not touch the floor. As her eyes automatically followed that bottom line, she then saw that just before it ended, there was the bottom—of a door!

And just as Tucker was a moment from pulling open one of the drawers of the bedside table—with Sam not too far behind him—Jazz excitedly whispered, "Hey, guys, there's a door behind the tapestry!"

Her heart pounding in slight excitement, Jazz tried to pull a small part of the tapestry back to examine the door more closely. However, even that part of the rug proved to be too heavy for her and her hand lost its grip and scraped against the wall.

Oddly, there was an almost inaudible 'click' where her hand had made contact and suddenly, the door behind the tapestry quickly and silently parted in the middle. Then hardly a fraction of a second later, each of its sides slid sideways, opening just like elevator doors. But since the tapestry was still over the door, it caved partly into the now open area behind it.

In the meantime, Tucker had just put his hand on the small bedside table when he glanced over to his red-hair friend's discovery. Suddenly, he wanted to investigate what she had found. But he also wanted to see about those 'Real World' items. With that, he quickly pulled open the drawer. He gasped when he saw what those three 'Real World' items were.

But before he could grab the things, Sam had grabbed his arm, shut the drawer and pulled him over to Jazz.

Skulker was already next to the oldest teen, easily pulling the tapestry partly away so that he and the girl could get a better look at it.

"Why is that there?" Tucker quietly asked, as he finally fell in step with Sam.

"Don't you get it? It's obviously a secret room!" Sam quickly said, keeping her voice low.

They crowded near the Ghost Hunter as Jazz ventured partly into the darkened room and slid her hand alongside the inside wall.

She then whispered, "There has to be a light switch somewhere…uh, I feel it!"

But before she could hit the switch, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to a sound….

A sound of a door knob slowly turning at the entrance to the room they were currently in…

"Quick, we need to go through that door!" Sam hurriedly whispered.

In her panic, Jazz had never let go of that switch as all of them filed into the small, dark room. But in the midst of all the panicked jumbling, Jazz was shoved into that switch and the door immediately closed, just missing Tucker's foot.

And it wasn't a moment too soon! Just as the secret door silently sealed, the door to the room opened!

The three teens unconsciously held their breaths in the darkness. They anxiously listened to what was happening on the other side of this door.

Skulker, on the other hand, merely grunted at having to do this cowardly hiding. Still, he did have to agree that it _was _the best idea at the moment—at least until they could find out what they were up against.

Tucker then grew more nervous and was about to light up the closet using his PDA, when Skulker's ghostly eyes caught sight of his actions.

The ghost quickly grabbed the boy's hand and pulled it away from the PDA's keys. He quietly but firmly commanded, "No lights! It will emanate from the crack at the bottom of this door!"

Tucker frowned in embarrassment and whispered, "Right! Right! I knew that!"

But they were quickly interrupted by muffled movement within the room on the other side of their hiding place. The three teens silently prayed that whatever was now in that room would not need anything in this small closet in which they now were.

Then they heard a grumbling before a voice suddenly cried out, "I should have had more than enough power by now! The power of the two crossbreeds is more incredible than I thought! And my power is increasing more quickly than I had planned, yet I still need more! It will be very soon, though, and I will be able to get my revenge! I will no longer need to subject myself to such inferior beings again! The Tribunal Council is as good as defeated!"

Tucker tensed up. He knew that voice! And he, along with the others, wondered what the voice was talking about. He continued to listen as the spirit continued to rant.

The spirit in the room quickly looked at the slightly humming device that was around one of his wrists. He aimed his weapon at it and zapped it. But all the device did was sizzle a little and then continued to hum that irritating sound it made to indicate that it is was working well. He fired upon the other wrist band, only to have the same failure. But then, thinking of something else, he tried to use his energy more directly against the bands by grabbing one of them with a hand filled with ghost energy, only to have the same unwanted result.

His eye narrowed a little but then widened in determination as he continued, "_Soon,_ these will be gone, too, and I will have total control…over everything! But I need more power! Blast! They used to recover quickly before but now it takes time for those two crossbreeds to repair themselves!"

Then, the foursome heard a drawer pulled violently open and then slammed shut almost immediately afterward. Jazz jumped a little with that but then they heard the angry voice hiss to no one but himself, "These items served no purpose in the end! The younger crossbreed has not been broken yet! Still, maybe it is better this way. He has been sufficiently weakened, and I am certain that if I can destroy the other two human creatures he holds dear, he will not be able to fight me any longer and I will have him where I want him!"

The spirit paused and added more thoughtfully, "Or maybe, that will not be necessary. But, I can make him think that it will be. After all, I did manage to convince him that I had destroyed his other young companions. But, then again, that is no longer a concern. Now he and the other crossbreed are all mine! Breaking them or not may no longer be important since I now have all of their power for my taking whenever I please! It is time for me to cease in admonishing myself and to harvest more power! I do not want to linger any longer!"

Jazz suddenly gasped when she suddenly realized that it was Iluzisto who was very close to them! And that he must have been talking about Danny and all the evil he planned to do with her brother! But she then cringed in fear that she hadn't been strong enough to keep quiet.

She cringed even more and her companions tensed up when they heard Iluzisto stop and say, "What was that noise?"

He began to float nearer to the tapestry while commenting to himself, "I am sure it came from the closet."

The illusionist spirit waved his black staff and the tapestry immediately pulled away from the door by an unseen force. The door shifted a little when the weight of the tapestry was lifted off of it and the foursome in the closet tensed in dread at the small noise the door had made when it had shifted.

The Prison Head had just put one of his bony fingers on the switch and was about to push it when he heard his name being called from just outside of his room. With a quick flick of his staff, he quickly commanded the tapestry to return to its original place. The moment he did, the door to his room swung violently open.

"What is the meaning of this?" Iluzisto growled in impertinence to the Observant who had rudely entered his private quarters. Even though this was really a common occurrence in the after-life of the disrespected Prison Head, especially since the Council had forbidden him to lock his door, he still expressed outrage each and every time it happened.

The messenger ignored Iluzisto's comment and rudely replied, "Master Prison Head, the High Tribune demands to speak to you! He is in his quarters."

Iluzisto's eye immediately narrowed in anger and without acknowledging the other Observant, he flew out of the room without a word and headed toward the Tribunal Hall.

But as he flew onward, Iluzisto suddenly changed his mind. He knew his time was near. And with that thought, he made a slight deviation from his designation...

The four occupants of the closet waited a few moments longer once they had thought that Iluzisto had left. When they were sure that they were now alone, Tucker pressed the button on his PDA and illuminated the closet.

Everyone instantly shielded their eyes and groaned at the bright light. But just as Tucker's eyes adjusted, he yelped in fear.

The closet was full of all sorts of Observant weapons! Some were grey staffs with eye-like green bulbs on top. Others were small oddly shaped weapons that also had small eye-like green or red bulbs at the end.

"Why are these here?" the boy gulped when he saw how wicked they all looked.

Slightly irritated, Sam answered, "Didn't you hear that other ghost called him 'Master Prison Head'? This must be where they store their weapons!"

"Advantage: us!" Skulker gleefully said as he picked up one of the smaller weapons and inspected it. He then smiled and said, "We can now be on more equal terms with our foes now that I can see that these weapons will easily subdue the Observants here!"

He quickly grabbed a few more and gave them to the teens.

"So, we just aim and pull the trigger?" Jazz asked, looking gingerly at the tall odd piece. "Uh, just where is the trigger?"

"That button right there," Skulker replied, pointing it out—after orienting the weapon correctly in her hand. "You use your thumb to activate it."

"That's weird," Tucker remarked, slowly examining his own weapon.

"As long as they work and help us, who cares?" Sam dryly replied as she put her wrist ray gun back into her boot and reached for the weapon Skulker was holding out to her. She quickly tightened her hold on the piece.

"Agreed," Skulker said with a grin while checking his instruments. He frowned slightly when they suddenly died, even as he reflexively pushed more commands. But he did get a glimpse at what they had indicated just before they died and but still sniffed the air and said, "Now the hunt becomes even more interesting! Our targets are now surrounded by Observants! We will need to be cunning and brave…"

"And lucky!" Jazz added.

Sam rolled her eyes before grumbling, "We'll need that—and more—if we're _even_ going to get out of this entire realm in one piece."

"Don't worry, Sam. Something will present itself to us, okay?" Jazz said, trying to sound reassuring.

Sam frowned at first, but then, sighed and nodded in agreement with her friend.

Tucker hadn't notice what the girls had said because he was still checking his own readings. He then frowned when the light emanating from his PDA suddenly went out.

"Hey!" the others quietly said.

"Sorry, pushed the wrong button?" Tucker squeaked out in embarrassment, as he tried to locate the command button for the light. But much to his chagrin, his PDA now didn't even light up!

He and the girls gasped when the closet was then lit up not by a bright white light but an eerily green one.

They could immediately see that Skulker had created a ball of ectoplasmic light.

"Don't tell me…." Sam began, only to have Tucker softly butt in…

"Yeah. Zero techno-help. But before my PDA died, it looked like they hadn't moved Danny and Plasmius from that area yet."

Skulker took a big whiff of the air and said, "I can confirm that. We will now have to rely on the most cunning of our skills!"

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Sam impatiently asked.

Her three companions nodded to each other and firmed up their faces with determination. And then Sam pressed the switch to open the closet door to head out and continue on with their mission…

* * *

Danny and Vlad still lay on their backs on their beds, weakened even more from their last encounter with Iluzisto. In fact, they were so weak that they barely had control over their forms. Their cores were becoming so damaged that they were actually beginning to go into slight shock and therefore were relaying confusing messages to rest of their bodies. At times, their bodies would stay in human form, and the next they would abruptly and unwillingly turn ghost. Then other times, it would be a mixture of the two, leaving them with their human appearance but in their ghost forms clothing. If they weren't feeling so bad, they would probably be panicking with worry and fear by their cores' lack of control.

Then, their physical bodies weren't faring any better. And it had been especially brutal for the both of them.

Vlad had taken the cruelest brunt of the illusionist spirit's assaults, not only because he was stronger than Danny, but because Iluzisto had a particular distaste for him. After all, Vlad had not only been defiant, but had been coolly smug about it. Still, through it all, Vlad was able to keep somewhat of a much-needed leveled-head, though even _that_ was getting harder to maintain in his present weakened state. Even still, he knew he had to try to keep his mind clear—and think of something—because he felt that he and the boy would surely be needing that in the very near future.

Danny, on the other hand, was fast becoming no threat to Iluzisto. Not only was the boy in his present condition more than two full levels below the Prison Head in power, but his lack of much needed calories was now having a sufficient impact on his ability to recuperate from each of Iluzisto's attacks—even with Okulo's healing him just yesterday. He was now just barely maintaining power even if it was now well below his usual 'seven' energy level. On top of that, he was now beginning to cough and shiver a bit. He was sure he was getting sick again. And that didn't help at all when it came to fighting back in any sense of the world. And as the boy felt his fight to remain conscious waning, he knew that if he didn't get some food—or at least some much needed rest soon—being able to resist the illusionist spirit would be the least of his worries…

As Vlad continued to struggle to keep as alert as possible as he lay on his bed, searching his brain for some other plan of escape, he frowned in frustration. Much as he hated to admit it, he was having a _very_ hard time concentrating enough after all to make any effort to devise even sketchy plans. He was just too weakened from Iluzisto's latest assault—and now he was beginning to feel the effects of not having enough to eat or drink. Still, he kept pushing himself to come up with anything that might help him—and even the boy. He just knew that if he failed, then everything would be lost.

He sighed and turned his head towards Daniel's cell. The invisible barrier was still there, but he could see the boy nevertheless. He couldn't tell whether the younger half-ghost was asleep or unconscious. But from the looks of the dull glow of the boy's ghostly aura, he would guess the latter. He had noticed that with each of Iluzisto's attack Daniel's aura dimmed significantly, before slowly increasing in luster some time afterward. But also with each of those times the glow would return, its luster had permanently ebbed much more than before the last attack. Not to mention that he had seen the boy shivering and coughing, as if he might be getting sick again or…something worse.

The man somehow knew that the boy's want of food and drink and not being able to have enough time to recuperate from Iluzisto's 'visits' were clearly taking their toll on him and was responsible for the boy's diminished aura and slow recovery. Had the boy been full grown, Daniel probably would have been able to withstand all this punishment as well as he. But since Daniel's teen body was always in a state of flux, its demands for nourishment and rest would supercede any grit on the boy's part to fight back. And neither of them had had any sufficient food or water since they were in the infirmary, and, really, not much more even before that. Vlad bit his lower lip at that thought. He really didn't know how much more the boy—and really he—could take...

But he was quickly pulled from his thoughts by a familiar sound echoing down from the hall immediately in front of Daniel's cell.

Someone was coming!

The older hybrid pulled himself up and stood from his bed. He frowned when he lost his balance a little but steeled himself to correct that. Still, he found that hard to do and immediately leaned against the wall next to his bed for support. A moment later, he put on his poker-face and waited.

Plasmius didn't have to wait long and it was soon very apparent that Iluzisto had returned—again. But the older hybrid could not know that the Prison Head was making a very short visit this time because he was actually headed to the Tribunal Hall and could not afford to tarry too long without raising suspicions.

Still, when Iluzisto saw that the older crossbreed was ready for him—as he _always_ seemed to be—the illusionist spirit narrowed his now reddened eye and tightened his grip on his black weapon in hatred. How aggravating! It seemed that no matter how much he punished him, the older crossbreed still somehow managed to give the illusionist spirit the impression that he was unfazed by what was done to him. The man even seemed to have the gall to mock him at times, daring him to do his worst and then acting as if the spirit's worst treatment wasn't enough. That irritated the Prison Head to no end, but he was bound to come out the victor, nevertheless!

He quickly unlocked the door and floated into Danny's cell. He ignored Vlad before glancing down upon the silent boy and grunting. The boy still hadn't recovered! But much to the shock of Vlad, the spirit aimed his black weapon at the boy! Before Vlad could react, Iluzisto poked the younger hybrid on his shoulder.

Danny groaned at the sharp sensation but didn't move or rouse.

"Leave him be!" Vlad finally growled, trying to make his voice's tone sound threatening.

Iluzisto scoffed at the older crossbreed's audacity and with a flick of his staff, a large green ecto-snake appeared and instantly wrapped completely around Vlad, binding and gagging him.

"Silence, freak. I will get to you shortly," Iluzisto intoned calmly before focusing back on the boy…

Vlad struggled against the creature but he knew he was too weak to break free from the illusion. His eyes widened in dread and helplessness, however, when Iluzisto once again drew nearer to the boy with his menacing black weapon. The ecto-snake's tail coiled around the older hybrid's mouth, sufficiently muffling his protesting yell when Iluzisto once again shoved the needle into the unconscious ghost boy's central core!

At first, Danny didn't even flinch at the assault. But then, the Prison Head's staff began to glow and soon he did, too. However, the boy's rings abruptly appeared around his waist, and Iluzisto hissed as he was forced to retract his weapon save the boy turn human with it still lodged inside him.

He couldn't afford to kill either crossbreed, yet….

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes at the ghostly pale and unmoving human teenager now on the bed. Curse it! He had hoped to draw out more power from the little freak; but clearly, his core was still damaged from the last time he had taken the crossbreed's energy a few of hours back. All he got now was a few measly drops! Hardly satisfying!

Iluzisto turned his heavily annoyed stare back over at the other crossbreed, and was further displeased when he could tell by the pale ghost aura on the older ghost's form that he was also too weak to get anything more out of him at the moment. And it would stay this way until these two freaks repaired their cores, something only they could do!

With a growl, Iluzisto turned his attention back on Danny and then the spirit's bony hand grabbed the boy's shoulder and his long, sharp fingernails dug into the boy's shoulder before shaking him violently!

"Wake up, you little crossbreed freak!" he snarled.

No sooner had the spirit done this than Danny began to come to, though his face grimaced, but also frowned as he tried to comprehend why he was both moving and his shoulder was searing in pain. Finally, Danny slowly opened his eyes, only to gasp in fear when a lone reddened eye returned his hazy gaze. He instinctively jolted back away from the spirit's grasp. He wasn't aware that in his panic, he had reflexively morphed into his ghostly form, and then gasped again when he barely kept himself from tumbling off his cot.

Iluzisto's eye seemed to convey both amusement and annoyance at the same time as he pulled his hand back. Then hungrily looking the boy over and seeing that the boy's ghostly aura was now suddenly brighter, the spirit darkly said, "Amazing…How you have managed to recover so abruptly is beyond my understanding. However, I can see you are not recovered enough to be of use to me. So in the meantime, now it is time for you to hear and obey..."

"As if what you did to me just now makes me want to do that!" Danny nevertheless managed to spit back with quite a bit of grit, just as he cupped his injured shoulder.

"You will not speak to me in that manner, crossbreed!" the spirit immediately hissed, pointing his weapon more threateningly at the boy. "I can easily drive this back inside you and bleed your weakened core of its last reserve of energy until you are a withered husk!"

Vlad tensed but could do nothing.

Even though the Prison Head knew that the boy was no threat in his still weakened state and with the collar, he still didn't want the younger crossbreed's making any demands.

Yet, the boy's determination and defiance impressed Iluzisto even as it still irritated him. What was with these two crossbreeds, anyway? Didn't they know that they didn't stand a chance against him? Still, they had been the only creatures who had managed to survive this long while bleeding them of their ghost energy. In the end, however, it did not matter! He had almost everything he needed from them, and once he did, they would no longer serve any purpose. He hungrily licked his imaginary lips. He would rip their fully-charged central cores from their pathetic bodies and infuse them into him before either crossbreed could scream from the pain!….Getting rid of them would only be an afterthought, then.

The Prison Head then continued, "As I said, your abilities are quite amazing. But you still must complete the process of repairing yourself. You know of what I speak."

"I won't help you any more with that!" Danny protested, pulling himself to an unsteady, yet defiant, stand.

Clearly upset, Iluzisto once again jabbed his weapon threateningly toward the boy.

"Your resistance does not matter. I will have you do my bidding. In fact, I demand that you fully repair yourselves forthwith!"

Shifting his gaze slightly toward Vlad, Iluzisto then flicked his weapon and the ecto-snake holding the older ghost hybrid disappeared.

Vlad instantly rubbed his arms but said nothing. But before Vlad could react, the invisible barrier vanished and then an unforeseen force suddenly wrapped around him and pulled him toward Iluzisto, drawing him dangerously close to the tip of the dark weapon.

Danny's eyes widened in anger and he unconsciously stepped forward, only to feel dizzy and a loss of strength at that abrupt movement. He instantly lost his balance a bit. He kept himself from falling, but not before Iluzisto had mistaken the boy's actions for his trying to intervene. And while still keeping Vlad under control, the spirit rapidly fired upon the teen.

Danny yelled as he felt a burning sensation at his throat while his body was being thrust violently to the floor. He lay there, his head spinning. But what he didn't know was that when Iluzisto had shot him, the illusionist spirit had meant to fire at his chest. But because at that precise moment the boy had lost his balance, the force of the blast penetrated the neck collar instead of the boy's body. Even still, the force had shoved Danny's body to the ground and compounded his dizziness. In spite of that, the boy scowled at the spirit and pulling himself up, slightly growled, "So much for insisting that I repair myself!" But then, his dizziness increased and he unwittingly fell back to the floor.

The Prison Head grunted in anger but turned back to Vlad, and tightening the force around the older crossbreed so that Plasmius knew he meant business, hissed, "You will command the boy to repair himself fully and yourself as well!"

"He won't obey me!" Vlad insisted, struggling against the invisible tight band around him.

"If you refuse to make him obey, then I will most definitely kill you this time!" Iluzisto said, the ghostly blood vessels radiating from his lone pupil suddenly reddening and throbbing more in anger. He lifted his weapon up, aiming it at the older crossbreed's central core.

But Vlad calmly replied, "I've already suspected that much was part of your plan in the end. I guess, then, that you will just have to follow through on that sooner than you wanted."

Iluzisto growled. If he didn't still need the full power of these two, he would eliminate this one right now! Instead, he sent an angry wave of purple energy into the older hybrid and Plasmius yelled with the assault. But it wasn't so strong as to knock him out. Momentarily helpless while still within the clutches of the invisible force field, Vlad watched in uncertain anticipation as Iluzisto floated over to Daniel.

The Prison Head yanked the still dazed younger crossbreed up and quickly faced the boy toward the older hybrid while pinning him against his chest at almost the same time. Then in the next moment, he pulled up the sharp end of his black weapon and firmly pressed it into Danny's neck just under his neck restraint.

In spite of still feeling dizzy from the spirit's last attack, Danny immediately resisted, drawing his gloved hands up to grasp the weapon. But before his hands could so much as touch the staff, two purple bands appeared around each of the teen's wrists. And in spite of Danny's concerted effort to counter the movement, the bands forcefully pulled each of his hands downward and then toward his back. As soon as the bands touched each other behind the young ghost's back, they melded into each other, keeping his arms firmly behind him.

Once the illusionist spirit had total control, and before Danny could resist any more, the Prison Head purposely pressed the weapon harder into Danny's neck, twisting it as he did and easily drawing ectoplasm.

Danny grunted with the pain, closing his eyes; but he refused to give the spirit any pleasure by yelling out in any way.

Vlad's eyes widened in dread and he knew that Iluzisto wasn't bluffing in the least with this latest—and obviously possibly deadly—threat.

"All right!" Vlad said, "Leave him be! We will do as you say!"

"No, Plasmius, I won't…." Danny began to protest, but he wasn't able to complete his thoughts.

Iluzisto was so irritated with the boy's infuriating obstinacy that he threw the teenager across the cell room before he pulled out the remote controlling the young crossbreed's collar and pressed the button.

Danny instantly screamed and writhed in pain.

"I have tolerated your defiance long enough, freak!" Iluzisto sneered as he floated towards the boy. "You **will** do what I want!"

In spite the pain coursing through him, Danny managed to gasp out, "No!"

Iluzisto's eye swelled as he saw hot red; even with pain in the child's voice, the spirit could hear loud and clear the young crossbreed's outright insolence. And it took everything in Iluzisto not to kill the young crossbreed right then and there. But in his fury, he grabbed his staff and shot an electrical ray at the teen on top of the electricity from the collar already assaulting him.

The resultant surge in electricity in the collar both increased—and short-circuited—its power. Nevertheless, the teen was given a powerful zap as a result, and was effectively knocked out by it.

"Foolish crossbreed!" Iluzisto hissed as he wrenched up the unconscious teen by the neck again before wrapping his arm around and under his upper body.

This time pulling the sharp end of his staff even tighter against the youngest ghost's neck and actually lifting his head up with it for emphasis, Iluzisto growled, "You see how powerful I am, crossbreed! And you know how very aware I am of your…weakness…_your feelings_ about the boy. Strange that you should have such feelings when you do not have any shared life energy with him and when he is not your offspring. I thought humans would only care for another for that reason….But it is of no concern in the end. If you cannot control him or yourself, then I _will_ kill _him _right now!"

Just then, Iluzisto began to press his staff against the boy's neck, slowly digging it into his ghostly flesh, and more of Danny's ectoplasm began to ooze downward, quickly soaking his costume's collar.

But Danny didn't stir.

In spite of how infuriating it was to have this spirit use his weakness for the boy against him, which in turn, made Plasmius feel weak, that indignation was nothing compared to his growing dread. And now a bit panicked when the sight of the boy's ectoplasm triggered a recent memory, the one where he had seen Daniel dead and covered in blood, and yet now convinced that what was happening was real, Vlad thought of a desperate—and atypical—response. He hurriedly replied, "I agree! You are more powerful than us, but we won't be able to repair ourselves unless you give us food and water. You know that we are…crossbreeds, and so have different requirements than such a superior spirit as you. And you also know that we are no good to you unless we are whatever full strength these neck collars allow."

"And what about _him_?" Iluzisto sneered, pulling the unconscious boy's head up once more with his staff.

Knowing that he had to placate the Prison Head and also certain that Iluzisto still must have wanted them very much alive, Plasmius replied, "As you also are aware, I do not own the boy, and he doesn't have the same….weakness you mentioned about me. In fact, as you are probably also aware, he doesn't even like me that much. And he is very stubborn, and is, no doubt, hard to control. But, you cannot expect him in any case to repair himself when he is in such need of nourishment and rest. Once he gets that, then I will be able to get him to repair himself. And I will also do the same."

Iluzisto's eye narrowed in distrust at the older crossbreed's words, but he did need to keep focused on his plans. Plus, for once, this older crossbreed's voice was not smug in his delivering his words. With a grunt and an irritated flick of his staff, Danny vanished from within the arms of the Prison Head.

At first, Vlad's eyes widened in dread, but in the next instant, the boy rematerialized face up on his bed, the wrist restraints gone, and his arms now draping either side of his bed. Though his neck and shoulder wounds were still there, they were no longer bleeding. Still, it was obvious that the boy was not stirring.

But before the older hybrid could say anything more, a small table appeared right next to Danny's bed. And upon it were several sandwiches and a large pitcher of water with two glasses next to it.

Then Iluzisto hissed, "You have thirty minutes of your human time to consume that and make the boy consume his share. And then to repair yourselves."

Without another word, the Prison Head quickly began to exit the cell. But just as he secured the lock, he waved his black staff and the invisible band around Plasmius disappeared.

"Thirty minutes, crossbreed!" he hissed once more before totally retreating.

Or, at least, that's what he made the crossbreeds believe. Instead, he hid in the hall using his stealth mode, as he silently watched his prey, wanting to see just how much they recovered after eating… and also so he could observe more of their interaction…

Plasmius walked over to the teen, suddenly feeling the full effects of Iluzisto's attacks and his own lack of food and water. But he quickly poured some water into one of the glasses, placed it back down on the table and went up to Danny's side.

"Why do you have to make everything so difficult, Daniel?" he sighed before sitting down next to him. "But, let's get on with it, shall we?"

He slowly hoisted the boy up to a sitting position; and Danny began to groan and then open his eyes.

"Here, Daniel, drink this," Vlad quietly said just as he reached for the full glass of water. The man steadied the boy when Danny suddenly lost his balance and then brought the glass up to his lips.

And because Danny hadn't quite regained his senses enough to comprehend what the older hybrid was saying, much less protest, he obeyed and began to drink. But when the younger hybrid realized that this was _water—_and not that grey liquid stuff—he was drinking, he then reached up and took the cup with both hands and starting drawing it in with more gusto.

Vlad immediately said, "Easy, Daniel, there's plenty here. And there's also something for us both to eat."

Danny blinked his eyes with comprehension this time and looked at the man. He finally stammered, "T-There is? I-Is it _real_?"

Plasmius smirked a little and replied, "Yes, my boy. But I wouldn't recommend either of us inhaling any of it in unless you want it back out just as quickly—and just as _real_—if you know what I mean."

Danny managed a weak smile and nodded.

In no time, the two hybrids were enjoying their simple meal. And even though they wanted to enjoy it with as much relish if it had been from one of their favorite restaurants, they ate and drank slowly and carefully.

Though feeling somewhat refreshed now that they had eaten and drunk everything, the two hybrids knew that this was still not enough to replenish their strength.

Finally, the older hybrid broke the news to Danny.

"Even though I think we both feel a little better now that we've had some decent food and drink, we still need to repair our ghost cores."

In the shadows, Iluzisto's eye curved triumphantly, though he still remained hidden…

"But that's what Iluzisto wants, Vlad, and I won't let him get away with using me again!" Danny protested.

"Listen, Daniel," Vlad said, his voice suddenly growing very somber. "I agree with you about Iluzisto on _both_ counts. But, there's still the need for us to try to escape whenever the opportunity presents itself; and we won't be able to even attempt that unless we're as strong as possible."

Danny blinked at the older hybrid and frowned. He hated it when the fruit loop was right!

Meanwhile, Iluzisto resisted the urge to growl. Foolish creatures wanted to _attempt_ to escape again? Well, it would not happen. If they had not managed to do so before when they had been in prime condition, then they certainly would not now. Still, what truly angered the illusionist spirit was the younger of his two prisoners. That young crossbreed was really proving to be the bane of his existence. The older one could set the spirit off with his arrogance, but the younger one… He had to commonly keep himself from shaking with fury at how defiant the little freak could be. And right now was certainly one of those times. If he continued to refuse to repair his core, then how was he to finish gaining the energy he needed to escape his own shackles?

No. He was too close! Too close for this insignificant crossbreed freak to ruin it all for him!

However, Iluzisto mentally paused in his angry rant when he remembered something else. Of course… He _also_ knew the young crossbreed's weakness… And all he needed to do was extort it to his advantage…

Iluzisto suddenly lost his stealth mode and reappeared.

And just as Danny had been about to reply to Vlad, they both heard a small chuckle echo from the hallway. Eyes darting towards the sound, the hybrids tense at the sight of Iluzisto; yet externally they glared, both realizing the spirit had never truly left.

"So much for giving us thirty minutes of peace!" Vlad protested indignantly, though he wasn't really aware of the time.

"He obviously has nothing better to do, Plasmius," Danny added in a growl. "Plus, when does he ever keep his word?"

"Silence!" Iluzisto firmly demanded and immediately activated the neck collars; but even though the collars had been damaged, they still packed a punch when they were set off. Both hybrids yelled and were brought to their knees with the pain.

Iluzisto stopped in front of the cells, but didn't unlock the cell door. Instead, he narrowed his now reddened eye and continued, "I will not tolerate any more of your disrespect or disobedience! You are both mine now! But since you insist on continuing to be both, hear me well!"

He shot another zap through their neck braces, but the Prison Head had purposely not made it as powerful as the last one. But then, Danny fell to the ground at the assault and lay panting with his dizziness.

Iluzisto was surprised that it still affected the younger crossbreed more. He narrowed his eye in dissatisfaction now that he suspected that the younger creature might need more time to recover than he wanted to give him. Or perhaps what he had supplied for the replenishment of the younger crossbreed hadn't been enough. He growled in frustration, but nevertheless pushed on with why he had returned so quickly.

He addressed both of the crossbreeds, "You will now make every effort from now on to repair yourselves each time I have need of your unique energies. If you refuse any longer, I will make real what you two have discovered to have been an illusion: this time, I will truly find and eliminate the rest of the younger crossbreed's so called 'loved ones'. I believe you call them 'parents'. In fact, I will be bringing them here as my prisoners so you will be certain that I never bluff!"

"No!" Danny grunted out as he attempted to get back on his feet. And somehow managing it, he looked up at Iluzisto and weakly threatened, "I swear if you—"

"I said **silence**!" Iluzisto yelled, drowning out the boy's voice with his booming demand and the loud clap that came from the bottom of his staff as he slammed it against the ground.

"You still dare to refute me?" the spirit hissed at Danny. "You think I cannot easily eliminate your human guardians as I did those three pathetic human children that you cared so much about?"

"_Mom, Dad! / Maddie!"_ each of the hybrid's respectively thought, but kept silent as they continued to listen to the evil spirit's threats.

"Reconsider who you anger, crossbreed—_both_ of you!" Iluzisto added glaring over at Plasmius. However, focusing mostly on the teen again, he said more calmly, yet darkly, "It will be all too easy to find and finish off your remaining loved ones, young crossbreed. After all…"

Iluzisto's eye suddenly curved smugly as he voiced his next words, "Clockwork lacked hesitance when he told me where to locate your three young human companions. He even said he would _aid_ me to find your remaining two loved ones, remember? Yes, I think I will take his offer…. Unless, you both give me what I want…"

However, before Danny or Vlad could say anything to their ultimatum, Okulo suddenly floated up behind the Prison Head.

"Master Prison Head," Okulo said respectfully, though there was also smugness in his voice.

Iluzisto regarded the liaison; and as if sharing some silent conversation with each other, the illusionist spirit then turned back to the two stunned hybrids and said with finality, "Reconsider your positions _carefully_, crossbreeds…"

Without another word, Iluzisto sharply turned away and hurriedly left with Okulo. However, the liaison glanced knowingly at the two prisoners with his own departure—for once not protesting with the fact that the hybrids were not separated as the High Council had ordered.

Iluzisto knew there would be no rush for him to return to secure the crossbreed into their respective cells since he had to admit that the older crossbreed might need to help the younger one recover again. And, again, that it would probably take time. Still, he knew he could not delay returning. He did not want to give the hybrids any more opportunity to be together than was necessary…. Oddly, they seem to feed off each other's endurance, and that made them even more difficult to deal with…

Unfortunately, Iluzisto had to report back to Justeco and Okulo's coming to get him was a sure sign that he had taken more time than necessary with the crossbreeds. And he could not afford to delay his presence in front of the High Tribunal at this stage of his plans.

The crossbreeds would have to wait—for now.

Pulling himself up, Vlad growled, "Blast! Curse that demented spirit!"

Danny then gritted his teeth, just as—or more—angry and agitated than Vlad. He couldn't let Iluzisto hurt his parents; but the teen also refused to be responsible for the spirit's escape, either! And knowing what they needed to do to avoid both outcomes, he said in determination, "You were saying about escaping, Vlad?"

In the next instant, he began to activate his transformation rings, ready to repair his ghost core.

"I totally agree, my boy!" Vlad firmly replied, before willing his own transformation rings.

They both knew repairing their ghost cores was exactly what Iluzisto wanted; but the hybrids also needed to recover their energies if they were going to pull together for one last escape attempt before Iluzisto returned to steal their remaining will as easily as he could steal their energy…

* * *

**A/N: truephan here, y'all: Hope that got your weekend all excited! Looks like things are coming to a crescendo! Hope you like it all and let us know! You know we love to hear y'all's thoughts!**

**Pearl: Yup! What Truephan said! Also, good news! I have CM ready! I will post it tomorrow! See ya over there! **


	22. Chapter 22: Grit and Determination

**A/N: truephan here: Hello, everybodee! Whew! Man, am I glad this chapter is done! My Ms. Hyde muse and Pearl's Vlad muse were really at each other over this one! But now that they have knocked themselves out, we could finally post. And, of course, we hope y'all like it! Enjoy and see you below!**

**Pearl: Ha-ha! Well, said, my dear Truephan! Our muses sure had a go at one another with this one! But while they are both unconscious, let's get on with this! Thank you all for your thoughts and support as always! Another fun filled chapter with Vlad and Danny in jail! *snickers* **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But the OC characters are our own.**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Grit and Determination**

* * *

Iluzisto and Okulo hurried toward the Tribune's quarters. Each of the spirits hoped that this wouldn't take very long since they were anxious to get onto the final stages of their plans.

They had just reached the last hallway that would lead to Justeco's room when a messenger met them from the other direction.

"Master Prison Head, Master Liaison," the other Observant hurriedly said, "I am glad that I found you! The High Tribune has been detained once again and will not be able to meet with you until a little later, Master Prison Head. He commands that you return to the prison until he calls you."

"_I should have expected as such, foolish bag of hot air that you are, Justeco," _Iluzisto thought, irritated; though outwardly, he merely silently nodded.

"However," the messenger continued, "he was insistent that you see him at once, Master Liaison. It concerns the matter at hand with which he is detained."

Okulo glanced briefly at Iluzisto, who met his gaze before replying to Okulo's unspoken question, "I will see you at the proper time during your proper prison rounds, then, Master Liaison."

Okulo also nodded in silence, though he knew that Iluzisto had secretly conveyed to him that they were to meet back at the prison as soon as he was through speaking with the High Tribune. He then floated after the messenger while Iluzisto turned back toward the prison.

But as Iluzisto floated down the hallway, he slowed at his next thought. Then glancing briefly at his wrist bands, all of the sudden he felt quite satisfied as he mused, _"Heh-heh. Ironical, is it not, Justeco? That even when you meant for me to dwell in punishment, I am superior to you. You failed to realize that by putting me under the constraints of time, you have 'awarded' me with the __**sense**__of time. Quite an advantage here, as it had been in the past—as we both know. I suppose I should also be grateful that you have delayed our meeting. That now allows me to return to my nearly-completed plans. However, my sense of time makes me aware that I have not yet given the crossbreeds enough time to prepare themselves for my usage. So, though I must wait, I can always absorb the energies from the newly acquired prisoners—and torture a few of my old prisoners!" Iluzisto chuckled quietly as he decided, "I think I shall do the former, first…" _

He quickened his pace at that delicious thought.

Iluzisto didn't take too long with those 'newly acquired prisoners', since taking their energies was pathetically easy, especially when like so many others, there was not much to take before their cores would burn to a husk. Not too long afterward, he visited some of his the inmates that he kept for the sheer sick pleasure of torturing them. But fairly soon the illusionist spirit was finally at the door of the last prison cell he would visit while 'killing time'. He quickly unlocked the door and went in.

The prisoner within the cell sat up in attention as soon as he had heard the clang of the unbolting lock. It did not matter that his solid cell did not afford him to see who was entering. He never had a doubt in the end who it would be….

"Master Prison Head," Kvargvid quietly regarded the illusionist spirit, all four of his heads then bowing to him.

Iluzisto's eye shifted, full of evil mischievousness as he smugly replied, "No need to address me as such, Kvargvid. We have known each other for quite a long time, have we not? Not that I had planned it that way. After all, your very thick and unusual hide does not allow me to get to 'know' you more, am I not right?"

Kvargvid's ebony head narrowed its yellow eyes in distain for an instant before he looked away toward his other three silent brothers. The four-headed creature knew from all these years in this prison what the Prison Head had done to most of the prisoners here. And that was to eliminate them one-by-one, absorbing their energy as easily as a spider sucked its victims dry.

The ebony head's eyes then melted into sadness. It did not matter that what Iluzisto said was true. He and his brothers had survived here not because of pity, but because the Prison Head's weapon could not penetrate his ghostly hide—a mere technicality in the end. It did not help, either, that Iluzisto also could never accept the fact that the illusionist spirit had not been the one to capture him. Instead, the creature had been captured by another's power…

That, however, was incidental to what the Prison Head had soon discovered about him once he was in this cell. And that was that Kvargvid was _always _affected by every illusion the spirit threw at him. But because of that, the illusionist spirit had made it a point to visit him even more often than the other 'short-termed' prisoners—and once again, it was not because of pity. Not that pity would matter here, anyways. After all, if pity had mattered, he would not have become a prisoner in the first place…

Kvargvid hitched in his sigh as he turned back to face Iluzisto. Perhaps, then, those long-destroyed prisoners were the _lucky_ ones, for they were spared of much of the torture that he had had to endure these many years…Still, there was nothing for the four-headed creature to do but bear what he knew would come in short order.

The side of the large creature's black mouth hitched slightly at the irony of it all. In spite of the torture, he was _not_ totally defenseless here. And that was because that in spite of the chains on his legs, the collars around each of his necks and the locked cell, he could still access a minute amount of his own powers. It had actually _pleased_ the Prison Head to 'allow' that. Iluzisto had once said that 'sparing' him of total defensiveness made the torture 'sport' and somehow reminded him of his 'old times of glory'.

As if any of that mattered.

Still, Kvargvid squared each of his jaws and the black head finally answered his tormentor, "It is suffice to say that it has always been clear how you have regarded us. On many occasions, you did not so much as appear to us or speak with us before you threw your cruelty at us in many different forms. So, the least you can do is spare us of the formalities and get on with it."

"Very well, then, worm!" Iluzisto growled as he disappeared from sight.

And in the next instant, several very large black scorpions oozed out of the walls, floor and ceiling. But before the large beast could react, one of the scorpions landed on the ebony head's neck and drove its stinger right into it.

Dizziness and pain immediately overcame the leader of the heads as the scorpion's poison quickly made its way into the four-headed creature's system. In spite of the throbbing sting pulsating within them, all of Kvargvid's heads howled in anger before they engaged Iluzisto's illusions...

However, the poison proved effective, for Kvargvid could not think clearly enough to engage his attackers with any significant line of attack, especially when he was being stung at every opportunity. So, even though the large creature put up as worthy a fight as he could in spite of all his 'built in' handicaps, ultimately, the large creature was subdued by all of the penetrating stings of the illusions... As he lay panting in weakness, Iluzisto reappeared.

Muttering in glee, the illusionist spirit said, "How is that for 'formalities' Kvargvid? Such as they are, since this was not as entertaining as usual. Nevertheless, you make it too delicious. In fact, I think I'll see how much you and your brothers can take before pleading for me to stop…"

Kvargvid's black head gasped when three of the scorpions suddenly turned into large boas; and in an instant, the three of them clamped their jaws down on the three other mute heads and coiled their bodies tightly around the heads' long necks, constricting them slowly.

Kvargvid's black head, the only head not being harmed by the snakes, rose up in alarm as he watched his brother's ectoplasmic flow cut off completely, causing the glow around them to quickly begin to ebb and their coloring to turn a dull gray—like a person slowly being suffocated to death.

"You know, I've never found out what would happen if I destroyed your brothers… Would they grow back?" Iluzisto asked with evilly curiosity.

Kvargvid gasped at hearing inside his head the dying cries of his brothers and he turned his black head to the evil illusionist spirit, pleading, "Stop, Master Prison Head! I beg of you to desist! Do not take my brothers away from me!"

"And what could you offer me in exchange for sparing them?" Iluzisto retorted, as the illusions continued to squeeze the heads, which were now on the ground barely moving, looking more transparent by the second.

Kvargvid lowered his head in helplessness before raising one of his clawed hands to his mouth. His hide may have been able to prevent the evil spirit from taking his ghost energy, but… he could give up some of it willingly, and it was what the power-hungry Observant always wanted…

Closing his eyes, Kvargvid opened his mouth and expelled out a ball of red energy from his mouth onto his hand. The creature's aura instantly dimmed, but it hardly cared as long as the evil spirit would leave him and his brothers alone…

Iluzisto's eyes curved with triumph before he took a step forward and touched the sphere in the creature's hand with one of his own. In an instant the sphere seeped into the illusionist spirit, his own aura flashing red for only a brief moment.

"Tsk. What a pitiful offering," Iluzisto commented with disappointment. He really wasn't all that interested in this creature's energy being that he was not able to penetrate its core. So, really, the energy he could obtain from it was a mere appetizer. Nevertheless, Kvargvid was indeed lucky for his thick hide; though, torturing him and his brothers and forcing him every-now-and-then to bear him an offering was a good way to keep the large creature under his submission.

"Still, I will be merciful and spare your brothers," Iluzisto continued before he dissipated his illusions.

Kvargvid's freed heads instantly curled behind his body, as if trying to hide from the evil spirit. But still suffering from the effects of having their ectoplasmic flow ceased and the scorpions' poison, as well as their lost of energy, the heads just as quickly limped down on the ground, unconscious.

Kvargvid's remaining black head quickly lowered to inspect his brothers, only slightly relieved to know they would recover in spite of their falling senseless.

Iluzisto sneered at the brotherly love the black head showed the others before suddenly raising his staff and blasting the ghost unexpectedly in the chest.

Kvargvid cried out before his remaining head limped above the others, now fully unconscious.

"How boring," Iluzisto muttered in distaste before turning around and exiting the cell, locking it after him. It seemed none of his other prisoners were as interesting as the crossbreeds. At least _they_ put up a decent fight before falling unconscious…

"How unfortunate for them to have caught my attention so…," Iluzisto said evilly as he walked down the hallway with a new purpose. "I believe I have given them enough time to recover…"

* * *

As soon as Danny had willed his transformation rings with the intention of turning human so that he could start the healing process for his central core, he unexpectedly grew dizzier from the effort. Then losing control. he fell to his knees and unwittingly reverted back fully to his ghost half again.

Vlad, however, had easily turned human; but just when he was about to call forth his energy rings to repair his ghostly core, he saw what happened to the boy. Immediately, Vlad transformed back into his alter ego, only to gasp and grip his chest at the sudden sharp hot pain that gripped his core. His eyes slightly widened in disbelief and fear, but he forced himself to keep steady and take in a slow breath.

Plasmius swallowed as he then turned his attention back to the teen, now even more anxious to get out of here, and suddenly understanding how _very _grave the situation was becoming.

Danny had not noticed what had happened to Vlad, since he was still on his hands and knees trying not to pass out.

And hesitating to approach the boy for more than one reason, Vlad slowly said, "Daniel,…"

But Danny firmly interrupted him. "I'm all right! I guess I'm weaker than I thought. But I can't—and won't—give up!"

The boy immediately pulled himself back to an unsteady stand. He then tried to morph again, gritting his teeth as his rings momentarily bathed him in light. He panted as he tried to hold them steady, but he readily failed and remained in his ghost form, clearly having a hard time controlling his body with how damaged and weak it was. He tried again and this time was able to change into his human form; but, then, he almost instantly changed back to his ghost form with hardly a thought. He gasped at his lack of control, but he paused only a moment to muster his concentration and strength.

"Come on," he said through gritted teeth and then tried again. This time, just as he successfully turned human, he didn't hesitate again. He went right into going to his mid-morph state and was able hold it steady while willing the repair of his ghostly half just as Vlad had shown him when they first got to this hideous place.

But he was only _partially_ successful just as he finished the task at repairing his central core. And even though he had successfully morphed back into Phantom afterward, the effort still left him panting and his head partially swimming.

Vlad looked upon the boy, suddenly struck by his actions, even as he noticed that the younger hybrid's ghostly aura was slightly flickering. Yes, Daniel could be pig-headed, but he had to admit that this type of determination was admirable.

Still, the man was now worried for himself since his core was still throbbing painfully inside him. But that made him even more determined to fix his own ghost half and he told the boy, "Give me a moment and then we can begin."

No sooner had he said this when Vlad turned human again, feeling the pain in his core vanish now that he had made it dormant. However, as he went into his mid-morph state, Vlad almost cried out at the intensity of the pain that spread through his body at the same right as his black rings.

He stumbled back, the wall preventing him from falling down, as his rings finished moving through him. But the instant that they vanished, the pain also vanished. Still human, he just breathed for a moment before looking back at the young hybrid and finding he was staring at him with wide eyes.

"What…? What was that?" Danny finally blurted out. He had never seen Vlad have a single ounce of trouble repairing himself; and although the man had managed it on his first try, it had clearly hurt him a lot!

Danny frowned when Vlad just took another breath in response, his hand unknowingly placed against his chest.

"Vlad?" the teen called again more seriously this time. "Are… Are you alright?"

The older hybrid replied by morphing into his ghost form again. And much to his relief, he only felt a very small sharp pain at his core, but it was nothing like before. He also felt almost at full strength now that he was Plasmius, but not quite. In fact, this felt...different…weaker.

When he finally looked back at the boy and was about to tell him he was fine, however, he paused when he saw how drained Daniel still looked. Vlad wondered if _he_ looked as drained now that he knew he still wasn't feeling right, either. Still, the man knew he would be able to carry on, but now…He wasn't certain if Daniel was going to be able to help after all, especially when he suddenly remembered that Iluzisto had replaced the boy's old damaged collar with a new one and they had only been able to damage it slightly—not enough to allow the teen to use any of his powers.

Of course, neither Vlad nor Danny had yet to discover that the teen's 'new' collar had been damaged in Iluzisto's two most recent attacks on the boy…

Vlad finally spoke up, though hesitantly, "Daniel, I want to get out of here as much as you. But, perhaps it would be best if…"

But guessing what his rival was going to say, Danny pushed aside his brief worry over Vlad's moment of weakness and instead once again firmly interrupted him, "No, it **wouldn't **be best, Plasmius. You said you needed only a moment and then we could begin. And you and I both know that Iluzisto will be back sooner than we want him to be! So, let's get on with getting these neck restraints off!"

Vlad then frowned in irritation. He just knew the stubborn boy would push himself, even dangerously so once he made a decision on what to do. And especially on such an important decision as this one. But he also knew that the boy would just continue to argue rather than do what was best for him at this moment. But he wasn't about to let the boy get away with his bravado, either.

Though his tone betrayed his growing irritation, Vlad finally said, "All right! And since it's painfully obvious that you're too stubborn to listen to me and that you need more time to recover than me, let's start with trying to get your neck brace off of **you**."

Danny glared at the man for his barb, but he didn't care in the end which of their neck braces got off first. All he cared about was getting out of here. Still, he couldn't resist the urge to counter the man with his own barb, "Okay, whatever, cheesehead! But it looks 'painfully obvious' that you forgot that my collar is new and I can't use my powers!"

The teen then wanted to emphasize that point to the man. As he tried to form an ectoplasmic orb around his hand, he smugly quipped, "See?" But to the surprise of both hybrids, especially the younger one, a small orb formed around Danny's hand! It was weak, but it was definitely there. Danny then uttered in disbelief, "Uh, how did that happen?"

Though privately excited at this development, Vlad rolled his eyes and quipped back, "Once again, it's painfully obvious that you haven't checked on that for a while."

Danny immediately frowned at the man, but Vlad then said more encouragingly, "Maybe one of Iluzisto's too-many-jolts from his weapon on you since you first got that neck brace must have accidentally hit it. And, we had damaged it slightly beforehand. Well, let's not try to ponder that too much, hmm? All that matters is that your neck restraint was somehow damaged enough for you to access part of your powers."

He then went right over to Danny, but suddenly hesitated. However, before Danny could ask why, the man readily frowned in resolve as he grabbed onto the boy's neck restraint. He tersely asked, "Ready?"

"Way ready," Danny replied, still irritated with the man. But then without another word, he grabbed the neck restraint with both of his hands.

A moment later, they both activated their ectoplasmic energies and tried to pour them into the neck brace. But, the older hybrid could plainly see that Danny's energy was flickering even more than it had been during their last attempted escape at the trial, and as it had only moments before. Still, the man said nothing and concentrated, ignoring the increasing throbbing from his own core as he continued to firmly pour his ghost energy into the boy's collar.

Suddenly, however, Danny groaned and stepped back when he lost his balance after suddenly feeling very dizzy. And in that instant, his energy orb dissipated. He groaned again and reflexively holding his head, slowly said, "Sorry! Looks like that effort took more out of me than I thought!"

But then, Danny's knees suddenly buckled and Vlad immediately grabbed the boy by his shoulders, supporting the weakened teen's weight before he could fall to the floor. Glaring a bit at the nearly spent teen, he said more firmly this time, "You need to rest!"

Danny recovered slightly and then realizing that Vlad was supporting him, shoved him off and growled, "I'm fine! We need to get out of here before Iluzisto gets my parents!" But suddenly, his breathing and his spinning head didn't agree.

Noticing that the boy's eyes weren't focusing well, Vlad growled back, "Blast it, Daniel! You're not going to be any good to either of us the way you are right now. Obviously, your ghost half hasn't fully recovered, and all that nourishment still wasn't enough. Much as time is of the essence, you _need_ to rest!"

Danny gritted his teeth and said, "Don't tell me what to do, Plasmius! I'll…" But the teen couldn't complete his sentence. Everything in front of him was suddenly whirling rapidly. His spinning head had won the battle of wills and in the next instant, Danny completely collapsed, instantly turning human again as he did.

Vlad caught the boy's fall again and quickly picked up the limp teen and laid him on his bed. The older half-ghost smirked a little as he looked down at the senseless boy and said, "Glad you finally agreed with me, my boy, on getting that much needed rest!"

Vlad then sighed and went over to his own bed. He closed his eyes as he lifted a hand against his chest, gripping at it. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he wasn't fairing too well himself.

And as if it were a coincidence of proof, the man abruptly lost control of his body and he instantly lost his ghost form. He hissed in frustration and pain, this time feeling a throbbing discomfort even as human.

"We need to escape," he whispered worriedly to himself before he held back a grown and instead laid down, his mind now whirling with its own thoughts. Neither he nor Daniel could do anything while these blasted collars were on them; and now he didn't know if Daniel was going to be able to recover fast enough for them to attempt any escape any time soon. He searched his mind, but he simply had just run out of ideas. Really, he had exhausted every angle.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from down the hallway and he tensed before cursing under his breath in recognition of what had made that noise: Iluzisto! He immediately stood up and waited.

Iluzisto's silvery-blue eye narrowed; he was obviously greatly perturbed when he saw the senseless younger crossbreed. Addressing Vlad, he growled, "Why haven't you repaired yourselves, crossbreed?"

Vlad sneered back, "As you can plainly see, Iluzisto, the boy hasn't been able to do much of anything now that you've weakened him so! He needs more nourishment! But he couldn't even consume that right now unless he has had enough time to rest!"

In the next moment, however, Vlad yelled in pain and his knees buckled slightly when his neck collar was activated. Still, in spite of the pain, he steeled himself, rose to his full height and glared at the Prison Head.

This time, Iluzisto's eye conveyed slight surprise at this creature's tenacity. Perhaps, then, the crossbreed was right. But he didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

In an instant, Iluzisto opened the older half-ghost cell door and used his staff to slam the man against the wall.

Vlad cringed but quickly glared back as the spirit drew even closer.

"What of you?" Iluzisto questioned wickedly as he stopped a foot from the cornered man, disengaging the collar's electric attack. "Are you ready to give me what I want? Or… will I have to painfully rip it from you?"

Vlad's eyes flashed red in utter hatred; but much to his misfortune, his body ruined the effect by abruptly turning ghost.

Iluzisto chuckled at the man's stricken look before saying, "Oh, looks like your own body has betrayed you, crossbreed…"

Plasmius tensed as he saw Iluzisto raise his ghost staff to his core with the clear intention of jabbing that sharp and damaging tip into his core.

But then suddenly, the illusionist spirit was interrupted by the quite noticeable sting coming from the bracelets around his wrists. And that could only mean that Okulo was summoning him!

"_Blast that spirit!"_ Iluzisto instantly thought, though he knew he had to go.

He glared back at the crossbreed who was staring down in surprise at the spirit's glowing bracelets. However, Vlad looked up when Iluzisto quickly sneered, "I see through your ruse, crossbreed! So, since you have so miserably failed to get the younger crossbreed to cooperate, you will have to stew in your own feeble thoughts until I can return to finish this business—with him _and you!" _

Before Vlad could comment, Iluzisto raised his weapon. At first, Vlad thought that the spirit was going to zap him again. But a moment later, he was being shoved onto his bed. And then he could see by its reflective sheen that Iluzisto had reactivated the invisible barrier instead. He turned his eyes back to the Prison Head, only to see that Iluzisto was already in retreat.

Without another word to the older half-ghost, Iluzisto locked the cell; however, just as he was in the process of closing the cell, the zaps to his wrists increased so much that he inadvertently released the door handle and dropped his staff!

Reaching down and scooping up his staff in spite of the pain, the Prison head growled under his breath, "_This had better be good!"_

He turned to go toward the door leading to the rest of the Observant complex when the pain in his wrists stopped for some reason.

Though still irritated by it, he did not question it. Instead, his thoughts drifted to his mission, and he drifted down the hallway…

* * *

"_Blasted spirit!"_ Vlad immediately thought before sighing. Nevertheless, he was privately thankful, of course, that was gone. He sat back down on his bed as his gaze drifted over to Daniel. The boy was still out of it!

Vlad abruptly jolted in surprise when out of nowhere his black rings appeared and he turned human. But then just as quickly, the rings appeared _yet again_ and turned him into Plasmius.

"Gahh!" he yelled in both pain and anger. "Curse that illusionist spirit! **Curse him and all his blasted kind!"** The man gripped the edge of his bed as he shook for a moment with his overwhelming emotions. He hated this. He hated not having control of his powers—of his own body! It reminded him of when he had been in the hospital all those years back. And he _**hated**_ it!

"No," he growled to himself and forced himself to calm down. He couldn't lose it again. That's what Iluzisto wanted, and he wasn't giving him that pleasure again. Eyebrows creasing in distress, Vlad leaned back against the wall and sighed again. He closed his eyes, trying to analyze everything that had happened to him and Daniel so that he could somehow come up with another plan of getting out of this mess. The Observants' purpose in getting him and Daniel locked up on trumped up evidence—well, on Daniel's part at least—definitely had its darker purpose. Those spirits had been too confident that they had the boy and him right where they wanted them. But why go through such a circus just to condemn them? From what he could see, they weren't really too involved with the proceedings. They let Clockwork do all the 'dirty' work. And Spektanto had been completely useless—and even that had been in the Observants' favor in the end.

He tried to think what made these Observants tick. His only experience before this whole mess was when he wanted to get Vortex as a servant. And the Observants seemed to give only nominal resistance to his efforts. He had gotten away too easily; yet, it definitely wasn't so easy now.

He suddenly thought about Iluzisto and what his role was in this. Obviously, Iluzisto had been having no trouble fooling those other Observants all along, including orchestrating this whole 'trial' thing just to get his—and the boy's—powers. But, then what? Not that he really cared. That was just his natural curious part that was wondering…

But then again, the Observants were foolish enough to reject it all when he and Daniel had pointed it all out to them earlier in their last session…

Plasmius scoffed in disgust. These infernal Observants deserved everything Iluzisto had in store for them! If he ever was to get out of here, the last thing he would do was have anything to do with these imbecilic spirits again!

The next moment, however, Vlad was pulled from his thoughts. He opened his eyes and sat up straight again, throwing his gaze at the boy right afterward.

Daniel was stirring.

Danny groaned as he regained consciousness, reflexively bringing one of his hands to his head. His head was still spinning, but he immediately pulled himself up to a sitting position when his memory came into some focus. He looked over to where Vlad would be and wasn't surprised to see the man sitting in his bed and staring at him again.

"Doesn't he _ever _sleep?" the teen mumbled to himself.

His eyes then widened when he saw that the familiar reflective sheen that usually separated him and Vlad was back! His eyes widened even more and he bit his lower lip at his next thought. Iluzisto must have been here again!

But now he knew he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He still hadn't fully repaired his ghost core and he had to do that! He closed his eyes and willed his transformation rings. But as soon as he did, he became even dizzier.

"Whoah!" he inadvertedly blurted out while reflexively cradling his head, and losing his balance a little.

Vlad, in the meanwhile, silently watched what the boy was attempting to do. Why did Daniel have to be so obstinate? Was it really that difficult for him to just rest some more? There was nothing else either of them could do right now anyways! And even though he knew he was strong enough to help the boy repair himself in spite of the pain in his core, he couldn't since the barrier was back. Foolish child. Why didn't Daniel just rest? Still, what else could he expect from the stubborn boy? ...He suddenly smirked with a hint of pride at his next thought. Of course, he expected nothing less from the boy.

Nevertheless, the man said nothing and continued to watch.

But before Danny was able to attempt to repair his ghost half, he unwittingly reverted back to his human form. He panicked when he became even dizzier and wrestled with the fleeting thought that since he was so weak, it might be impossible for him to maintain his transformation rings, much less even change back into his ghost form.

He lay back down and tried to relax a moment. He had to get a hold of himself if he was going to repair his ghost half in order to escape and rescue his parents.

But after only a few minutes, when the dizziness let up some, the young hybrid thought, "_Okay. Better do this now if I'm going to try to do this!"_

Once again, he slowly willed his transformation rings, struggling to hold them steady. But then, he felt his control quickly ebbing, and they disappeared. Now panicked, he willed his transformation rings again, holding them as best as he could. He grunted with the effort, tightly closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in determination to heal his ghost half this time. But not a moment later, he knew he had failed, as he had inadvertently morphed back to his human side before there had been enough time to repair his ghost half.

He panted heavily from the effort. And he was sure glad he was lying down. From all this dizziness, he sure felt he was falling through his bed right now. And he just knew if he opened his eyes, he would see the vortex that was enveloping his mind—and now even his stomach. He sure hoped he didn't blow it and loose whatever was left in his stomach. He draped his arm over his eyes, though he knew that wouldn't help in stopping this whirling sensation. In fact, he knew it was all going to end in his losing consciousness again.

But then, he heard a voice softly say, "Good try, my boy. But maybe you should just rest some more?"

It was, of course, Vlad speaking. But just hearing the man's voice say anything—even if it weren't the usual irritating goading—gave Danny a strange surge of strength.

Not changing his position or even opening his eyes, Danny growled, "That's **all** I've been doing since we were thrown out of the trial this last time! And I don't think my parents would understand that when they're being vaporized by Iluzisto!" He suddenly choked on his next words, "I can't let them down like…like I did my sister and friends. I've just got to repair my ghost half!"

Vlad quietly commented on the boy's first reply, "I know that your parents would not only understand, but they would be proud of all your efforts now, Daniel." He paused a moment before adding, "And you've never let your sister or friends down…Their…demise wasn't your fault."

But the man suddenly threw any semblance of feelings behind those thoughts away. The boy would never think he meant them anyways. Instead, he added with irritation, "But you're no good to **me** right now unless you give yourself a little more time to rest! You've probably burned up most of those calories you just consumed with all those ridiculous tries to repair your core right now. You have to conserve what's left of them and rest so that any more effort will be worth it. Unless you're still pig-headed enough to completely exhaust yourself so much that your ghost half might never recover!"

Danny's eyes jolted open with those words. Could he permanently damage his ghost half? He hoped that Vlad was bluffing. It would be just like the fruit loop to say something like that just so the man could manipulate him.

If only the boy knew the man was speaking out of experience…

Danny silently growled in frustration. Still, he hated to admit that Vlad might be right, that he had used up most of those calories in all these failed attempts. But he didn't want to give in to either his exhaustion or his need for more food. And most of all, he didn't want to make the fruit loop think that he was going to just fall in line with his advice. He was just too upset to do that.

He then sat up and ignoring the sudden increase in dizziness it had caused, growled back, "I'll be all right! All the time-outs in the world won't help if it takes too long!" But then he found himself admitting defeat, "Besides, I need more than that. I-I just don't have the energy."

Vlad said nothing to that at first. It was enough that the boy _was_ listening and in his own way, agreed. Nevertheless, there was nothing either of them could do about the fact that Daniel still hadn't gotten near the amount of calories he needed and that because his body was in constant flux, all of Iluzisto's attacks affected him more than Vlad. But then, Vlad thought of what Daniel had last said. And the man had a sudden thought that Daniel just might have that something 'more' he needed.

The older hybrid hesitated at first, but then decided to just come out with it. He quietly replied, "But you **do** have that energy, Daniel."

"What do you know or don't know about me, cheesehead?" Danny hissed back, narrowing his eyes in anger.

Vlad immediately hissed back, "Will you just listen, you little rat?" But then, he got a hold of himself and slowly added, "Remember, uh, that I had once been…monitoring you and your abilities…during that time…"

He paused.

Danny frowned in confusion, then, suddenly, caught his drift. Vlad must have been referring to the time when the man tried to make a clone of him. So, even though now he both did and _didn't_ want to know the answer because he was sure it would creep him out, the boy made himself reply, "Yeah. Go on."

"As you know, we both have very unique central cores, my boy, ones that can actually create or regenerate energy. But you… well, you have an even more special core because you can create more of it, _more_ than what your energy level should allow… Perhaps it's because both of your halves are so dynamically changing because you're in your teen years. But in any case, you might be able to tap deeper into your core to get it to produce _more_ energy not only to fully heal your ghost half, but also to regain whatever strength and power that blasted collar will allow."

Danny frowned in irritation this time and his tone of voice mirrored that, "But in case you haven't noticed, I've tried that several times already and failed!"

Vlad also now grew annoyed at the boy's thick head and tersely replied, "That's because you're using the technique that I showed you!"

Danny jolted a bit at that comment. Just what was the fruit loop thinking? Of course he was! And healing himself was what he was trying to do!

"But I thought you said that it was the way to heal our ghost halves!" Danny protested, now getting exasperated at the man.

"Yes. It is the way, Daniel," Vlad began, his tone becoming a little sarcastic. How could this boy be so stubborn and still need everything spelled out to him?

The man huffed in annoyance before saying, "But think, boy, think! All those times when you must have reached what you thought was the end of your strength, something you did tapped into that well of energy within your central core and…"

Danny's mind instantly clicked and he excitedly interrupted the man, "You're right!" The memory of all those times flashed before him. "And I never thought much about it before; but I just, uhm, sorta concentrated and dug into…into my 'inner strength' each time!"

He was definitely more encouraged now.

Now catching some of the boy's excitement, Vlad interjected, "That's it! Yes, that must be it, Daniel! Now all you need to do is attempt to heal your ghost core with the method I taught you while doing whatever you did whenever you felt you could do no more."

"Okay, I'm going to try it," Danny said with more determination in his voice this time.

He closed his eyes; and feeling more focused, willed his transformation rings. He ignored the sudden drain of strength from the effort. He then commanded his rings to hold steady; but at the same time, pulled all of his thoughts and concentration into digging within himself, reaching deeper inside his core for his inner strength and power…

He struggled with his desire to give up when he felt more of his strength suddenly being sapped away, but he grunted with more grit. Not a moment later, and a burst of white energy both encased and jutted out from his ghostly aura as he returned to his full ghost form. And if it weren't for the neck restraint, his aura would have returned to its normal luster. In any case, Danny felt his dizziness swept instantly away; as if he were well-nourished and had never been drained.

Vlad resisted the urge to yell in triumph.

But the ghost teen inadvertedly squelched any more of the man's thought on doing that when Danny exclaimed his own excitement. "Yes!" But then looking back at Vlad with a mischievous smile, he added, "It worked! Thanks, cheesehead!"

With a smirk, the older ghost countered, "Whatever, little rat."

Immediately after that, the two hybrids shared a knowing smile that hadn't happened before and may certainly not happen again. But at this moment, it didn't matter. They had both acknowledge their appreciation of each other for the first time in their lives.

And, secretly, even if it were fleeting, that meant a little something to each of them more than anything else.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?" Iluzisto all about growled to Okulo once he had caught up with him. But when the Prison Head could somehow read panic within the other Observant's eye, he then said, "What is wrong?"

"J-Justeco w-wants to see you immediately! He might suspect what our plans are!" Okulo stuttered.

Iluzisto didn't believe that Justeco knew any more than what Okulo implied. Still, he had to keep things under control. He tersely said, "There is nothing to worry about, Master Liaison! If what you say is true, then the prison would be swarming with Observant guards!"

Okulo finally calmed at the Prison Head's words. He then said, "Perhaps, then, you are right. Maybe I was imagining things. Nevertheless, we must not tarry any longer with our plans. Are you not ready yet?"

Raising up his wrist bands as proof, the illusionist spirit could barely contain his irritation with this fool in front of him as he replied, "You will be the first to know whether or not I am ready. But we must wait for the crossbreeds to fully recuperate."

"If you had just left them alone instead of giving into your impulses, that would have already been possible," Okulo retorted.

Iluzisto's eye narrowed with his ire. Still, he remained calm as he said, "It will not be long. In fact, why do you not check on the crossbreeds yourself while I assure our illustrious High Tribune that there is nothing to worry about….?"

"_Yet..,"_ Iluzisto added only to himself.

"By myself?" Okulo blurted out.

Iluzisto rolled his eye and replied, "Take one of my guards with you when you check on them if you are afraid. Remember, the crossbreeds still have their restraining collars on, so you have nothing to fear." He paused before uttering his next thought with a bit of a teasing glint in his eye. "Oh, you could always just use that unique orb of yours. I am sure that offers you as much protection as any of the Observants' fine weapons…"

Okulo paused a bit, instantly knowing that the Prison Head was referring to the orb he had used to brand the prisoners. Still, he finally got a hold of himself and said with more firmness, "I am not afraid of those abominations, Iluzisto! And I do not need to have a guard with me. But since it is proper to remain ready when we are within the prison, then I will use my power orb if need be...Still, I do not want you to tarry any longer than you need to with Justeco. You know how impatient I am."

"_As am I,"_ Iluzisto silently thought as he nodded in agreement with his confederate just before he turned and headed to the High Tribune's quarters.

Okulo, on the other hand, paused in his decision to go check on the crossbreeds. He had almost forgotten that Justeco had ordered him to oversee that everything was in proper order for the hybrids' execution tomorrow…

"I will have to go make a trip to the execution chamber, foremost," Okulo decided, turning back around and heading away from the prison. He would pay those abominations a visit later…

* * *

Offering a bow to Justeco as he stepped into his office, Iluzisto then said,  
"Honorable Tribune. I am here before you as you requested."

Justeco stood up from his seat and floated closer to the illusionist spirit before saying, "I apologize for having to move this reunion until now. As you can understand, I am quite busy with the rest of the High Council preparing everything for the crossbreeds' execution." His voice then grew more somber as he added, "However, it was most urgent that I spoke with you…"

"You have my undivided attention, High Tribune," Iluzisto replied, though internally he frowned. Was it possible that Justeco was suspicious of his doings as Okulo had suggested…?

However, just as Justeco was going to continue, the door opened without so much as a knock and the High Tribune's advisor came in.

Justeco's eye quickly narrowed in irritation as he told the intruding Observant, "Konsilisto, how many times must I remind you to knock?"

"Forgive me, b—" Konsilisto began, only to pause when he noticed Iluzisto's presence. He cleared his throat before continuing, "I apologize, High Tribune. I was unaware you were amid a reunion."

Justeco was tempted to point out that that was exactly why he needed to knock, but instead he waved a hand in disregard and replied, "Very well. Since you are here, you may stay and listen. After all, you know to what this pertains."

Iluzisto resisted the urge to glare at the Observants. If there was one Observant that he despised almost as much as Justeco, it was his 'advisor', Konsilisto…

The advisor nodded as he floated over to his leader, who then turned his attention back to Iluzisto as Justeco continued, "I have summoned you here because the High Council remains unappeased in regards to the display of power which you demonstrated during the crossbreeds' trial."

"If I may remind you, High Tribune," Iluzisto answered, "it was you and the rest of the council who agreed to grant me an agreeable amount of power so to ensure that the crossbreeds would not be a threat to the council in these past days. Need I mention that I have only done with what you have generously granted me what has been asked of me—and only that? So, I do not understand why the council is troubled. Has my work as Prison Head not been satisfactory?" Iluzisto questioned, feigning hurt, though inside he was fuming.

"It has been proper, Iluzisto. I am not reproaching you in that sense," Justeco replied.

But then Konsilisto readily interrupted them, adding, "However, I am one of those that are displeased with the amount of power you displayed at the half-ghosts' trial. In spite of your satisfactory work, we cannot forget your position, Master Prison Head."

"So, what do you propose is the solution to this?" Iluzisto asked with a serious tone of voice this time.

"Although my advisor here wishes for the immediate removal of your current privileges, we have to keep in mind that we have a more important matter to which to concern ourselves foremost. Therefore, although I have agreed to the High Council's request of securing your energy inhibitors to full capacity once more, in turn, removing any further use of your powers, _they_ conceded to my advice of waiting until after the half-ghosts are dealt with. I merely felt it proper to make you aware of the High Council's decree."

Iluzisto just stared between Justeco and Konsilisto before uttering, "How am I, then, to carry out my duties as Prison Head if you strip me of my limited access to my energy?"

"That is what that staff which you carry is for, Iluzisto. It is a weapon on its own, is it not? Therefore, it should work as effectively without the addition of your energy directed into it."

Iluzisto lowered his gaze to hide the fact that his eye suddenly burned red; but taking the action as a sign of submission, Justeco further said, "I am pleased to see you understand and respect the High Council's decree."

Iluzisto didn't reply at first; but forcing his voice to remain calm and steady, though he kept his eye lowered, he said, "If that is all, then, I shall return to my post."

But much to Iluzisto's growing indignation, Konsilisto intervened once again, "We understand you must return to attend to the half-ghosts and the other prisoners; however, there is one more thing to be discussed."

This time, Justeco gave his advisor a questioning look, clearly not knowing what else there was to say. But then as if reading it in the other Observant's eye, the High Tribune ready said, "Oh, yes. There is indeed one more thing."

Iluzisto finally raised his gaze, his pupil having already turned back to its normal purple-silver hue, before he replied, "Yes?"

"It is in regard to the half-ghosts' execution," Justeco continued. "We had left it to your judgment to decide if the crossbreeds will be ready to carry out their sentence tomorrow. As you know, everything is being prepared for tomorrow. However, if you speak now and advise for us to postpone for a further earthly day, then we will do so. As you know, we want no risk of injustice. We, the Observants, believe in a fair creed, which extends even to the way we conduct executions."

Iluzisto could not believe his eye! Justeco was only going over formalities, not any suspicions. ….He should have guessed that the imbecilic 'High Tribune' would only be so caught up on the 'proper' governship of the realm that he would never suspect anything awry in his 'perfectly ordered' province. Fool.

Still, the Prison Head prepared himself to answer with as much aplomb as he could muster. "I am aware, High Tribune," Iluzisto finally answered. "However, I have been watching and caring for the crossbreeds with upmost attention. Therefore, I can say with certainty that there is no need to delay the carrying out of their sentence." Iluzisto's eye almost curved into a wicked grin as he assured the two Observants. "They will be ready for tomorrow—as will be… everything else."

* * *

Quickly floating over to the barrier, Danny said, "Okay, now that I feel much better, let's see if we can do that 'power combo' thing and get rid of _this_ stupid thing!"

With a smirk on his face, Vlad got up. The boy had at least noticed the barrier! And he could tell that the boy was certainly rejuvenated enough so that they now stood a chance. He floated over to the barrier.

Once Danny was in front of the invisible barrier, he immediately brought his hands in front at his chest level and touched the barrier.

Having a hunch on the boy's plan, Vlad likewise brought his hands up so that each set of hands mirrored the other, with the barrier in between their hands.

"Ready?" Danny finally asked.

"Always!" Vlad smugly said.

Both hybrids took that as their cue and at almost the same time, charged up their respective green and dark pink orbs. Both of them also ignored that their glow wasn't as bright as it would be without the neck collars, even damaged ones. Nevertheless and almost immediately afterward, energy beams from each of their hands pushed forward, penetrating the barrier.

The invisible shield immediately began to light up and vibrate under the combination assault by both hybrids. Then, as they had hoped—but not this quickly—the barrier dissolved, and before either one of the hybrids could stop, they both had shot at and repulsed each other away. Their energies, though weakened by the collar, were still able to push the other with enough significant force that both hybrids were shoved to the floor and ended up on their bottoms.

Though slightly stunned by their unplanned blow, both of the half-ghosts laughed. They weren't harmed in the least.

"Are you all right, Daniel?" Vlad finally asked, his laugh finally subsiding since it hurt a bit to laugh due to his still throbbing core. Still, he then slowly pulled himself up off the floor.

"Yeah. You?" the boy replied between efforts to slow his chuckling before standing back up.

Even though that put more of a drain on him than he wanted the boy to know, he smirked and moved toward the teen before lying, "Fine. But it's a good thing we have these neck braces on after all, or else we might not be laughing right now. The jolt you gave me is still running up and down my spine."

"And I think my teeth are still rattling from yours!" Danny quipped back.

But both immediately became more sober and went right to their next task now that they had successfully knocked out the barrier. They knew that removing their neck restraints was a priority, of course, as they stood no chance at all of escaping with them on.

"Let's sit down so we can concentrate better, all right?" Vlad suggested, still trying to hide the fact that he was feeling weaker.

Danny nodded and both of them sat on the boy's bed. However, the teen readily frowned when he noticed Vlad had one of his hands against his chest.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Danny asked tentatively.

Realizing what he was doing, Vlad lowered his hand from his chest and nodded soberly. "It's just a small ache. Iluzisto's last attack really packed a punch, not to mention that impressive jolt of yours."

Danny briefly stared with uncertainty at the older hybrid, but then he just nodded and returned his focus to what they needed to do. "After you," he finally said as he gripped the man's neck brace with both of his hands.

"Why Daniel, I do believe you have manners after all!" Vlad responded with another smirk as he also grasped his collar with both hands.

In the next heartbeat, the two hybrids poured their dampened energies into the device. And as before, when they had done the same thing during their escape attempt at the trial, the combined powers of the two half-ghosts encased Vlad's neck collar.

This time, it was Vlad who heard the crackling and felt the heat as their ectoplasmic energies weakened his restraining device. But he wasn't nervous at all about it. Though he and Daniel were still rivals, after what they had been through together so far, he knew that he could trust the boy on this one.

"Okay, now pull, Daniel," Vlad finally commanded and he could hear the protest of the neck brace as it was yanked by two sets of determined hands.

But just as they could both feel the collar give, they both immediately yelled in immense pain when each of their neck collars unexpectedly jolted them with its white energy. In spite of both hybrids' efforts to pull away, their hands were glued to Vlad's neck brace, as if they had grabbed a live wire with their bare hands, which, for the most part, was exactly what was happening as the electricity penetrated both of the half-ghosts.

Before either of the hybrids knew it, the white light in front of them had melded into total blackness, as the strong, angry energy had finally jolted them into unconsciousness.

A moment later, the energy in the collars dissipated and Vlad and Danny fell off the bed and onto the ground, though they both remained in ghost form.

A fuming growl instantly erupted right afterward. But of course, neither hybrid had uttered it nor was capable of hearing who had uttered it. In fact, neither had even heard anyone's approach before their collars were activated because they had been concentrating so intensely on removing Vlad's collar.

Still, a moment later, the owner of that irritated sound had unlocked the door of Danny's cell and floated in.

Iluzisto had returned.

And looking at the two senseless hybrids over, the spirit growled again, "If I still did not need your unique energies, I would exterminate you both right now! But no need to worry! Your demise will come soon enough!"

He then floated over to Vlad and sneering down at him, he abruptly backhanded the man across the face, demanding, "Wake up, you conniving freak!"

Vlad just groaned in response.

Even more angered, Iluzisto raised his hand again and struck the man again, growling, "I said _**wake up!" **_The spirit leaned closer to the disoriented older hybrid on the ground as he further sneered, "Though I do not know how you got through the barrier, I am certain that _you_ were the instigator of all of this once more, crossbreed! Your power must somehow been able to overcome the neck brace as well. I should have thought of that before. Still, it does not surprise me that you even forced the younger one beyond his strength to help you!"

Vlad was too out of it to notice Iluzisto's presence, let alone hear anything he had said. Instead, he focused whatever willpower he had left into sitting up. And after a bit of a struggle, he managed it, though he groaned again as he gripped his spinning head, while his other hand went down to his chest. What in blazes had happened?

Iluzisto glanced over at the boy before moving towards him and giving him the same rude awakening. However, unlike the older crossbreed, the younger one remained just as senseless.

Iluzisto twisted violently around when he heard a gasp coming from Plasmius, who had finally regained enough awareness to realize what had happened and that he was now in serious trouble.

"Tsk-Tsk," Iluzisto said mockingly. "You and the other crossbreed were trying to escape again." But then he paused when he noticed how the man was holding his chest and was not even trying to get up. "And…it seems you wasted all your strength into it…How very foolish of you…"

Vlad's eyes widened as Iluzisto moved closer to him; but though he attempted to get off the ground to move away, he only managed to roll over before Iluzisto was upon him. And grabbing him by the shoulder, he forced the man on his back again before grabbing him by the neck.

"Oh, no. You are not going _anywhere_," Iluzisto sneered darkly at the billionaire. "Not before I get from you what I want…"

As if renewed when he saw Iluzisto raise his staff to his chest, Plasmius gripped Iluzisto's hand on his neck and struggled against him. "Unhand me!" he growled out with a hard glare.

Iluzisto surprisingly laughed at the hybrid's demand. "You creatures are strange as you are fascinating. After all this time, have you not realized that your attempts to escape and struggles against me are futile?"

"I told you from the day we met; I do not take kindly to threats!" Plasmius grunted out, still trying to wrench the spirit's hand away from him.

"Plasmius," Iluzisto said in amusement, stunning the older hybrid at hearing him address him by his name. "Surely in our time together you must have learned the most important thing about me…" Iluzisto's eye narrowed and turned blood red as he whispered evilly, "I do not threaten. I carry things through… And now, I am going to carry through what I assured you all this time. First, you. Then… what is it that you call him? Ah, yes…" He chuckled mockingly, "your little badger."

Vlad managed a fleeting glance at the unconscious boy before he suddenly desisted in his struggles and turned his eyes back on Iluzisto with a sober expression now on his face.

"I suppose you are right. It is pointless to resist any longer. However," Plasmius' eyes narrowed, while he discreetly moved his free hand just to the right of Iluzisto. "There is one thing _you_ have _yet_ to learn about me…"

"And that is?" Iluzisto questioned back with an amused expression, knowing that his prey was just delaying the inevitable.

"I rarely lose, Iluzisto," he assured the spirit. "But when I do, you can be certain _I make sure _my enemy _loses with me_—and _you_ will not be the exception. Allow me to prove it…"

Iluzisto gasped when the older half-ghost unexpectedly raised his arm and shot a pink ecto-blast to the right of the spirit. Further confused by this, the Prison Head spun his eye around in time to see the man's blast hit the unconscious teenager, slamming him into the wall behind him.

Iluzisto's eye widened in disbelief, not understanding at all why the man had done that. But then he soon found out when he saw the boy's white rings wash over him, turning him human.

No… The man had weakened the boy again just to keep him from siphoning his ghost energy… The older crossbreed had just delayed his plans _yet again_! What if the boy didn't recover before tomorrow—before Iluzisto could get a chance to escape!

"NO!" Iluzisto exclaimed before turning his eye back around to face the older crossbreed. But just as he did, the spirit gasped when he saw a blue sphere right at his face before it was fired right at him.

"Ahh!" Iluzisto cried out as he dropped his staff and gripped his eye.

Now that Iluzisto had inadvertently loosened his grip on his neck, Vlad pushed himself away from the evil spirit before pulling himself to his feet. But he was breathing heavily with the burning pain inside his core. What he feared was true. His ghost core had reached its limit. It was no longer healing completely and every attempt to use any ounce of energy was like scratching at a bleeding wound trying to scab over…

Still, seeing his last chance of escape on the ground, Plasmius forced himself to push aside his pain and moved to grab the Observant's staff.

But just as he grabbed it, Iluzisto managed to open his eye; and with a furious yell, he raised his hand and a wall of fire engulfed the older hybrid.

"Ahh!" Vlad cried out as he whirled his cape around himself, trying to protect his body from the burning inferno around him. But it was not only painful, but suffocating, and he soon dropped back to his knees, struggling for his every breath.

Iluzisto's bloodshot eye glared viciously at the man being affected by his illusion. "That's the _second_ time you damage my eye, you fool!" he exclaimed before storming over to the older hybrid.

Iluzisto quickly grabbed his staff again before wrenching Plasmius up as he allowed the illusion to dissipate around him.

"And now, you are going to pay for it with your every last remaining drop of energy!" he roared before raising his staff and thrusting it into the half-ghost chest.

Plasmius' scream echoed down the entire cell hall, and while Iluzisto's black restraints on his wrists began to smoke and their glow flicker, Vlad's remaining ghost hue dimmed… until it extinguished completely.

This time, instead of the black energy rings quickly reverting the man to his human form, his ghost form peeled away, racing downward; and starting at his head, his hair turned white, his blue face and skin melded into a human flesh-tone color and, finally, his clothing fell away.

Vlad's scream was the last thing to come to an end as his head lolled back and he fell limp in Iluzisto's hand.

The spirit just glared darkly at the senseless man for a long moment before he released him, not caring at all about his rough treatment or the strange way the older crossbreed had turned human again. In spite of the fact that Iluzisto could feel the amount of power he had just gained, especially now that his ghostly hue had definitely intensified, he was fuming.

Iluzisto was furious because he could further feel how close he was to being able to destroy the controlling bands on him; and if it hadn't been for the older freak's little stunt of turning the younger one human, he would have been able to also take the boy's energy this very instant—and he would be a free spirit _right now!_

"I should _kill_ you this second," Iluzisto sneered as he aimed his shaking staff at the man on the ground. The crossbreed had provoked him so much again that he would definitely deserve it!

Still, he stopped short of ripping Vlad's core right out right then. Not because he didn't want to, but because of what drove him to go after these two creatures in the first place... Hunger. Obsession. Revenge. He was _still_ hungry for their energy but he was _even more_ obsessed with gaining their _full_ powers; and he _lusted_ for his revenge. And he could only do that when he had _all_ of their power.

He was so close in succeeding that he just couldn't give into his anger now and end up throwing it all away. After all that meticulous planning during all that…time. Every minute, every hour, day, year of time passing as slowly as if they had been eons…No, he could not stand another second of waiting unless it would be fruitful and he would have all that power…And he could taste that all that power was nearly his for the taking…He could tell from how the older crossbreed had just demonstrated his power that they must be getting stronger… He was sure the two would recover in short order….if he left them alone for a little while longer.

He would _have_ to wait… _Blast it_!

Iluzisto's eye flashed red as he continued to stare down at the man. "At least, this should keep him sufficiently compliant from now on! Nevertheless, his power is intoxicating! And now I can see how it must have been his power that was able to overcome his neck brace. But now, I have corrected that. If he is to recover from this, he will no longer be able to resist me!" Iluzisto sneered just before he pointed his staff at the unconscious man. A moment later, an unseen force lifted Vlad up and deposited him onto his bed.

Once more, Iluzisto summoned the invisible barrier and then turned his sights on Danny.

He floated over to where the younger crossbreed still silently lay. He would have to wait now until the creature woke up and took his ghost form—or Iluzisto would force him into it. Either way, he would get this little freak's energy; and this time, _no one_ would stop him!

He growled at the boy, not expecting any answer, "_And you!_ You are as stubborn as one of our _muloj_! (1) Still, your energy is really the more powerful of the two of you because of its dynamic nature. Yet, it is because of that same dynamic nature of your energy that taking it from you affects you ten-fold! And, therefore, it does not surprise me—though it greatly infuriates me— that you will not wake up. Nevertheless, I will wait until you have fully recharged and I will take it all! Consider yourself, then, fortunate that your demise will not be slow and painful as I desire it to be for your more arrogant counterpart! That fool has only delayed the quick, _though just as painful_, suffering that is to come for you…"

Without any more hesitation, Iluzisto flicked his staff and the same unseen force lifted the boy's body up and deposited him onto his bed. He greedily looked down on the hapless boy; but then reluctantly, he finally left the boy alone and exited the cell.

Locking it securely, he had another thought. He then uttered, "Until next time, crossbreeds. But to make sure that you both will have no other opportunity to try such foolishness again, I will post a guard here, especially since I have to return to that inferno High Tribune for whatever foolish orders he now has!"

He promptly left, hurrying to the Tribunal Hall, unaware that he had been totally wrong about Danny's current power level, and that the boy's ghost aura was only momentarily dampened from the combination of the neck restraint's effect and the Prison Head's only most recent harsh blow. Vlad knew that; and that was why he had used his energy to push the boy's body just enough to turn him human. But… the boy's core was still strong from having repaired it just a moment ago.

In fact, a few moments after the Prison Head had left, Danny's rings appeared on their own accord and turned him back into Phantom, his ghost aura brightening just as quickly….

* * *

**(1) Esperanto for 'mules'**

**A/N: truephan here: Well, y'all, are you biting your nails yet? Good! But, really, I hope you didn't bite them too close so you can't push that little button down there and tell us what you think…Uh, about the **_**chapter**_**, not how badly you bit your nails! In any case, thanks for all your support and don't forget to wrap those fingers!**

**Pearl: Hybrids can't get a break, eh? Heh-heh! Well, at least now you all can't just blame Vlad muse for this evil chapter. Ms. Hyde is as equally responsible. Good thing our muses did wear themselves out, though; or this chapter would have been worse—like, it could have ended with a horrible cliff-hanger... At least, the ending here isn't **_**too**_** bad, right?**

**Anyways, thanks for reading; now as Truephan said, feed us your reactions! We thrive off them! Ha-ha!**

**Ta, my dears!**


	23. Chapter 23: At the Brink

**A/N: truephan here: Hello, dear readers, and how are y'all doing? Great! I'm real excited about this chapter because the action is revving up again and you know how much I love action! So, let's get to it. Hope you enjoy it and…action!**

**Pearl: Yes, love action and suspense and drama and having the halfas in Peril! *evil laugh* Er, I mean… *shoves Vlad muse* See? Your fruit-loopness is contagious! *dodges ecto-blast* Epp! Kidding! Anyways, on to the story! Chapter's shorter than the usual, but I think the chapter did good like this. Plus, it's packed full of fun stuff! *snickers* Anyways, thanks for everyone's continuing support! Happy Reading!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But OC characters are our own—and our muses! XD **

* * *

**Chapter 23: At the ****B****rink**

* * *

Danny groaned himself awake, instantly reaching for his still aching head. He was beginning to think that his groaning was definitely not on his list of 'Favorite Songs to Wake Up To". Once he opened his eyes, however, he could still plainly see that he was still in his nightmare.

Yet, the teen was still unaware that he had been knocked out by Iluzisto—after the spirit had found him and Vlad trying to break the older hybrid's power-inhibiting collar... Danny also didn't know what Iluzisto had done to Vlad afterwards...

Grunting a little at the raw sensation at his neck, the boy turned his head toward Vlad. He was surprised to see that the older hybrid was actually lying down on his bed again.

"_Wasn't he…just here?"_ his still foggy mind suddenly thought.

He ignored the light-headed feeling that just as suddenly gripped his head when he slowly sat up in his bed. He took in a big breath and shook his head. He was a bit relieved when that helped clear his mind a bit; and then steeled himself. He didn't want to waste any more time. He got up and made his way over to the barrier. He looked at it, puzzled.

"Didn't we get rid of that?" he muttered to himself.

But then, his mind jolted to full clarity when his eyes drifted back over to the older hybrid. Vlad was now in human form and he looked extremely pale—as if he were…

"What happened…?" he began to ask himself fearfully; but he then instantly knew!

"Iluzisto was here!" he growled in anger.

But in the next instant, he frantically inspected himself. He uttered in bewilderment, "But why do I feel alright? In fact, I still feel almost as good as new!" He paused and then frowned in determination, "It doesn't matter why Iluzisto didn't do anything to me! I'm just glad I'm feeling fine. And we still have to get out of here!"

He looked at the unconscious man again and frowned in worry, "And it looks like that jerk sure did a number on Vlad!" He then groaned, "Great! Does it _have_ to be **my** turn now to do all that encouraging stuff?"

He called out, "Vlad?"

But the man didn't stir.

"Plasmius?...Cheesehead?"

Still, he couldn't get the older hybrid to respond to his calls.

"Darn! Now what am I going to do?" the boy said as he pushed against the strong barrier. "I can't break this by myself with this stupid neck brace on me, even if it is damaged!"

He pushed harder on the barrier again and sighed when it didn't even quiver under his strength. Now feeling very defeated, his shoulders instantly dropped under the weight of these continually distorted twists of fate. He walked back to his bed and plopped on it, feeling as if he should just accept that fate, no matter how unfair it was.

He looked back at the senseless man and mumbled, "I sure could use some of those conniving brain cells of yours right now, fruit loop."

Sighing more loudly this time, Danny fell backward onto his bed, and when he did, he heard a crackling sound.

"What was that?" he uttered, turning toward Vlad again.

But Vlad wasn't moving. He couldn't have caused that sound.

And as soon as the teen turned back, he heard that sound again! But this time, he knew from where it had come. He frowned as he sat up and shoved his hand into his pants leg. He pulled out the folded piece of paper upon which he had written those symbols yesturday, the ones that he had seen in the hallway on their way to their trial...

He then reached in his other pocket and pulled out the small pencil.

"Might as well do something since I can't do anything else right now!" he grumbled as he glanced down at the symbols.

At first, he just stared blankly at the symbols, at a loss again. He sighed in resignation at first. But then, he began to study them and even rewrote them, playing with their order. And then he tried to pair the symbols with the human writing for no other reason than to fight the mounting feeling of total defeat.

But after a few minutes, he stopped, suddenly irritated. This was stupid! All this did was make him think about that _lame_ Spektanto and his writing, that _lamer_ trial, and just how much of a pickle he was still in.

In the next instant, Danny's face scrunched up in anger again as he scrunched the paper up in his hand and dropped the pencil. Then he growled under his breath in frustration. He was so tired of all this! This was all so unfair! What did he do to deserve all this? He gulped a little. Well, he may have been somewhat guilty as Clockwork said, but whatever wrong he had done, he had fixed, and had even learned from it. And any guilt he once had was nothing to the degree that he should end up being wasted, especially after having to endure that circus of a trial!

But then, his face contorted with even more anger. Then there was all that injustice done to his…his sister and friends! They didn't deserve _anything_ that had happened to them! And what about his parents? They, too, would be victims of that injustice if he didn't get out of here!

He looked at the still unmoving older hybrid. Plasmius may have deserved what was coming to him, yes. But that trial had been so—stacked—so unfair!

Even when he had tried to prove those Observants wrong, just like the way he had answered his sister's question that now seemed eons ago, that did no good! He then grumbled in annoyance. _"Just who_ did these Observants think they were to set themselves up as judges, jury and executioners?

He suddenly jolted at his next thought and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. _"They're no better than __**Walker**__!" _He growled out loud, "So, I'll not give them the satisfaction of getting me or Vlad, then!"

But then, he looked back at the barrier and groaned. That was still going to be a problem with his still diminished powers! After all, even when the neck brace was damaged, it still had a lot of power! He looked back at the man. And, of course, it didn't help that Vlad was definitely out for the count!

Suddenly, a wild thought struck him. "But what if I _combine_ _all of __**my own**__ diminished powers_? I still feel fine, almost as good as when I first came to this putrid place! That last time I healed my ghost half did the job!"

He narrowed his eyes at the barrier and gritted his teeth in determination as he firmly said, "Worth a shot!"

But when he was right next to the invisible shield, he had second thoughts. _"From what I've been able to do so far, I'm guessing that the collar keeps me from using my stronger powers, like my Ghostly Wail. That reeks, of course, but I'll have to make do with what I got, then." _

After lifting his hands up to the barrier, but not yet touching it, Danny closed his eyes and concentrated, summoning both his ice and ectoplasmic powers. The surge of his blue ice powers encasing his eyes lit up his closed eyelids with their brightness; and his green ectoplasmic energy orbs swelled around both of his determined, fisted hands.

He then opened his eyes and jolted in surprise at the power he was able to command forth, but he didn't lose his focus. He grunted harder in effort, and just when he thought he couldn't garner any more power, he shot his icy rays from his eyes at the exact same time he pounded the invisible shield with his fists and ectoplasmic energy.

The barrier sizzled and cracked loudly at its insult and was immediately covered in a thick bluish-green mist.

Danny pulled away, panting from the draining effort as his powers prematurely extinguished. He just hoped that was enough, now that he thought he wouldn't even be able to _try_ that again. He anxiously waited for the mist to clear; and when it did, his face fell when he saw that the barrier was still there!

Unconsciously lowering his head and stretching his arms upward and forward in one swoop, he began to lean against the barrier, sighing in defeat. But much to his surprise, the barrier immediately shattered under that shift in pressure and he fell through it and onto the floor amid the brittle shards.

He blushed as he hurriedly got up and glanced at the still unmoving older male. "Glad you didn't see that, cheesehead!" he uttered.

But he didn't waste any more time and went right over to the man. But then, he hesitated. Did he really have to physically wake the guy again? Still, he touched the older hybrid's shoulder and shaking him, said, "Vlad? Vlad, wake up!"

But the man didn't respond.

Fighting his sudden panic, Danny shook the older half-ghost harder and said more forcibly, "Better get up, fruit loop, before I kick your butt harder than Iluzisto did!"

This time, Vlad began to groan and Danny smirked in triumph.

The older hybrid finally, yet slowly, opened his eyes just as Danny leaned closer. In spite of trying not to show it, Vlad struggled to utter, "S-So y-you think you can kick my butt, eh, you little rat?"

"Well, seeing the way you look right now, I would have to say that that's a definite 'yes'!" But Danny didn't wait for any reply as he quickly became more serious. "I'm sure that Iluzisto paid us a visit again. Uh, scratch that. I think it's pretty clear that he really paid _even more_ attention to **you** this time. I feel fine and don't know why he didn't go after me, too."

Vlad struggled to sit up in his bed and with his mind clearing more, replied, "He tried, but I didn't let him…Naturally, that didn't bode well with him…" Vlad briefly closed his eyes as he added with a bitter smile, "He really did a number on me. I feel terrible."

The boy hitched an eyebrow in surprise. Vlad's admitting how he was feeling bad was definitely a first. But the teen was even more curious about the man's initial comment.

"How did you… stop him from taking my energy, too—assuming that's what he did to you again?…," Danny asked with a curious frown.

The billionaire opened his eyes before shaking his head and replying, "It hardly matters anymore. What is concerning is that there is no doubt he will return to finish the job with you—and then eliminate us both."

"Tell me something I don't know. But we still have the problem of getting out of here," Danny said seriously, though his resolve quickly returned.

But much to the boy's surprise, Vlad didn't react or say anything like Danny had expected.

Vlad placed a hand against his chest before soberly saying, "You try to go on without me, Daniel. I think this time Iluzisto was out for blood—my ectoplasmic blood, that is. I really don't think I can even stand up!"

Once more, the man's response surprised the boy. Danny had never heard the man admit weakness, much less failure. And now Vlad was doing both in relatively short order.

It scared Danny a bit and it showed in his face and voice as he said with uncertainty, "Okay, uh, then all you need to do is take a break, right? And then you can repair your ghost core like always, uh, right?"

Vlad's eyebrows creased in a mixture of frustration and something akin to helplessness as he replied, "You are not hearing me, Daniel. _I do not feel well." _

Danny just stared at the man with troubled eyes. Of course he was listening to him; he just didn't want to accept what the older hybrid was really telling him. No! He _wasn't_ about to accept that.

The young half-ghost quickly narrowed his eyes a bit as he faked a sarcastic face and tone and said, "C'mon, Plasmius! Do you think I'm going to let you outdo me on this 'giving in' stuff? You certainly didn't let me when I was in worst shape than you. Besides, you know I can't break this neck brace without you, so until then, I'm still stuck with you, cheesehead!"

Vlad stared back at the boy, easily seeing through his ruse. He had noticed that slightly mischievous hitched corner of Daniel's mouth. But, really, he wouldn't have expected less of the boy to goad him on—even when he truly needed it this time. Somehow, it gave the older hybrid the determination to at least_ try_ to bounce back from Iluzisto's last assault in spite his body telling him that he was out for the count…

Vlad smirked weakly and uttered, "All right, you little rat. You know that I can't wait to get away from you, either! So, before we try to get your collar off, let's see if I can repair my ghost half."

Danny stood by as the older hybrid attempted the task. But the boy could see that even though Vlad tried not to show it, he was having a very hard time doing that. And it was more than obvious when every time he attempted to bring his black rings to life, they instantly fizzled back out.

Finally, however, after what seemed an eternity for the man, Vlad stopped. He tried to control his panting from the effort and pain, but it was hard when his chest was burning more and more with his every failed attempt to awaken his core in the slightest…

Danny just stared on nervously, finally noticing how the man was gripping at his chest. The guy was really hurt!

But this time, it was Vlad who didn't want to admit defeat. Even when he knew deep down that his core had reached its limit, he didn't want to accept that. And taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated, forcing his core to wake and produce enough energy to repair itself.

But even though Vlad's black rings came to life this time, they didn't repair his core as he had wanted; but rather, he unwillingly turned into Plasmius—and he just as suddenly fell off his bed, screaming.

"VLAD!" Danny cried out in shock and panic.

The teen quickly dropped to his knees next to the man, not knowing what to do. But then, Vlad's black rings came back and he turned human again.

Vlad's scream melded into a loud groan as he rolled off his back and to his side, now gripping at his chest so hard that his nails were digging past his clothing and into his skin.

Danny could only gaze on in fear and disbelief. But he suddenly remembered something the older hybrid had told him. He had said that one of the reasons that it was imperative for them to escape was because every time Iluzisto ran them through with his staff to absorb their energy, it damaged their cores. And although they had been able to repair themselves in the past, Vlad had said that their core had a limit and that it would eventually be unable to take anymore abuse… Had… Had Iluzisto finally irreversibly damaged Vlad's core?

"Maybe you should take those few minutes to rest this time," Danny said quietly, trying to ignore the fear that was eating away at him. He knew he was barely keeping it together even with Vlad's being in this whole mess with him. He wasn't sure if he could stay strong if he lost the guy, especially now when things were at their direst.

Vlad slowly sat up and just breathed. "Yes… I-I think you're right…"

Danny hesitated, but offered, "Do you want me to help you get back into bed? I could..."

"No!" Vlad abruptly interrupted, afraid that any movement right now might cause even more pain. But then when he realized his shouting had shot even more pain through him, he continued more gently, "I mean, I'll be fine right here for now, Daniel."

Danny silently nodded and pulled a bit away from the man before plopping down on the ground nearby. He pulled his legs up to his chest, crossed his arms on top of his knees and laid his head with his face down within his arms, grunting in irritation when his stupid neck brace made that hard to do. Still, what else could he do at the moment?

The two hybrids were quiet for the next few minutes. Danny soon grew more nervous at hearing how the man was breathing. It wasn't….right. And the fact that the man's eyes were still closed didn't make him feel any better. Still, he remained quiet.

In the meantime, Vlad was trying to relax, though the pain still throbbing within his core made that—and his breathing—difficult. Still, the man tried to think of a way to get through this. He doubted he could repair his core anymore, but… he just **had** to get it to produce at least enough energy to go through his and the boy's last escape attempt!

As he sat there in silence, Danny couldn't help but think about everything again. He felt bad at seeing the man like this. In a way, he wished he could have resisted more and not have fallen unconscious when Iluzisto caught them by surprise this last time and zapped them with their collars. Or, at least have been able to bounce back quicker from the attack. Perhaps then he could have somehow helped Plasmius fight the spirit back and prevent him from hurting the man like this. But… he was also feeling bad because he knew that if it wasn't for Okulo healing him previously and Vlad doing something to protect him from Iluzisto, he would be as bad off as—or worse than—Vlad right now.

And Danny suddenly had to wonder: How much longer would it be before _his own_ core caved under the abuse?

Maybe he didn't want to know in the end. Right now, he just hoped that with a bit of rest Vlad would bounce back from this—like he always had all those other times.

But then, another thought surfaced and as Danny changed his position and lowered his legs to the ground before crossing them in front of him, he quietly began, "By the way…"

Curious about hearing that strange tone in the teen's voice and in spite of his exhaustion and pain, Vlad slowly opened his eyes and looked at the boy…

Danny bit his lower lip slightly before continuing, "I, uh… never thanked you. You know, for all the times you've stuck up for me in this place." But seeing the man raise an eyebrow, the teen quickly added, "Yeah, Yeah. I know what you're gonna say: 'Don't read too much into it, Daniel.'"

Vlad had to keep an amused smile from curling around his lips at the boy's attempt to mimic him; but he just kept quiet, quite curious about the young hybrid's sudden niceness.

"Well, don't worry. I'm not reading anything into it." Danny said almost defensively. But then he sighed and shrugged as he added, "But… I still wanted to thank you, anyways."

Vlad just watched the teen for a moment, debating whether to say something sarcastic in response or behave for the sake of their situation.

The man naturally decided on both.

Taking a breath, Vlad shrugged as he said, "I like to think you would do the same for me, little badger—that is, if you were the superior one of the both of us, which you are not."

Danny frowned; but before he could say anything, he heard the echo of an opening door in the distance.

"Someone's coming—again!" Danny gulped, immediately jumping to his feet and moving away from the man.

Vlad instinctively got to his own feet, but inadvertently lost his balance and had to catch his fall. Still, he managed to sit back on his bed and barely lie down without falling.

Danny hesitated a moment when he realized he should have helped the man. But when he glanced back and saw that Vlad had managed to get back on his bed on his own, Danny frowned in apology and whispered, "Sorry!" before he flew over to his bed and landed haphazardly upon it. He then closed his eyes and faked being unconscious.

Vlad did the same, though because he was exhausted and in pain for his numerous failed attempts to repair his core, he really wasn't faking it all that much. He sure felt very dizzy and needed to close his eyes so he wouldn't get any worse.

But as he lay on his bed listening, Danny silently frowned at the next set of noises. Usually that putrid and arrogant Iluzisto made no effort to hide his presence. But whoever was making all that sound was not particularly brash or loud about it. He chanced to barely open the eye closest to his cell door.

The boy could plainly see that this was a different—and smaller—Observant who had come.

And Danny knew exactly who it was.

Now growing irritated at seeing this particular Observant, Danny also knew he had to be cautious, since their 'visitor' could easily sound an alarm. Still, why had that Observant come _alone?_ Somehow, Danny felt that it couldn't be a good thing. Well, there was only one way to find out.

Danny faked a groan and started to rise from his bed. When he fully opened his eyes, Danny looked at the Observant and tersely said, "Well, what do you want?"

In the meantime, Vlad still lay on his bed, exhausted. But when he, too, could hear that this must be a different being coming to their cell, and then heard Daniel groan, he slowly opened his eyes. Then he widened them fully. Just what was Daniel doing? Why hadn't the boy just kept still?

Okulo narrowed his eye as he coolly warned, "You would do well to recall that you are not allowed to speak to me unless spoken to! Otherwise…" The Prison Liaison reached into his cloak and pulled out his now infamous green ball, allowing it to glow threateningly before finishing, "Considering your Prison Head is not present, I will have to take it upon me to remind you of your place, _abomination_… "

Danny scowled before saying, "Why can't you one-eyed jerks leave us alone? Isn't it enough for you all this stuff you've put us through in these past days? Or the fact that you're going to _waste _us?"

"I said, 'silence'!" Okulo hissed gripping the orb in his hand tighter, causing it to pulse ominously.

Feeling his anger suddenly begin to rise, Danny took a step forward, wishing he could just take out all his frustration on this spirit right here and now. But then remembering it would be pointless to waste his energy on this jerk, let alone give away the fact that he could partly use his powers, he retracted his step.

Still, it looked like he had to deal with yet _another _Observant with his ghost pants all up in a knot! And this one so happened to be the one who gave him and Plasmius the 'glowing little logo that practically screamed 'we're doomed!'' on their foreheads!

But he quickly decided he wasn't even going to bother with this Observant. And saying no more, the teen went back over to his cot before slowly laying back down on his bed, purposely turning his head away from the Observant's line of sight.

Okulo blinked in surprise. He had not expected the boy to withdraw so easily… Still, he had come with the purpose of seeing how recovered these half-ghosts were. And, perhaps, maybe even _persuade_ them to recover faster…

Ignoring the fact that the boy had his back to him, Okulo spoke up again, though he didn't dare get any closer to the hybrids' cells… "I have come to inspect you creatures. After all, we want you as alert and… strong for your final day tomorrow…"

Danny just clenched his teeth, but stayed quiet. However, much to the teen's surprise, he heard the older hybrid sit up. Still, the teen didn't move from his bed, though he kept his ear open to hear what the older hybrid was going to say…

Vlad frowned for a moment at Okulo. He had meant to just ignore the Observant as well; but the way he had said his comment… had been odd.

"You have come to _inspect_ us?" Vlad questioned guardedly. "Under whose orders? If I recall, the High Tribune had charged _Iluzisto_ with 'our care'… not you."

Okulo hesitated, surprised by the older crossbreed's grasp of the situation. But growing more nervous with the man's piercing gaze, the liaison narrowed his eye again and snapped, "I owe no inferior creature any explanation. Now, both of you. On your feet at once! I said I am here to inspect you and I want no resistance!"

Vlad just stared back coldly at the liaison before glancing over at the boy. And seeing how Daniel had not even bothered to turn his head towards the Observant, even when he was sure the boy heard his command, the billionaire knew that the teen was taking the defiant route on how to deal with this spirit. And, honestly, Vlad liked the idea.

With a scoff, Vlad lay back down on his bed, and draped an arm over his eyes. He was done being forced to do things against his will. Besides, what was this pathetic Observant going to do to him? Especially when Iluzisto had already done the worst. And, besides, he had just learned something very interesting about Okulo: his body language easily spoke mounds about him…

Okulo's eye widened in disbelief when the two hybrids outwardly ignored his command. At first, he didn't know what to do. He had never come alone before. Either Iluzisto or one of his guards always accompanied him, keeping him safe and also keeping these two prisoners in line if they decided to disobey, like they were now. And now he wished he hadn't been so overconfident and dismissed the prison guard he had met just a few moments ago. That prison sentry had told him that Iluzisto had ordered him to stand guard over the crossbreeds.

But he was alone now. And… although he didn't want to admit it, Okulo was… more than a little nervous. After all, he knew the rumors about these creatures' powers very well, and had seen it firsthand during part of their trial …

Okulo raised his orb higher, about to use it to teach these two prisoners some respect. But… he hesitated. His eye then narrowed in confusion even as he felt a chill run down his ghostly spine. Why was he hesitating? So what if he were alone with these two powerful creatures…Was he….? No, he refused to acknowledge anything that low. Still, he came here for a reason. But, perhaps it was best to persuade them to listen in another way…

However, Okulo mentally paused as he glanced between the hybrids. The older one was in human form, while the younger one was in ghost form. But he needed them _both_ as ghosts. How else was he to check their cores to see if they were recovered enough for Iluzisto to continue forward with their plans? His orb… it could only check them as ghosts _and_ only if the creatures were facing him, which was why he needed them to stand up.

He doubted these two prisoners had yet to understand the power of his orb. It definitely was a unique weapon which used timeless magic, but it could do more than that. It could also enhance his own unique abilities, such as his healing power. So, that meant that everything he did—mark each prisoner for the High Council, heal the younger of the hybrids, even his control over Iluzisto— all had to do with how unique and powerful the orb was. It had made it possible for him to have the power to penetrate any ghost's core and do anything to it. Well, almost anything. Still, the orb _made_ him into something…special. In fact, without it, he would be no more significant than any other Observant. And when he had realized how powerful he indeed was with the orb, that was when he became envious. And that envy only rooted itself in him even more when he realized that he had complete control over another very important weapon—Iluzisto.

Having the Prison Head bound to him by his very core, said a lot, and just made him want to drink in even more power…

The spirit's focus then shifted back to what he first had in mind. He had learned a few new things about these two abominations from the Master Prison Head. And one of those discoveries was that the hybrids had apparently become allies in these past days. Okulo concluded it was only out of common interest, but he hardly cared. What he cared about was how it might prove useful now. If he could get the boy to do as he wanted, then perhaps the older one would follow. Either way, the younger half-ghost was currently in the form that he wanted, so he was certainly his target of choice at the moment…

Okulo suddenly chuckled smugly, breaking the brief silence. "So, at last you two have learned to submit. Yes, it is best for you both to remain silent and compliant. After all, it is fruitless to attempt to fight against the evitable. And yet…I do not know why the Observant High Council has wasted so much energy and effort on you two. We all knew this was going to end with the annihilation of you two sins of nature! If I were them, I would have bypassed all the formalities and just be done with you both…. _Especially you, Prisoner 485…" _the observant ended, emphasizing the young half-ghost's prison title, knowing how the teen hated it.

And Okulo was right. Danny's eyes burned a deeper green with the name, though, thankfully, the spirit could not see it. But the boy still forced himself to not move or say anything.

Vlad, on the other hand, pursed his lips, already catching onto the Observant's intention…

"As I think about it further," Okulo suddenly continued, "You are not as much as a threat as what is rumored, Prisoner 485. You are as needy as a newly formed youngling. And need I mention just as weak? Perhaps I can _somewhat_ see why the Prison Head set his sight on your cellmate. But you? I do not know why the Prison Head was interested in you in the first place. Such a waste of a distraction and effort, too, considering how easily you cowered to me just a moment ago, Prisoner 485. Not only that, but you are incredibly ignorant. Clearly, you remain unaware of who holds the real power around here; otherwise, you and your counterpart would think twice about turning your backs to me…"

Vlad mentally scoffed at finally realizing the truth about Okulo's reason for being here after hearing what Okulo said. Of course. Why had he not seen it before…?

Meanwhile, Danny creased his eyebrows. What was this Observant babbling about?

Okulo's eye narrowed a bit with wickedness as he further jabbed, "If your fear of me is related to your strength, then your powers are not special enough to bother with. In fact, now that I see that you are even afraid to show your pathetic face to me, Prisoner _Four-eight-four_, then that can only mean that you _are_ weak! How highly proper, then, that you deserve all that is coming to you."

Still facing away from the spirit, Danny rolled his eyes this time. He now knew that the jerk was just trying to provoke him. But why? And why hadn't Okulo used that putrid orb on him if all he wanted to do was torture him? And what did he mean by '_that his powers are not special enough to bother with_? What would Okulo care about the uniqueness of his powers? But Danny frowned and threw those thoughts away. That didn't matter. But what did was how he wished he could just zap him right between the eyes, uh, eye. Still, he said and did nothing.

Okulo conveyed something akin to a frown within his eye when he still got no reaction out of the younger hybrid. How odd. He had been sure that would have gotten his attention. But then quickly narrowing his eye, the liaison turned his eye over to the older hybrid, deciding to try his luck with him. However, realizing he was still pretty far away from the half-ghosts' cells, Okulo dared to float just a bit closer. He unconsciously held his orb tighter before mustering himself and then suddenly addressing Vlad in a firm voice, "And what about you over there? You, ancient crossbreed? Have you not taught this young ruffian any respect for his superiors, Prisoner 484?"

Vlad frowned but wouldn't be lured into this trap, even if he was too weak to do so even if he wanted. He just hoped that Daniel wouldn't be, either!

Now that both of these creatures were remaining mute, the Prison Liaison grew impatient. He was especially irritated with Danny's silence. How dare these creatures ignore him! He sarcastically said, "Then all the rumors about how feisty and defiant you are must be untrue, Prisoner 485! I can see that you are nothing but a pitiful coward!"

Vlad cringed. That was just as bad as if he said it to Daniel. And he knew that the boy wouldn't take much more of this.

This time, Danny unconsciously fisted his hands but otherwise said and did nothing more. Still, his mind whirled with his angry thoughts. Just what was it about him that made him the _least_ bit interesting to this Observant? And what was in it for the liaison except for the mere pleasure of wielding his power over him? Just like the putrid Observant to brashly act like the jerk he definitely was!

"Very well," Okulo suddenly said in a much calmer voice, "If we must do things the hard way, then so be it…" The liaison brought up his orb and aimed it at the younger crossbreed. And although he couldn't touch the creature's core with his orb when he still wasn't facing him, Okulo knew he could get his… attention.

Danny gasped when he saw his body light up with some foreign green energy; but although all he felt was a strange tingle, he jolted to his feet in surprise.

Okulo's eye curved smugly when he got the response he wanted. He was just about to use his orb to examine the younger prisoner's core to see if he was recovered when he got a surprise of his own.

The teenager suddenly glared at the Observant; and with a growl, he stomped over to the cell door, yelling, "Darn it! Leave me alone, you jerk!"

Okulo gasped with the half-ghost's sudden approach; and losing his composure in that instant, he floated back, shouting threateningly as he aimed his orb at the teen, "Halt!"

And seeing the orb suddenly pulse darkly, Danny's anger melded into alarm, since he knew that whenever the orb glowed, that usually meant trouble. His hands went up in surrender and quickly uttered, "Whoa, dude! I can't do anything to you, remember? I'm still _behind_ these bars, you know!"

But the fact that Danny had still moved his hands pushed the nervous Observant over the edge, and he growled, "I said _stop moving!"_

Danny yelped as Okulo shot a green ray right at him; and although he tried to avoid it, it still was able to graze his shoulder.

"Okay! Okay!" Danny said, quickly apologizing and wincing in pain as he sat back down on his bed with his arms still up in surrender. But then, he frowned, quickly becoming very annoyed again. Just what was up with this jerk? He was usually very smug and calm when he came to visit them, always making sure to let them see how much he thought them inferior to him. But now… all he had done was move _away_ from his cell and he was acting impulsively—almost… nervously…Was it possible Okulo was _scared_ of them now that he was alone with them for the first time? But why? Still, that wasn't as important as the fact that Okulo did seem awfully scared.

Danny glanced over at Vlad, finally realizing he had also sat up with the commotion. But although the man was remaining quiet, the teen could see a small smirk at the corner of the man's mouth.

And Danny already knew why.

His own smirk growing on his lips, Danny lowered his hands as he turned his eyes back to Okulo, who was as tense as ever.

"Dude… you need to chill. I mean, anyone would think you're… _scared_ of us…," the teen taunted.

Okulo's eye widened in alarm, but he quickly narrowed it, hissing, "I fear no inferior creatures, much less two _abominations!" _Then drawing just a bit closer to Danny, he spat, "…Especially not you—you pathetic doomed weakling!"

"And yet your body language and quivering voice say otherwise," Vlad suddenly said evilly.

Danny grinned at the other hybrid, especially when the teen could easily read the disconcertedness in Okulo's eye.

But now livid at the fact that these two creatures had now seen right through his ruse, Okulo glared furiously at them before he reflexively aimed his orb at Vlad and yelled, "Silence! Silence or I'll—I'll..." But then, he inadvertently lowered the orb in defeat, since he couldn't think of a threat when he knew his orb only harmed ghosts—and, unfortunately, the elder creature was human at the moment...

Danny raised an eyebrow with Okulo's stuttering and how he had stopped threatening Vlad with his orb. That was odd…Why didn't he…? His eyes brightened. That must be it! And he suddenly chuckled, saying, "Or, you'll what?"

But when the Observant didn't answer, the teen wondered out loud, "You _can't_ hurt him, can you?"

"No, but I can hurt _you_!" Okulo sneered, turning his glare to the teenager and aiming his orb at him now that his composure was completely gone. In an instant, a green beam shot out from the orb.

But much to Okulo's growing anger and… fear, Danny acted on his hunch and quickly turned human, just before the ray passed harmlessly through him. Both relieved and excited that his hunch had been right, the teen smugly said, "Think again, Cyclops!"

Okulo lowered his orb, though he kept his eye narrowed on Danny. "Be careful, abomination. I have other means of making you sorry!"

But before the teen could say anything, Vlad suddenly scoffed and said, "Do not pay mind to him, Daniel. This cowardly spirit cannot do anything to us. So, do not even waste your breath."

Danny watched as Vlad lay back down and covered his eyes again, purposely ignoring Okulo again. And thinking it was a good idea, Danny rolled his eyes at the liaison and said "Whatever, dude," and then lay back down himself, turning away from him—though he made sure to stay human this time so the Observant couldn't bother him with his orb.

Okulo looked uncertain for a moment, unsure of what to do. He didn't like not being in control of a situation, especially when dealing with two highly dangerous creatures. Perhaps… he should just leave? … No! He had come for a reason and he was not leaving until he completed it! Besides, he was not going to let these two inferior beings disrespect him like this!

Once more, Okulo jeered, "Well, what is wrong, abominations? Have you no more pitiful words to throw at me? After all, that is _all_ you two can do! You seemed so willing to speak out-of-turn during your entire trail because that is all you two have left! The truth is that even your wits are useless now! You both are as meek as a youngling hiding under the skirts of its mother. It seems like to me that you can no more repair yourself than you can defend yourself right now … Hard to believe, then, that you creatures are so important to everything!"

Vlad's eyes widened a bit in surprise at the implications of Okulo's words; but although he sat up again, he forced himself to remain quiet. Danny, on the other hand….

"What?" the teen quickly asked, sitting up and jumping to his feet with a look of disbelief. Could it be that this Observant might know of Iluzisto's plans? He then pressed on, "How are we so important to everything? Just what do you mean?"

Okulo froze in place. He hadn't meant to slip up like that and practically tell the creatures their use in all of this. And he didn't want to let the hybrids know his true purpose in coming here. Still, he had to respond in some way…it was only proper. And, actually, as he thought about it more, why should he afraid to confess his part in all this? After all, they could tell no one and his plan was just a timeless moment away from completion!

"Oh, please. Surely if you creatures had any intelligence you would have concluded the truth by now," Okulo interrupted him with sneer. "Did you honestly believe that Iluzisto, as ill-tempered and impulsive as he is, could have devised such an elaborate plan on his own? Who do you think has been covering up all his blunders? Who do you think has kept the High Council oblivious of what is really going on? Fool, it has been I this whole time!** I** am the true mastermind behind Iluzisto's plans with you two—or should I say: **my** plans?"

Danny just continued to stare back in disbelief, though now there was also indignation in his eyes. _"So, that's it!" _he thought furiously. _"No wonder the High Council never believed us when we told them Iluzisto was torturing us! This jerk made sure they didn't believe it! And… now I know why he's here! He doesn't want to know if we're recovered because the Observants sent him—he wants to know because __**Iluzisto**__ probably sent him! He wants me to hurry up and repair myself so that Iluzisto can take it all away! Well, I'm not letting that happen! After all, I already have repaired myself as best as I can right now. But that also doesn't mean that I have to let him know that..." _

But Okulo interrupted the boy's thoughts.

"I am speaking to you, young crossbreed! Did you not hear me? Turn into a ghost! I demand that you obey me or else I will make you!"

Now fed up with all his taunts, Danny narrowed his eyes at the spirit again. But he didn't turn ghost and instead firmly replied, "What's with you **stupid** Observants, anyway? What happened to the times when you did what you did best and just **observe?**! Now, suddenly, you all feel like you need to butt in and just make your own kind of trouble! Looks like to me that you're no better than us!"

"What you say does not matter. All that matters is that you obey me!" Okulo said, his eye narrowing and his hand tightening around his orb.

"Oh, yeah? Just what's your game, Okulo? If you really are the supposed 'mastermind', then, what's in it for you? Or, are you just kidding yourself, and the truth is that you're just being tricked by Iluzisto?" Danny snapped.

"Like I said, I owe no inferior creature any explanations," Okulo began, ignoring the boy's jab about his obeying Iluzisto. Fool. If only he knew it was the other way around. It was _he_ who had that hot-tempered Prison Head in complete control!

Still, he was interrupted by Danny. "You might not wanna tell me what's in it for you, but do you really think that Iluzisto is going to keep his end of the deal after he gets all that power?"

Okulo's eye narrowed even further now that his patience was up. Aiming his weapon at Danny, Okulo ordered, "Stand up! It is time to repair yourself!"

But Danny didn't move. He wasn't about to let this putrid spirit treat him as a puppet!

"Make me!" he growled, his green eyes defiantly flaring in anger.

Vlad groaned in frustration, but could only watch for what happened next.

"Gladly!" the Observant replied; but unable to use his orb on the human boy, he quickly raised his other hand and fired an ecto-blast at the teen.

And then it started…

If the neck brace hadn't been on Danny, he would have mopped the floor with the arrogant spirit. But everything the young hybrid did next was slowed or dampened because of that device around his neck.

Danny instinctively morphed into Phantom and shot upward, barely missing the beam before twisting his body around and returning fire at the Observant.

The Prison Liaison gasped and moved away from the weakened beam. How could that creature do that when he still had his collar on? Nevertheless, the green ray fortunately just missed him, but still shot past the bars before being quickly snuffed out by a strong puff of wind.

"Impossible! You should not be able to use your powers!" Okulo choked out.

"Yeah? Well, surprise, jerk!" Danny snapped, throwing another ecto-blast at the spirit.

Okulo tried to dodge again; but this time, he wasted no time, and aimed his orb at the teenager, and shot a beam right at his core.

Danny jolted as the beam penetrated him; but aside from making his body flash green, it didn't hurt him. However, just as unexpectedly, the beam that had gone into him came back out and returned to the orb.

Okulo gasped again as he felt what the orb had retrieved. "You _are _fully recovered! How can this be?"

Danny placed a hand against his chest, not sure what just happened. But now even more ticked off, he turned his attention back to Okulo as he growled, "I'm sick of that stupid orb of yours!"

Okulo grunted in anger as he was forced to dodge yet another blast, though this one singed his cloak this time. However, Okulo quickly shot a few more purple rays from his hand at the teen, before aiming his orb back at him.

Once again, Danny had barely avoided the energy attacks, but when he saw Okulo aim his orb at him, the teen reacted even faster this time as he counter-attacked with ice beams from his eyes. The icy energy made contact with Okulo's weapon just as its beam shot out and hit Danny in the chest.

And while the teen's cold energy beams encased the orb and the Observant's hand in a thin layer of ice, Danny cried out in pain as he felt the sharp sting to his core, but it vanished the moment the orb had been encased in ice.

Okulo yelped at this cold, unfamiliar sting and he reflexively shook the weapon loose from his hand before dropping it. Still, he would not be outdone by this creature! He aimed his other hand at him, about to use his ghost energy.

Danny's eyes widened, but he gritted his teeth and defiantly said, "I don't think so!"

The young hybrid aimed even more of his ice beams at the Observant and this time was able to encase both of Okulo's hands in a more solid block of ice.

Once again, the Observant cried out with the cold sting and violently shook his hands. The sound of cracking ice and then a loud thud erupted as Okulo successfully freed his hands from the ice. But in the process, Okulo had nudged the frozen orb on the ground with his spectral tail and had sent it forward. And now it was rolling toward Danny's cell!

Okulo immediately gasped and shot forward with the intention of retrieving his orb, but Danny reacted right away. The teen sent two more green ectoplasmic energy rays at the Observant as he lunged toward the rolling orb.

In spite of the fact that Danny's rays were still quite weak, they hit their mark, singeing Okulo's head and tearing angrily at his gown. The Observant cried out in pain and his lone eye suddenly glared. But the Observant just as quickly ignored the pain and teleported to retrieve his orb.

And having no time to grab the orb, Danny did the next best thing and shot a beam at it, effectively breaking it from its icy prison and sending it tumbling clear across the hall leading away from his cell.

"No! My power orb!" Okulo exclaimed as he watched it disappear into a darkened area. But turning his attention back to Danny, he seethed; but deep down he knew he was now powerless. Even if he could retrieve his orb, there was nothing he could do against these half-ghosts now that they knew his orb could not harm them while human. And worse, at least the younger one had access to his powers—which was not supposed to be possible!

Still, he was not about to let these abominations get away with this insult! No. He might not be able to do anything to them, but he knew who could!

"Now, you will be sorry, crossbreed!" Okulo darkly threatened. But, then, without any other hesitation, Okulo flew down the hall to retrieve his orb. But, instead of returning, the spirit abruptly fled the scene.

At first, Danny smirked at his triumph in scaring the Observant off. He flew up to the bars and watched the retreat of the liaison, as he yelled out, "Yeah, you better run, you creep!"

But he then frowned a bit when he saw that the Observant didn't go all the way down the hall, but had turned to the left and disappeared about halfway down, exiting the prison hall through the exit Iluzisto commonly took. However, at that instant, the teen also realized his own brashness and groaned out, "Oh, man! Now, I've done it!"

He should have known better than to reveal that he could partly use his powers while he still had the collar on and still in this cell! He had just lost his only trump card in all this on a sudden whim of anger! Danny had no doubt Okulo was going to go tell Iluzisto!

Plasmius just sighed. Not that he could blame the boy. After all Daniel had gone through since they were captured—getting attacked more times than he could count; having his friends and sister murdered; getting falsely accused and found guilty on trumped up charges for the most part; and now the threat of his parents' demise—it was more than enough to put that last straw on anyone's back. Still, the boy should have known that attacking the Observant's prison liaison would only bring Iluzisto here—and doom.

Even still, the man muttered really to himself, "Oh, you've done it alright, Daniel! Not that I could blame you. But, I also can't say I'm not surprised! You know what this means, yes?"

Danny looked at Vlad and nodded. "Yeah. We need to get out of here—and now!"

* * *

**truephan here: Well, we certainly are 'at the brink', right? Things are piling up against the hybrids. Vlad is essentially out for the count, Danny just stirred things up, and Iluzisto will surely be on his way soon. But then, what about Team Phantom and Skulker? Where are they? Well, you'll just have to tune in the next time, huh? In the meantime, feel free to let us know your thoughts on this chapter and how evil we are to keep you hanging on that cliff again….Ooooh, love to do that! Ahem, I mean, **_**Ms. Hyde**_** loves to do that! I'm really a very warm, sweet and caring person with not a mean bone in my body! Uh, you **_**do **_**believe that, don't ya? Meh-heh. I mean, heh-heh! Hope to hear from you soon!**

**Pearl: Well, I am innocent, too! In fact, I was totally against this chapter! Yes, I was… *cracks up* Sorry, couldn't do that with a straight face. But, okay, I was somewhat against it; but then Vlad muse and Ms. Hyde had their say, and, well, here we are.**

**On a happier tune, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day—or, your father's anyways. Unless, one of you are old enough to have kids, so then the congrats is for you! XD **

**And to celebrate, Truephan has gifted us with an awesome one-shot in honor of Father's Day. Danny and Jack centered, and well…. Heh. I'll let you all go read it yourselves; but you'll love it! I know I did!**

**Well, ta for now, my dear readers! Hopefully, I will see you all at Checkmate sometime this week! Share your thoughts, please! You know we love them! **


	24. Ch24: Escape is More Than an Illusion

**A/N: truephan here: *Man, I am very dizzy! What happened?***

***You got in the way of me and pearl's Vlad muse when we were hashing out this chapter, dearie! You're lucky to be alive!***

***Gasps* If that's what happened, then you're right! But are you sure I'm not dead?***

***Well, dearie, I can't vouch for your jokes on this one, but even though you're a bit roughed up, I think you'll survive enough to at least make it to the bottom of this chapter for more comments!***

***Oh, really? Gee, thanks, Ms. Hyde…uh, I think!*…..**

**Oh, hi there, dear readers? You here? Well, first of all, before I forget: Happy Independence Day, America! She's a grand old country….**

***Ms. Hyde's eyes narrow* *Are you talking to me, dearie?***

**"*No, the country, you know, the USA! Honest! You're not THAT old! *GULP!***

***truephan fends off Ms. Hyde***

***grunting* And before I forget even more stuff, I hope y'all enjoy this chapter. *smiles sheepishly while still grunting* It's, uh, well, very long! We just didn't want to break up this important chapter. But, hey, remember how short the last chapter was? Think of that chapter as being that slow steep climb upward to the very topmost part of those crazy roller coasters you love. You know the ones, but especially the ones that have a teensy-weensy, itty-bitty little turn at the topmost arc until you're suddenly plummeting straight down at a billion miles of minute. Well that little tiny turn on top was Chapter 23. But the rest of that wild, crazy ride? Well, that would be_this_ chapter! Enjoy!**

***still grunting!***

**Pearl: *Straps on belt* YAY! I LOVE roller-coasters! Vlad muse on the other hand…. Heh-heh. Oh, well it's his and Ms. Hyde's fault that this is as wild as it gets! Lol! Yeah, I'm already hyped up from the editing and craziness our muses put us through; so might as well take off! Warning, though, for all you readers. BIG drop ahead. Take a deep breath!**

**See you all at the end of the ride… *winks***

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom. But the OCs belong to us! Indeed so!**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Escape is More Than an Illusion**

* * *

Holding their Observant weapons securely in their hands, Skulker and the three teens prepared to leave Iluzisto's quarters. They had had that close call with Iluzisto's almost discovering them; but as a result, they had discovered the evils spirit's Observant weapons in his hidden closet. They were now more than ready to continue…

Jazz had made sure that the closet looked as if it had been undisturbed—at least from the outside; and Tucker had no longer wanted to insist that they take those three 'Real World items' with them. They weren't important right now. He could always tell his friends about them at another time.

But just before Sam could open the door at the entrance of the Prison Head's room, Skulker placed his hand on hers, halting the girl in her task.

Sam looked up at the cyborg ghost, frowning with both irritation and confusion.

But Skulker quickly answered that look with his own scowl before saying, "We must wait a moment!"

"The coast is clear. What's the problem?" Sam asked impatiently.

The hunter narrowed his eye a bit as he answered, "I will be the one to decide if it is safe to proceed. Remember we are solely relying on_my_ hunter instincts."

"Yeah," Tucker added with a slight moan. "All my techno stuff is completely useless here now!"

Skulker frowned over at the human boy before he sighed and bitterly added, "Your male friend speaks the truth. And… I hate to admit it, but even my upgraded suit is no longer responding. I fear timeless magic is at work again. Somehow, it disrupts all technology."

"Fine, then," Sam replied, rolling her eyes a bit. "Lead the way, _O mighty hunter."_

Skulker scowled again at her sarcastic tone of voice. But he then pulled his eyes from her. He didn't want to be responsible for what he might do if she continued to challenge him. Instead, he focused his attention on their mission and carefully creaked opened Iluzisto's room door again, sniffing the air.

"There are lots of obstacles in the way between them and us. It may be difficult," the hunter muttered mostly to himself.

But Sam heard him and tightened her grip around the Observant weapon even more and quickly said with resolve, "Who cares one way or the other what's in our way? Let's get going!"

One of Skulker's eyebrows rose in admiration—but not surprise this time—at the girl's words. This female whelp was very impressive indeed. He could smell her determination. And the look on her face instantly told him that nothing would keep her from succeeding in their objective.

Still looking right into the cyborg's eyes, and raising up the weapon in her hand, Sam continued, "You said that these weapons are powerful enough to fight the Observants. Well, that's what we'll have to do if it comes to it! And among the four of us, we might just have enough combined power to rescue Danny—and Vlad—and still be able to fend off those other spirits!"

Skulker smirked in approval and smugly said, "I definitely like how you think! And I believe that you may be right!"

Even as Sam's face fell a bit at the cyborg ghost's compliment, Jazz immediately added, "I agree with Sam! But let's not try to invite guards' greeting us if we can totally avoid them, okay? I vote to remain in as much stealth as possible, until the last possible moment."

Skulker smirked again, "I like how you think, too! Pure hunter instinct!"

Jazz smiled weakly, but Skulker turned away from her and looked at Tucker, who merely nervously nodded in approval with everyone.

"Okay, then, that's _our new_ plan," Skulker finally said. "The hunt is still on!"

And seeing and smelling nothing of immediate threat, he gestured quietly to the kids and they followed him out.

The Ghost Hunter and three teens reflexively and nervously scanned all around them, but Skulker kept smelling the air, scanning for any whiffs of new trouble brewing ahead...

And once again, the cyborg ghost led the way out toward the far door they had first spied in this hallway. That metallic door was now to their left and down the hallway. Without a word, they moved as silently as they had before, keeping their senses on high alert.

Once they reached that door, Skulker quietly placed his hand on the knob and tried to open the door. But it was locked!

Skulker immediately stopped and quietly grumbled to his companions, "This does not bode well for our stealth plans!"

"Then, we are going to have to make it up as we go," Sam replied, quickly stepping forward before turning to Jazz.

"Can I please borrow that?" she asked the red-head, pointing to her head.

"Uh, sure," Jazz said with a bit of hesitance, though Sam didn't grab her headband as she thought she would.

It took less than quarter of a minute before Sam lowered the twisted bobby pin, wiggled it deftly into the lock, grasped the handle, and pulled the door just slightly ajar.

Skulker was floored.

And seeing his expression, Tucker smugly replied, "What? You don't think this is the first place we've broken into, do you? Sam's a whiz at safecracking!"

Skulker finally smirked softly, clearly impressed. He turned to the raven-haired girl and quipped, "Hmmm. If the Ghost Boy was not already my favorite prey, I'd hunt you."

The boy's eyes widened before he chuckled nervously and pulled Sam back away from the ghost "Yeah, uh, moving on!"

Skulker just watched evilly after the kids before grabbing the knob and slowly opening the door wider.

But then, the loud creaking sound it made sent dreadful chills up and down the three teens' spines. Had they been discovered?

All four looked at each other, instantly knowing that it didn't matter if they had been discovered. It was now or never!

Skulker didn't hesitate; and using his suit's claws which luckily could be operated _manually_, he grabbed onto the kids and turned them all invisible as they quickly went through the metallic door.

Skulker instantly smelled the hybrids scent even stronger in this new place. And their eyes confirmed to them that they had indeed found the entrance to the prison.

They waited for a moment to see if the loud noise the door had made had attracted any unwanted attention. Luckily, everything was as quiet as before.

Even so, as the kids and the hunter began to move forward through the prisons corridors, they soon began to randomly run into guards floating by. And they would tense every time. In fact, Team Phantom would hitch their breath, fearing they would be heard and discovered in spite of the invisibility cloaking them.

But Skulker was nervous, too; though he didn't show it. He could feel it getting harder and harder to hold his invisibility in this prison… He suspected once again that timeless magic was somehow involved in this, and maybe it was stronger in this part of the Observant's compound because this was a prison. That would make some sense. After all, he actually used his suit to enhance his powers and he wasn't able to access his suit's technology at this point. Also, because this was a prison, perhaps the Observants would have to use whatever means to keep their prisoners unable to use their powers well and keep them under control. But he decided not to comment about it, since he was still managing to control his powers…

Finally, after several nerve-wrenching minutes, they made it to another door without incident. However, as they went through the door and entered the new hallway, still following Skulker's lead, they saw it was lined with prison cells; but these cells were all solid metal doors, except for a small barred window at the top center of them.

Sniffing out the air around them, Skulker suddenly uttered, "This is not good news!"

"Please don't say that!" Tucker whined, having some difficulty controlling the tone and volume of his voice. However, he still managed to keep his voice down.

The Ghost Hunter ignored the boy and continued, "I can smell Plasmius and the whelp's scent coming from _that_ direction," he said, pointing towards another regular door at the end of this cell hall they were in. "_But_ I can smell that at least one of them is very weak; but since both of their energy signatures are not at full strength and there are other signatures interfering with my estimate, I cannot be certain of which one is the weaker."

"Oh, man! That is soo not good!" Tucker added, his face frowning with obvious anxiety as he looked to Jazz, who also frowned with concern.

Sam bit her lower lip in worry. She sure hoped that Danny was not the one in worst shape. Still, she set her jaw in determination and said, "Then, all the more reason for us to keep moving!"

"Yeah," Tucker agreed. "But, um… Skulker, I think you should make us invisible again; you know, to avoid being seen."

"What are you talking about, pup? We are—" But Skulker instantly stopped talking when he realized the boy was right. He had lost invisibility!

Skulker frowned before concentrating and attempted to turn them all invisible again.

"Is… something wrong?" Jazz asked hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Skulker whispered harshly, just barely remembering to keep his voice down. Even if there were no guards around this area currently, didn't mean they couldn't show up at any second.

But then the hunter backtracked and said, "Well, yes, I…" He sighed in frustration. He really hated to admit the truth, but now he couldn't ignore it or hide it…

"You know how my suit is not responding because of the affects this timeless realm has on technology?" Skulker muttered reluctantly.

The kids nodded.

"Well, because of my….unique body. My ghost powers begin to… wane without the energy boast from my suit…"

Team Phantom's eyes widened in alarm.

"But no matter!" Skulker said quickly with renewed vigor. "The hunt is **still** on! We will just have to be more cautious as we travel the rest of the way. And as you said, whelp," he continued, pointing at Sam. "We have the Observant weapons. We will fight our way through if we must!"

"Finally, we agree!" Sam said with a renewed smirk.

They moved forward. But as soon as they were on the other side of the doorway, and after the door had closed on its own, they saw they were yet at another prison hall with solid cell doors. But then, the foursome froze. They heard loud talking echoing down this new hallway which, fortunately, must have masked the noise of the closing door through which they just past. They could only hear snippets of words since the hall full of doors eerily distorted the sound. They weren't even sure how many entities were involved in the apparent conversation. They could clearly tell, however, that some of the words they heard were spoken in anger.

All of the sudden, they heard what sounded like an ectoplasmic blast! And then another!

Tucker unconsciously and excitedly blurted out what was on their minds, "Those sounded a lot like an ectoplasmic blast! Maybe that's Danny!"

Sam instinctively darted forward when she heard what Tucker had said.

"Wait!" her companions yelled, charging right after her.

Skulker caught up with her in a heartbeat and quickly captured her with one arm, before wrapping his other hand around the girl's mouth to gag her objecting cry and expected resistance. He held firm, stopping both of their movements right outside a door to their right.

He hurriedly whispered into her ear, "I understand the slight error in judgment. But it is not something I would have expected from such a resourceful human as you! That is not the Ghost Boy. My sense of smell tells me he and my employer are not even in this cell hall. So, calm yourself. What we hear up ahead is very likely more foes."

Just then, Jazz and Tucker came up to their side, tensing at Skulker's action. But, really, knowing Sam, they knew that the cyborg ghost had no choice but to do that. So, they said nothing and waited.

As soon as Sam had heard the Ghost Hunter's comment, she stopped struggling and firmly nodded her head in agreement with him.

And as soon as he released her, the foursome heard more sudden voices. But this time, since they were a lot nearer, they clearly could make out what they were saying.

_"My rank is higher than yours! So, I say it's your turn to keep watch of this sector!"_

_"I already took watch earlier today! Why don't you do it?"_

The kids and Skulker looked at each other, now sure they were indeed foes. The arguing ghosts were guards….

_"How dare you! I will teach you your place!"_

There was another ecto-blast; but this time, a third voice entered the argument.

_"Desist at once! If the Master Prison Head finds you two squabbling, your punishment will be severe!"_

_"You are right!"_ the first voice, supposedly the higher ranking guard said angrily. _"I shall seek out the Master Prison Head this instant and tell him of this worm's disrespect and refusal to fulfill his duties!"_

_"Not if I tell him first of your disrespect and disregard for your duties!"_ the other challenged.

And then the teens and ghost _saw_ someone coming at them!

Skulker panicked when he reacted instinctively and tried to turn invisible or intangible and confirmed that he could do neither anymore. "Girl, quick! We need a place to hide!" the ghost then hissed quietly to Sam.

Sam instantly turned to the cell door closest to them and pulled out the bobby pin from her pocket before inserting it into the locked keyhole.

Skulker barely waited for the soft click before he yanked the kids with him into the open door and closed it behind them. He didn't care to know how the guards' squabbling ended.

But, unfortunately, when they turned around, they wished they hadn't been forced to escape in here.

They were now face-to-face with a four-headed creature, something even Skulker had never encountered before!

* * *

"Foolish abomination!" Okulo thought angrily as he hurried to Iluzisto to report Danny's attack on him. All the young crossbreed did was ignite the beginning of the end! And that meant that _now_ was the time for his plans to come to a head, starting with that young crossbreed's getting it more than good from the Prison Head!

Still upset, Okulo rushed through the shortcut to where he knew Iluzisto would be. It wasn't the far door to this part of the prison, the one he had first used to come to see the crossbreeds. Instead, he had taken the first door that presented itself to his left. He could not wait to see that defiant and disrespectful crossbreed wither up right in front of him!

Moments later, Okulo finally caught up with the Prison Head. Iluzisto, who had his back to the Prison Liaison, was alone and just leaving the High Tribunal Chamber which was in another building quite a bit of distance from the trial room and prison.

"Master Prison Head!" Okulo called out, only to be interrupted by the illusionist spirit.

"What are you doing here?" Iluzisto hissed, his reddened eye now pulling itself out of the back of his neck and glaring at whom he thought was one of his guards. But then, when he saw who it was, he quickly got a hold of himself.

But Okulo was still too upset to realize that Iluzisto had just insulted and reprimanded him. Instead, he hurriedly blurted out, "The prisoners! They attacked me!"

Iluzisto's eye widened, but he still growled, "The prisoners? Which ones? And what do you mean that they _attacked_ you?"

"The crossbreeds did! And just look at what the younger one did to me!"

Okulo immediately showed the Prison Head the fairly large, charred hole in his gown and his still smarting singed head.

But Iluzisto didn't care about the Liaison's injuries. He muttered, really to himself, "The _younger _crossbreed? But I thought he was totally incapacitated! And since when can he use his powers?"

He grunted in irritation as he further thought, _"Looks like I underestimated that youngling yet again! He must have recovered somehow! But has he gained his full powers? Curses! I have let myself be tricked again. But it will be the last time!"_

Suddenly, he grabbed Okulo by his shoulders at his next thought. Iluzisto jerked the younger Observant around, moving him roughly in order to inspect the damage caused by the younger crossbreed.

The Liaison to the Prison gasped at the rough handling, but was still so upset he didn't resist the Prison Head.

Iluzisto still couldn't believe it, and when he had finished with his inspection, he then uttered out loud, "How can he do this unless he has totally recovered?"

"The younger prisoner has indeed fully recovered," Okulo answered him, "My orb has confirmed it!"

Suddenly Iluzisto's eye glazed over in deeper thought as he let his mind whirl about Danny. _"But then, how could he do all this damage to this fool unless he could somehow overcome the neck restraint? Maybe that means he's not only at full strength, but like the older crossbreed had done before, his powers must somehow be able to overcome the effects of the neck restraint. That is actually very good news. If they are strong enough to expand their energies for defense, then they must be ready for my taking! Yes, it is time that I fully absorb his and the older crossbreed's energies! My plan will be pushed up ahead of schedule, then! That is also good! My patience has finally come to its fruition!"_

His eye finally focused back to Okulo. And then unconsciously, yet tightly wrapping his angry hand around his black weapon, Iluzisto angrily asked, "But they did not escape?"

Still rattled by the incident, Okulo answered with a slightly trembling voice, "N-No, n-no, Master Prison Head! I still think that they are in their cells!"

Iluzisto composed himself a little, finally realizing that he had just spooked the Liaison and he could not afford to do so. "Forgive me, Master Liaison. I am just upset that the prisoners were so forceful on you. I should not have been so laxed in my duties, even when they include seeing the High Tribune like I did just now."

Okulo shirked back a bit; but then he suddenly remembered what the young crossbreed said to him….

_If you really are the supposed 'mastermind', then, what's in it for you? Or, are you just kidding yourself, and the truth is that you're just being tricked by Iluzisto?"_

Okulo instantly narrowed his eye in displeasure, quickly composing himself when he thought about where Iluzisto stood compared to him. He raised his orb menacingly at Iluzisto, who took a step back in surprise. "That is no excuse, Iluzisto! Do not _ever again_ talk or touch me as you have! Or, I will remind you of your place!_I_ control your core and therefore you answer to me!"

Iluzisto cringed when he felt his core burn with the glowing orb in Okulo's hand; but thinking quickly, the Prison Head, slightly lowered his head as he replied, "You are right, Master Liaison. I was only greatly upset with your news!" Iluzisto seethed for effect, "How _dare_those crossbreeds attack an Official of the High Tribune! Let us not waste any more precious time, Master Liaison. Let me have the honor of avenging your defilement! It is time that we show these rightfully caged crossbreeds once and for all which is the superior race!"

Okulo's eye widened, but with pleasure this time and he quickly lowered his orb. "You are quite right, Master Prison Head. And I command you to make sure that the prisoners pay for their insolence!" Okulo added, now fully calmed by the illusionist spirit's flattery yet again. Still, it was quite pleasing to the spirit that Iluzisto had finally noticed how important he was. It was about time. Besides, he wanted to be there to see that brazen younger crossbreed pay.

"But I wish to accompany you when you fulfill your duty to me," Okulo began, his voice more staid, only to be interrupted by the Prison Head.

"Forgive my intrusion once more, Master Liaison," Iluzisto said, choosing his words carefully. "But I would not be fulfilling my duty having you witness such a scene that will undoubtedly happen. However, I will be sure to save the younger crossbreed from final extinction until you can witness his execution, not as the Prison Liaison, but as the new High Tribunal!"

Okulo's eye widened even more with his surprise and pleasure. Iluzisto was clearly even more eager to do his bidding! But before he could comment, Iluzisto spoke again.

"And do you not think that you should return to the High Council's room, not only to be ready to take the authority, but also as to keep the High Tribune and his petty cohorts unawares of anything improper? After all, it would be prudent to keep the daily routine as ordered as possible until we are ready, do you not think?"

Okulo quickly nodded and said, "Wise observation, Iluzisto. You do well by yourself in securing my position!" But he then paused and added, "But I want the crossbreeds, especially the youngest, punished immediately!"

Iluzisto's eye almost curved evilly with how easily Okulo was eating everything right up. But instead, he narrowed his eye a bit and replied to the liaison, "I will see to it myself that the crossbreeds are secured from escaping. But, of course, I must do it in stealth until we are ready! Then, when the time is proper, we will punish that younger freak for his disrespect against you, Master Liaison!"

"Yes! I want to be present when those abominations finally get what they deserve!" Okulo said darkly. But then he nodded to Iluzisto and added, "Very Good. Do as you have said."

Iluzisto's eye conveyed a sense of full compliance in it toward Okulo before the Prison Liaison scurried off to his own duties.

But as he watched the other Observant go, Iluzisto's eye danced a bit, pleased with himself for having so easily tricked that one. Even still, his eye narrowed at his next thought. It was time to pay the crossbreeds that final visit and get from them that last amount of energy he needed to set the next part of his scheme in motion. Yes, victory would be sweet; and revenge sweeter…

With that thought in his head, Iluzisto hurried off towards the prison. He usually preferred to take back a shortcut of which he only knew to get to the crossbreeds, but he needed to _first_ speak to a few of his more loyal guards about those 'next sets of plans' he had in mind. So, the Prison Head used the usual prison entrance.

He didn't have to venture far when he spotted one of his higher ranking officers.

"Trupo," he called to his subordinate.

"Master Prison Head," the guard answered back respectfully.

"I have an order for you. I would like you to gather all the officers of this prison and have them meet me at the Round Hall. I have further orders of great importance for all of you," Iluzisto commanded.

The officer bowed his head in understanding. "I will complete your orders, Master Prison Head.".

"Now," Iluzisto began with a more elated voice as he turned his mind to getting to the crossbreeds. But whatever else he was going to tell his guard was interrupted by a third voice.

"Master Prison Head."

Iluzisto's eye narrowed with the familiar and mocking voice. He turned to face it and confirmed that it was indeed one of the _Observants'_guards. But not just any guard. The one who dared mock him on his way to the crossbreed's trial just some days back!

"Antovid….," Iluzisto growled in distaste.

The Observant guard somehow managed to convey a smirk with his eye before saying in a smug voice, "I bear a message from your _superior_: the High Tribune Justeco. He wishes for your immediate presence."

"_Again?"_ Iluzisto hissed.

"Again," Antovid answered with a teasing chuckle. He glanced at Iluzisto's wrist bands, chuckled mockingly again before turning his back on the Prison Head without another word and leaving the prison—or, as he thought of it, this _scum-infested cave._

Iluzisto's eye turned red and his hand began to cackle with his energy as the Observant guard retreated. But instantly realizing his error and knowing he could be caught, he calmed down and his energy seeped back inside.

_"Yes… revenge will be sweeter,"_ Iluzisto thought darkly. But suddenly remembering his officer was still present, he turned his attention back to him. He instantly saw Trupo was staring back with a fearful expression, clearly having seen the energy in his hands.

However, Iluzisto knew _his_ guards were loyal to _him_. So, he ignored the incident and turned to that more pressing matter still in his mind.

"Trupo. I want you to check on Prisoners 484 and 485. I was informed of a disturbance with them. Take a few guards with you. I want them restrained and strung up when I return, which I hope will be shortly."

"Yes, Master Prison Head," the officer replied before finally leaving to do as his leader wanted.

Iluzisto, too, took his leave. But as he floated back into the High Tribune's chambers, underneath, the illusionist spirit was seething at having to wait.

He was sick of that fool!

Still, with no other choice but to delay his plans with the crossbreeds yet again, he soon arrived at the Observant leader's private office.

Iluzisto pushed back his anger and put on a calm look before entering.

And seeing the Prison Head, Justeco quickly addressed him, "Iluzisto, there you are. What delayed you? Well, no matter. I need one more moment of your time, if you please."

Not wanting the High Council to learn of this development with the crossbreeds and thereby grow suspicious, Iluzisto replied, "At your service, Honorable Tribune."

* * *

Danny, having realized that he had put his foot way in it after attacking Okulo and revealing his ability to access part of his powers, had already returned to Vlad's side, insisting that they had to escape. Trying to get a hold of himself, Danny then said, "Okay. We gotta get these collars off so we can get out of here! I definitely don't want to hang around and find out what I know Iluzisto will think about all this!"

But then Danny jolted when he saw that the older hybrid was still in his human form. He hesitantly asked, "Uh, do you think you're gonna be able to do this, Vlad?"

"I'm not sure how much I can do at this point, Daniel, but I'll try to," Vlad replied with a slight groan. But then sighing, he slightly gestured for the boy to come closer and weakly said, "Come. Help me up."

Danny was shocked at the older hybrid's request, especially now when he noticed just how paler the man's face was. But he silently complied just the same and helped the man up.

Once Danny was sure that Vlad could sit without losing his balance, he sat next to him.

Without another word, Vlad turned into Plasmius, hitching in the sharp pain that had struck at him with his transformation.

Danny bit his lower lip when he noticed just how dull Plasmius' ghostly aura was, and that it was flickering a lot. But at least, this time, the man was able to hold his ghost form.

Still, they said nothing as the older hybrid reached for Danny's collar and Danny hurriedly grabbed it as well.

"Okay, ready?" Danny asked with concern.

But this time, Vlad merely nodded.

Danny bit his inner lip again in worry at the older hybrid's lukewarm response, but concentrated nevertheless. His hands lit up right away. But as the seconds past, the boy could easily see that the older hybrid was barely putting out any energy. And his aura was beginning to flicker even more.

Then a moment later, Plasmius' oddly blue energy prematurely faded until it totally snuffed out completely, and he groaned at the effort as he unwittingly turned back to being human.

"Okay. Okay, we'll just think of something else, that's all!" Danny insisted, now fretful on what this would mean, especially since this last effort also drained him more…. And there was just the slightest throbbing in his core now…

But Vlad looked up at him, his eyes no longer able to hide the weakness reflected within. "I'm… sorry, Daniel. But now I'm sure I cannot help you anymore. It seems that the 'we' has become a 'you' again."

Danny didn't like what he was saying and protested, "C'mon, cheesehead, it's not over until…"

Vlad suddenly glared, stunning the teen into silence, especially when the man just as unexpectedly hissed, "Is your head _that_ hard, boy? _I'm done,_ do you not understand? It's time for you to face the facts and look to yourself now! Think of_yourself_ for **once** in your blasted existence!"

Danny quickly stood from the man's side and weakly glared, feeling insulted, but also hurt with the older hybrid's harsh words.

"Why? Because that's what _you_ would do, Plasmius?" Danny snapped bitterly.

"Oh, please, boy," Vlad answered in disgust, gripping at his chest as his anger heightened his pain. "Don't you start patronizing me with any of your pathetic heroic blather about our 'being in this together', because we never have been! We've only been 'working together' because it benefited the both of us—not because you or I care about the other. So, save your breath and maybe that'll be enough oxygen to get you to use that dormant brain of yours!"

Danny gritted his teeth in spite of his seeing through the man's ruse. And, darn it, if the man wasn't right again! He wasn't going to waste his breath _arguing_ with Vlad! But he also wasn't going to give the man the pleasure of being left behind, either.

Without another word, he left the older hybrid's side and moved to his cell door. He didn't see Vlad look away with a troubled and saddened expression on his defeated face.

However, as the boy stared worriedly through the bars at the dim hallway, he suddenly got a desperate idea. There was only one thing he could think of that might work—if it even could, that is…

He had not tried to use his Ghostly Wail yet…. But he knew that if somehow it was possible for him to use it, he would not only weaken even more than he was when he used both his ice and ectoplasmic powers together, but he would end up like Vlad. And then he and Vlad would definitely both be sitting ducks!

But he had to try! They needed to be able to at least get out of this cell to have a remote chance of escape! And even if it meant losing the remaining energy and strength his core had left, he had to give himself and Vlad that last chance!

He was about to muster his energy, when he heard a loud ruckus just down the hallway!

He gulped.

Someone—NO, _lots of someones_ were coming—again!

* * *

Team Phantom and Skulker's jaws briefly fell open at the sight of the monster before them. Its massive, and tailless, orange-green scaly body blocked the light emanating from a small blue torch just behind it, eerily casting a dark, ominous shadow upon the four intruders. As if that wasn't intimidating enough, each of its undulating imbedded and different-colored heads squared themselves in front of each of its foes, hissing threateningly at them. Each of the necks of those heads strained at their shared, thick trunk, and tried to counter the large, blue collars restraining their powers.

The teens and the Ghost Hunter tensed, their mouths finally closing, when they could see that all sets of the creature's eyes were of the same color, glowing with their greenish-orange hue—and all of them keeping their angry glare locked onto the humans and the cyborg.

The foursome reflexively backed away from the creature when its black head neared them, moving until their backs hit against the solid door. But what they didn't know and couldn't see was the creature, in spite of its threat, was chained to the wall and hadn't attempted to move its body or its four clawed legs toward them. And what they also didn't know was that this was the very same creature named Kvargvid to whom Clockwork had spoken a couple of days ago and Iluzisto enjoyed torturing…

Still, the ebony head hissed, "Has he now sent **you** to torment me?"

Before any of the four intruders could even attempt an answer, the slate-colored head silently motioned to the bile-colored one, which immediately breathed fire of the same hue down upon them. But, because of the restraining collar at its neck, the flames would not have reached their intended victim anyhow.

But the four intruders didn't know that.

Nevertheless, the three humans yelled and scrambled out of the way.

Skulker, however, held his ground and fired from his Observant weapon. The purple beam quickly countered the green flames, but did not snuff them out.

Still firing, the Ghost Hunter reached for a switch that he was saving just for emergencies. And this certainly qualified as one! He activated a mechanical override separate from the technology, which allowed him limited access to some of his weapons. He fired an ice ray at the short-range flame, effectively snuffing it out with the weapon he had produced from his suit.

Once more, the green head threw more flames at his attacker.

This time, Skulker did notice that the flames were falling a bit short of their target. So, he jumped closer to his foe before shooting another ice ray.

The ray engulfed the bile-color head and it coughed at the slightly bluish-green mist, which was all that remained of the green fire.

But in the next instant, the ebony head smacked into the blue one, smearing its yellowish-grey ooze on it, which was quickly absorbed within the blue head and subsequently gave it a burst of energy. The sapphire-colored head needed no other goading to attack, and then countered with its _own_ ice ray.

And since Skulker was even nearer to it and was not expecting this development at all, it effectively froze the cyborg ghost, taking him out of the foray.

In the meantime, the three teens were making their own attempts at repelling the creature. But in reality, they really hadn't had the chance yet because the black and red heads had been keeping them scrambling from either being rammed or attacked.

Unfortunately, Jazz had dropped her weapon in that commotion; and the creature's black head immediately saw that. He quickly pressed one of his front feet down upon it and dragged it under its body, before crushing it to pieces under one of its heavy back feet and now leaving the older teen defenseless.

In the meantime, just as the blue head had frozen Skulker, Sam had been able to get nearer to help the Ghost Hunter. She instinctively aimed and shot that blue head with her Observant weapon, even if it were too late to keep the cyborg ghost from being frozen.

The blue head screamed in pain, and its cry was quickly joined by a similar panged scream from the black head. A moment later, the blue head dropped to the ground, knocked senseless by the ray.

The three remaining heads shrieked, enraged with the injury of their brother. Their undulating movement increased ten-fold and their eyes flared with an intensity to mirror their ire.

The three teens gasped at the creature's reaction and the fact that they, too, had lost one of their own companions. And now they had another anxious thought. They didn't know which would be worse at the moment: to be eaten by this thing, or to have a bazillion guards barging in with their own weapons, alerted by all this commotion.

Nevertheless, Sam and Tucker didn't hesitate to fire back at the three remaining heads, while Jazz kept close to Sam. But since the heads weren't slowing their movements at the moment, all the rays went wild and completely missed their targets.

The onyx-colored head unconsciously smirked at how easily he and his brothers confused their foes. He motioned to the emerald and scarlet heads and they increased their winding, zigzag movements, searching for an opening in which to attack these small pests. And with its wild undulating movements, the beast's now aggressive dance was not unlike the Hindu god Shiva, whose multiple arms rising and falling in his dance for steering the destruction of the universe.

And then, the black head saw his chance. He quickly brushed against his red and green brothers, smearing them once more with that energy-producing yellowish-grey substance while keeping his eyes set on the still armed Tucker and Sam.

In the next moment, the red head reacted and opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp, jagged, and blood-red teeth. Tucker gasped when several of those teeth suddenly pulled themselves from the jaw in which they had been not even a second later and thrust themselves at him.

Once a few teeth were thrown at the boy, the creature instantly twisted its scarlet head at the females and flung even more teeth at them.

All three teens yelped and spread out as they scrambled once more to get out of the path of the daggers.

All three were successful in avoiding getting impaled; but with his frantic moves, Tucker stumbled and fell and his weapon was thrown out of his hand. Jazz immediately ran to his side. She helped him up and grabbed the weapon just moments before the green, fireless head attempted to smash them.

It was then that Sam saw her chance and aimed her weapon at the red head, which had shot another set of teeth at her. A purple beam poured out of her Observant weapon which immediately vaporized the daggers.

But just as the green—and now black—heads attempted to strike Tucker and Jazz again, the red one shot more teeth at Sam.

The girl shot at them again, but her attempt went wild and she had to leap quickly out of the way of the red spikes. But this time, she pulled herself around a full 180 degrees and effectively zapped her scarlet foe. But her strike had only grazed it and it shrieked at the pain.

"Leave us be!" the ebony head loudly demanded, but he, too, was in obvious pain from the girl's attack. But he also sounded panicked, which he was.

And in his panic, he pushed against the green head while the red one shot more of its teeth at Sam, and then at Tucker and Jazz.

The three teens again had to move away. But that was enough of a distraction for the ebony-colored head to strike at Sam. This time, it made contact and whacked the young teen into the nearby wall. The girl groaned as her body fell to the ground, made senseless by his attack.

"Sam!" Jazz screeched as the scarlet head shot more of its daggers at the fallen girl.

However, Sam was spared from further harm when a large purple beam intersected with the path of the creature's teeth, instantly destroying them. That beam, fortunately, had come from Tucker. He immediately followed up with another beam, which this time, squarely hit his scarlet foe. It fell to the ground next to its still incapacitated blue brother, while the ebony head shrieked in pain. But then, Tucker's eyes widened when he suddenly noticed something important.

In the meantime, steam was rising from the green head's nose and mouth. Its orange-green eyes flared as its fire power returned. And now, the two remaining heads concentrated their efforts. The black one pushed against the bile-colored head, goading it in its attack. It didn't hesitate to throw its flames at Tucker; and this time, it hit the boy's weapon, engulfing it in fire.

Yelping in both fear and pain, Tucker dropped the weapon and darted away before another beam of fire could reach him.

Jazz, meanwhile, had scrambled to Sam's side. She quickly grabbed the unconscious girl's weapon and aimed at the flame-throwing head. But she was so upset and worried about Sam that her shot went wild. Yet her effort didn't matter for the green head had moved out of the way even as the beam completely missed him.

The ebony head immediately took advantage of the distraction and violently whipped his head toward Jazz with the intention of smashing her as he had Sam. But the older teen saw him and pulled away, dropping to the ground to avoid his strike. The black head missed her, but effectively struck the weapon in the girl's hands, knocking it completely out of them.

Jazz gasped as the weapon flung across the floor, sliding pell-mell along it.

The black head immediately dove for the weapon, but then, he turned to the frantic cry nearest to him. He turned to see what the commotion was about.

Now that his friends were in danger, and in spite of the fact that he was as defenseless as the girls right now, Tucker was now acting in desperation. The teen boy continued to wave madly and shout at the beast, trying to distract him from his friends.

And he was successful.

The creature's ebony head immediately signaled to his green brother, which shrieked with rage. It did not hesitate to throw more of its flames at the boy.

Tucker yelped but was able to avoid the flaming stream. But then, another idea struck him instead and he immediately ran toward Skulker, yelling all the way to the Ghost Hunter, especially when he could see from the corner of his eye that the green head was tracking him. When he was finally in front of the still frozen cyborg ghost, Tucker turned back to the beast and standing his ground this time, yelled, "Over here, you putrid, moldy-colored jerk!"

Jazz gasped in fear at Tucker's actions; but right now, she couldn't do a thing about it. She wasn't about to leave Sam wide open to any more attacks and sat next of her, guarding her with the wrist ray gun she had removed from her unconscious friend. But then, Jazz screamed in horror when those enraged flames shot directly at her male friend!

But, Tucker jumped out of the way at the last second and the fire enveloped Skulker instead! An angry mist instantly erupted around the frozen Ghost Hunter.

Jazz's eyes widened when she suddenly saw the blue and red heads beginning to stir. She gasped in dread.

But then, her eyes turned to Tucker once more. The boy had seen and was now diving right to the Observant's weapon that had been earlier shoved out of Jazz's hands.

The creature's darkest head also spied what the male was doing and immediately signaled the other three heads to attack the boy.

But much to the surprise of the black head, just after Tucker had retrieved the weapon, the boy had charged right at _him,_ instead of any of the other heads, or running away. The remaining ones immediately wailed in confusion. If they attacked the boy now, they would surely hit their ebony brother.

That hesitation by the beast's three colorful heads was what Tucker was hoping for. In fact, he was now certain of his plan as he aimed his weapon right at the ebony head.

"All right! We've got you covered!" Tucker firmly said. "Now, call off your other guard dogs—uh, heads!"

But instead of obeying the teen, the coal-colored head lunged right at him.

Tucker yelled, but before the darkest head could strike, three beams suddenly pierced the air, precisely hitting the red, green and blue ones. Those three shrieked in pain before collapsing to the floor. They lay senseless.

Tucker twisted around to see that it was Skulker who had fired those beams with his Observant weapon, obviously having finally fully recuperated from his unconventional defrosting by the fire power from the green counterpart of the creature.

Meanwhile, the ebony head then also bellowed with the pain of all three of his brothers' blow and fell to the floor in a daze. But he was still conscious.

Tucker ran up to him and still aiming the weapon at him, smugly asked, "Had enough?"

Now the creature cried, "Please, I yield! You and your army of illusions are too formidable, especially with my diminished strength! But if I am destroyed, my brothers will be destroyed, too! They are lost without my direction or the energy I alone can provide to them! Nor can they speak their wishes unless it is through me."

Tucker gulped. This creature had **_not_** been at full strength during this entire time? But he shook the thought away when the beast's other comment came into focus. He then replied, "Destroy? Who said anything about you being destroyed? I just wanted you to give up! And I kinda figured you were the head—uh, head, which is why I went after you and not the others when I finally got the chance."

"You are very clever, my master," the creature said as he lowered his eyes.

Tucker smiled with pride at the compliment. But then, he smirked, "So, do I have your word as a gentleman—uh, creature—to surrender?"

By the time the beast looked back up, both Tucker and Skulker still had their weapons aimed at him. He sighed and said in a hush, "Yes!"

Skulker smiled at the victory and said to Tucker with more glee, "I **have** been teaching you something after all!"

Tucker just rolled his eyes. "Dude, you've been hanging around with Vlad for too long," he then said a bit dryly, recalling how Danny had on several occasions complained to him and Sam about Vlad saying stuff like that to him and it getting on their friend's nerves!

Skulker's eyebrows arched up, looking completely affronted. But then he frowned in mild irritation when the boy further smirked at him to show he was purposely messing with him. Still, the hunter was not about to admit to the human whelp that he had indeed sounded a bit too much like his employer.

"Keep tempting me, pup, and you'll find yourself at the top of my hit list when all this is said and done," Skulker challenged with a small evil smirk.

Tucker chuckled nervously and raised his hands up, saying, "Hey, come on, dude. I was just joking. Oh, look! I forgot about the girls! Let me go check on them," he then added before he immediately darted toward them. By the time he got to them, Sam was just stirring.

"Are you all right, Sam?" he asked in worry as Jazz and he helped the goth girl up.

Cradling her head, she groggily replied, "I think so. What happened? And where's the monster?"

Her eyes then drifted over to Skulker, who was standing in front of the defeated creature as a hunter posing for a trophy picture. All three teens then walked toward him.

"Okay, now that everything's calmed down and everyone's okay, let's get out of here!" Jazz quickly suggested.

"You are not illusions of our oppressor, then?" Kvargvid gasped, both shocked and relieved at the same time.

"What are you talking about?" Tucker asked, now remembering the first comment the beast had made after he had surrendered. "We're just humans…with, uh, one ghost."

"I see," the leader said, slightly bewildered. Then why were these beings here? Still, he knew he had given his word of surrender to the shorter male and needed to speak more to him about that…

"But, my lord," the leader of the heads sadly said, bowing his head and addressing Tucker, "Are you not going to punish us more or command anything of us? Though we are a ghost from another dimension, and you are no illusion, we still feel bound to you since you have defeated us. And under the laws of our realm, I and my brothers are now your servants."

Tucker smiled in delight and uttered, "You mean, I have _more_ minions again?"

"TUCKER!" Jazz and Sam angrily said.

"Just kidding, guys!" their male friend began, looking at his female friends with a sheepish grin. But then, he looked at the creature and seeing that it seemed so crushed, he suddenly felt pity for it. He glanced back at his friends and lifting his index finger, insisted, "Wait a minute!" He then turned back to the creature and said, "Look,… uhm, you do have a name, don't you?"

Before the beast answered, he groaned a little when he was suddenly aware that his other three heads were slowly rousing. When the ebony head was satisfied that the other three heads had recovered, he finally replied, "Yes, master, it is Kvargvid the First. My brothers are of the same name except for being numbered such as, yet differently than, I. But I am the only one who speaks, so we take no mind to the same name."

Tucker continued, "Okay, uhm, Karg-vid, we're really sorry for all of this. We never wanted to hurt you; but you see, we got in here accidentally. And you did attack us before we could explain, you know. But, we're searching for a friend that we think is a prisoner here by mistake."

"We understand such plight," Kvargvid remarked, "We are condemned to all eternity though we are innocent of the charges. We were also brought here by mistake, the victim of betrayal. But forgive us, for that is too long of a story. But also please pardon us for attacking you. Our oppressor here regularly sends imaginary creatures to torment us, and we thought you were such."

The foursome nodded, accepting his apology, but then frowned at his first comment.

After that, Kvargvid drew his head nearer to his body before motioning with his head. He then said, "But yet, we are still betrayed by our oppressor. My brothers and I are at a disadvantage when our tormentors come because of these restraint collars, and because of the chains that binds our hind legs. So, you see, we could not really give you a decent fight, and are doomed to endless torture for all eternity."

The foursome looked at each other, all frowning in both chagrin and relief from the same thought. They were glad they had not fought this creature at its full strength and unbound!

Nevertheless, Kvargvid added. "Still, we wish to apologize once more. You are the first creatures we have seen in much time passed who showed us pity in our agony."

Now the three teens frowned in pity, and reflexively looked at and searched each other's eyes.

Skulker, however, kept a poker face. His only thoughts were now about regretting that he could not add this creature to his collection. Still, he said nothing.

Then, Tucker began to ask his friends, "Hey, guys…"

"Yes!" Jazz and Sam both chimed in, but Skulker frowned in confusion.

But then, Tucker walked up to the cyborg ghost and said, "Doncha you think we can zap those collars and chains without hurting Karg-vid, Skulker?"

"What are you talking about, whelp?" Skulker began with a frown. "We have no more time for this, especially when I do not understand why we have not alerted the whole Observant realm of our presence after this little unplanned battle of ours."

"I can tell you the reason for that, master," Kvargvid volunteered.

The teens and the Ghost Hunter immediately turned their attention to him.

All four of Kvargvid's heads blinked in surprise at first, but the black head continued nevertheless, "All the solid cells in this prison are sound-proof! That way, we prisoners will never know if we have strength in numbers." He paused a moment and swallowing a sudden lump, added in a slight hush, "And it is also so that no one else will suspect anything when Iluzisto tortures his prisoners."

"ILUZISTO?" the humans and the Ghost Hunter all gasped at once.

Their response made all four of Kvargvid's heads startle, but the black one still answered, "Yes, forgive me, but though I did not tell you the name of my and my brothers' oppressor, it is quite obvious that you, too, know and fear his merciless name."

Everyone in the cell fell to silence.

Then Kvargvid, begging the obvious, spoke once more, "As you can see, no one has discovered that you have come into our cell. You have not failed in your objective to find your friend."

"Advantage us—again!" Skulker grinned.

But then, Tucker looked at the beast and said, "And we have at least two of the Observant's weapons left. So, we will not fail in helping another _friend_." He then turned to Skulker and added, "We aren't going to fail in that objective, are we, Skulker?"

Skulker narrowed his eyes in irritation, and then growled, "I will not argue the point, pup, especially since I can plainly see that you will fully intend to do so in spite of my objection. So, I might as well make this quick and just comply."

Tucker smiled in relief, but before he could reply, Skulker added, "I am not certain if these weapons will do the job. After all, those neck restraints look very strong. But if the weapons will work, just make sure your aim is accurate; and as soon as the smoke that results slows, dispel your beam!" He then growled more seriously, "And _then_ we will make haste to leave once our task has been completed!"

"Okay!" the boy replied. But as he looked up at the large four-headed beast, he gulped. He knew that Skulker could easily float up there, but he couldn't reach those large neck braces! He then uttered hesitantly, "Uhm, Karg-vid, you could please, uh, come down here?"

Skulker couldn't help but grin at the irony of this large, powerful beast bowing to a scrawny, young human.

Still, he joined Tucker at the boy's side and they immediately started on their task as the girls watched on.

But, much to the surprise of the boy, he had just activated his weapon and touched the first neck brace to destroy it when it instead just_popped open_!

"What the….?" Skulker said, voicing what Tucker had also thought.

The two easily removed the other three neck braces in the same manner, the locks easily clicking open with a single hit.

The foursome looked at each other, perplexed at this oddity.

But then Kvargvid fell silent with his own thoughts. So much made sense to him now. Everything he had done in the past. Everything he had said not too long ago. He had known…At last, his and his brothers' hope had finally been rewarded! And… at the hands of three **human** children and a foreign ghost, no less!

"We are humbled that you all have taken enough pity on us to grant us freedom," Kvargvid replied, all four of his heads bowing in appreciation.

"Let us finish granting you that freedom, first, before giving us your gratitude," Skulker replied with a smirk, though internally, he found it ironic that for the first time in his after-life he was releasing a unique specimen—and not capturing and locking it up. Ironic indeed.

The large creature was speechless during the rest of the process of his being released, stunned by these strangers' gesture; and in hardly any time, the neck restraint and chains that had kept Kvargvid prisoner were completely off.

Skulker frowned with determination and growled, "We have wasted too much time! Let us go!"

The three humans and ghosts quickly went to the door. Skulker grabbed the knob, only to find that it was locked! Obviously, then, it must be a self-locking door.

"Whelp, your bobby pin!" he commanded to Sam, quickly snapping his fingers at her.

Sam gasped as she frantically searched her pockets, "I must have lost it in the fight!"

"And I don't have any more of them!" Jazz fretted, already frantically searching her head.

"Why can't we just use these weapons to blast out, then?" Tucker suggested, holding his Observant weapon steady.

"With our apologies once more," Kvargvid finally spoke up, though he was too weak to walk toward them much. "But you will then create that unwanted clamor, since the Observant weapons do not try to hide their sound, especially when you will be blasting out into the hallway. However, my third brother would be honored to assist you, especially since he will not make any noise in the process."

The beast waited for Tucker to nod before the green-colored head unleashed its green flames, which quickly melted the lock. The door slowly and barely swung ajar on its hinges after that.

But before the beast could utter any kind of 'thank you', or the three teens could wave their quick 'good-bye's', the Ghost Hunter had grabbed all three of the humans and quickly left the cell, leaving the former prisoner free.

But then, Skulker had an idea and turned back toward the door for a moment longer… Yes, this could be helpful….

Kvargvid blinked in confusion when he saw what the ghost took with him. But, again, before he could even express his gratitude, let alone ask a question, the ghost and children had left his cell.

He and his brothers then glanced at each other and he could hear in his mind that they all agreed on their current thought: they were forever indebted to their rescuers.

However, as Kvargvid made his next decision and tried to move out of their cell, he faltered and sat back on his hind legs. It had been so long since he and his brothers had been able to move their legs much or used any of their ghostly muscles to any great extent that he realized that he and his brothers were very weak.

"It seems we will need a moment to recover, brothers," Kvargvid said out loud with a troubled sigh, while his brothers cooed back in agreement and encouragement.

* * *

It took Team Phantom and Skulker at least another ten earthly minutes to find their way out of the cell hall in which they had encountered Kvargvid, then reach the circular foyer, which was the center of the prison, and finally find the cell hall that they had been searching for. Luckily, they had not run into trouble thus far.

"Whelps, it is this way," Skulker whispered, taking another whiff of the air to make sure the scents of the hybrids were indeed coming through the cell hall in front of them.

But it looked as if the foursome's luck had run finally out, because they were still several feet from the door they intended to go through when one of the adjacent doors in the same central, circular foyer began to creak open!

If only they had known that Trupo and the guards he had gathered had been just behind that door, getting ready to fulfill Iluzisto's previous orders in regards to the hybrids, then the foursome would have made sure to have completely avoided this group.

In fact, Trupo had just rejoined his group after having ordered the guards to wait for him just in front of the door leading to the circular foyer while he got the shackles from the prison's supply room, which was just down the hallway from Iluzisto's prison office.

But the instant he pulled the door open and entered the foyer, he froze in shock when he spied the foreign ghost and three young humans. Incredible! How did they ever get in here?

It only took the prison officer a second before he jolted out of his shock and screamed, **"Guards!"**

Skulker and the kids cringed only slightly, before Skulker fired his Observant weapon right at the prison guards. But, fortunately, the mentioned guards were trying to fit all at once through that bottleneck exit, going as far as accidently knocking the leading group down and blocking the entrance.

And taking advantage of that, the hunter yelled to his companions, "This way! Hurry!"

The three teens immediately scurried right on the heels of Skulker as he headed toward the door that would lead them to the hallway that had the scent of the hybrids.

They all piled in even as the door slammed shut behind them on its own. But they knew it would not hold off the guards for long. In fact, they could already hear their angry voices closing in.

The group of rescuers had at last made it to the hybrids' location. But now, they had been discovered. And they had absolutely no doubt that the real fight had now begun….

* * *

Fearing the worst at hearing the commotion coming right at him, Danny turned his bed to its side. He pushed it against his cell door and waited behind it, ready to fight as long as he could to prevent anyone—or anything—from coming through his cell door.

He glanced briefly back at Vlad and could see that his eyes were closed and the man was still very pale. And so under the circumstances, that could mean only one thing: the man was completely drained of all of his spectral energy and was unconscious.

Danny gulped at the thought, but then gritted his teeth before muttering, "Okay, Fenton, this is it! Don't screw it up as badly as you did with that putrid Okulo, uh, even if this collar doesn't give me any other option anyhow."

He steeled himself, ready to charge and shoot his ectoplasmic energy beams at the last moment in order to conserve as much as his energy as he could.

He then mumbled, "But, it doesn't matter that I don't have all of my powers. I won't let these jerks have the pleasure of watching me get obliterated all nice and quiet under their control! This time, I'm gonna make you creeps hurt where it counts and even after that, I just might be able to get us out of here, too!"

He listened, startling a little when he heard ectoplasmic blasts erupt. He peeked around his bed, confused that the foray still seemed to be much farther down the hallway. And it _wasn't _getting nearer.

Just then, he heard running footsteps coming down the hallway. He frowned, confused even more about that. Why didn't the guards just fly at him instead? In fact, did they _even have_ feet? But he threw those thoughts away and charged his energy beams nevertheless, ready to blast whoever—or whatever—they were. And just when it seemed to him that those footsteps were close enough, he quickly soared upward, aimed and fir-

—jolted to an abrupt halt.

"Sam? Jazz?" he yelled, his energy orbs instantly dissipating with his shock.

"Danny!" the girls shouted back, both relieved and excited.

"Y-You're _a-alive_?" he stammered, floating downward, still stunned with the emotional shock. But then he shook his head in disbelief and shouted out in anger, "That can't be right! No! This must be another one of your putrid illusions, you jerk! But I'm not falling for it this time!"

Jazz gasped when her brother charged up more of his energy, seemingly ready to fire upon them!

Sam frowned at his actions, having no idea what he was talking about. Still, she firmly interrupted him, "No time!"

She immediately aimed her wrist ray right at the lock in the door and fired upon it.

Danny stared down at what the girl was doing, confused by her actions and still shocked over seeing her and his sister _alive_. If this was an illusion as he thought, why was the lock beginning to sizzle and smoke under her assault? Why would his illusion be trying to break him _out_?

But in spite of what Sam's wrist ray gun was doing to the lock, the ray wasn't strong enough to destroy it. And it wasn't even loud enough to provoked Vlad from his stupor.

Sam growled in irritation, but quickly adjusted the setting and poured more energy into it. She wished that Skulker had let them bring more Observant weapons!

And then Jazz gasped and turned toward the hallway. The ruckus that had been behind she and Sam was starting to get louder—_and closer_!

"Hurry, Sam!" the older girl shrieked. "I don't think Skulker and Tucker can hold them off for much longer!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" she angrily growled back, but she was not upset with her friend. She was upset that the lock still wasn't yielding. She finally said in desperation, "Darn it! This lame thing just isn't strong enough! GRR! Danny! Can't you help or something?"

But Danny just stared at her. This just had to be a trick. They were gone. He saw and _felt_ their dead bodies! Maybe….maybe Iluzisto was trying to make it seemed that he was going to escape, only to be ambushed by the creep later and have his energy drained, like what first happened when he and Vlad did get out of their cells!

And then he startled at his next thought: _escape is only an illusion._

"You're not real," he whispered, feeling both numb and his emotions rising again. But still believing it was still Iluzisto trying to torture him, he glared and shouted, "I'm not falling for your sick tricks again, Iluzisto!"

Jazz and Sam gasped when energy formed around Danny's hands again in a threatening matter. What was wrong with Danny?

Sam, who was closest, paused in her struggles and quickly addressed her confused friend.

"Danny, I don't know what that spirit has been doing to you; but this isn't some trick! I'm here! Jazz and Tucker are here! We came to get you out!"

But Danny just looked more distraught. He wanted to believe it was them, but he just knew they weren't real—it wasn't at all logical, especially when Iluzisto's cruel words were still echoing in his head…They were dead…and if they weren't, they couldn't possibly have been able to get in here!

"Danny! We've got no time for this! You have to believe me! And I need your help! Please, we've been friends since we were little kids! You _know_ me! Look at me! It's _me_, Danny!"

She stepped forward, ignoring the blazing green energy ready to fire upon her, even when she could feel the angry heat kissing her skin. She still didn't hesitate to grab the bars and lock her eyes with his.

The boy stared deeply into his friend's eyes as his mind slightly eased and he let his heart take over. No trick could mimic the Sam _he knew_ this well. No trick could capture that glow of caring _and_ determination in _those amethyst eyes_.

"Sam?" Danny whispered, extinguishing his energy orbs and reaching a hand out through the bars before grabbing one of hers.

"Yeah," she said with a warm smile.

"You... came... I-I thought you were dead. That Jazz and Tucker…"

"Danny, look, it doesn't matter right now! We have to get you out! Or we _all really are_ going to be dead! So, come on! Snap out of it!"

Her words jolted Danny out of his shock and he quickly let go of her hand and with newfound determination said, "Maybe between the both of us we might be able to break this lock after all! Better stand a bit out of the line of fire, Sam!"

"Okay!" Sam hurriedly replied, immediately side-stepping from in front of the lock before activating her wrist ray gun again and firing it once more at the lock.

As soon as Sam had moved, Danny didn't hesitate to activate his weakened energy and began to pour it into the lock from his side.

But right then, a loud alarm went off through the prison and the kids froze in dread. That terrible sound raked up their spines. And they knew it was not good news!

Sam and Danny quickly doubled their efforts, while Jazz nervously urged them on.

However, that noise of the cracking lock and the sound of the alarm began to finally prod Vlad back into consciousness, groaning as he stirred.

Suddenly, Danny spied movement right behind the girls. He concentrated harder, ready to adjust his aim toward that movement if needed. But just as sudden, he began to feel dizzy from the effort and his core began to throb again. He then realized that taping into his inner strength, would, after all, only last so long without replenishing his physical needs and with his neck restraint still on. Even so, he gritted his teeth, determined not to let his drain of energy distract him. He tried to throw away all thoughts about that as he tried to pour more of his energy into the stubborn lock, while keeping his eye on whatever other trouble was in store for them.

In the next moment, however, Danny finally saw—Tucker! And of all ghosts—Skulker! But their backs were to him and they were obviously quite busy in their own task, which was trying to hold all the prison guards at bay. However, it looked as if the two males were having a very difficult time doing that and were slowly backing up toward the girls and his cell as they fought on.

And then Danny saw a large, thick black ragged-edged makeshift shield and Skulker was holding it!

The hunter had acquired his make-shift shield when he yanked the door off of Kvargvid's cell before they had left that area. He had had a hunch it would come in handy, especially when his suit was barely working and his ghost powers were all but useless. And Skulker was right. The shield was now protecting them from the attacks of Trupo and his guards, whose numbers were steadily growing after that alarm went off. But the makeshift shield was being shot to pieces with each new purple energy beam that assaulted it from the other side.

Skulker then turned a little toward the girls and hissed, "Hurry!"

"It won't bulge!" Sam yelled, even as the lock had reddened and was shuddering under the bombardment of the outside and inside beams of green energy.

Danny's head was beginning to spin and the pain in his core was getting worse from his effort, but he continued to drive his energy into the lock. It just _had _to yield!

Jazz, now desperate with a wild idea, yelled toward her male friend. "Tucker, use the Observant's weapon to break the lock!"

"I can't!" Tucker yelled back, grunting with the effort. "We're holding back too many of them!"

The beret-wearing boy then gasped when Skulker's shield began to buckle!

Oh, now they were in _really_ big trouble!

* * *

Meanwhile, unaware of the chaos currently in his sound-proof prison, Iluzisto silently groaned as he continued to listen to the drab High Tribune in spite of his desire to return to the prison and finish off the crossbreeds…

Finally, he could take no more of the incessant blathering. And with as much retrain and aplomb as he could muster, the Prison Head suddenly interrupted the High Tribune right in the middle of his sentence.

"….Forgive me, Honorable Tribune...But I have kept you from your more important duties for far too long. And you know that I must also attend to mine at some time, or the Council will wonder…."

Justeco blinked his lone eye in surprise at the abrupt comment by the illusionist spirit, but he quickly replied, "That is quite all right, Master Prison Head. And you are quite right, and I appreciate your consideration. But, I still have not resolved the issue of your… 'enhanced' authority, if you know what I mean. The Council is still concerned about that, which may call for more drastic measures."

Iluzisto, of course, knew he was speaking about all that power that they didn't normally give him. It was meant to be temporary—and controlled... Still, he pointed to his wrists and assuredly said, "And as you know, Honorable Tribune, this prevents that power from becoming too raw, if you know what _I_ mean."

Justeco's green eye relayed relief. But he was fooled, since Iluzisto had slowly but assuredly been gaining even more raw—and potent—power in spite of his restraints, all thanks to the crossbreeds…

Indeed, each of the crossbreeds' power was unique. Any other ghost's energy would merely be absorbed and added to his 'reserve' of power. But the crossbreeds' powers actually _enhanced_ those already stored powers. And more than that, they didn't lose their effectiveness even when he used some of his powers. In fact, those powers seemed to make that energy reserve _grow _in both power _and amount_.

The Tribune replied, "Yes, of course. So then, the matter is resolved. After all, as soon as the half-ghosts' sentencing is carried out tomorrow, I will restore your bracelets to minimum power usage as before—as we previously discussed. It should leave the Council at ease. And since we are in agreement, it is time to pursue our duties once more."

"As you wish, Honorable Tribune," Iluzisto said with a slight bow of his head. "We will soon see each other again…." But he completed only to himself, _"…. just, not as you think."_

With another bow to Justeco, the Prison Head quickly turned away, and when he was out of eyeshot quickened his pace toward that shortcut to the prison of which only he knew….

However, when he finally made it to his intended location, he froze in sudden horror at the chaos and the sound of the emergency alarm ringing throughout his prison.

But his disbelief didn't last long.

"NO!" he exploded in pure fury before rushing forward.

* * *

Jazz gasped. She was still weaponless through this all and now she and Sam were wedged right in the middle of their retreating male companions and the unyielding cell door!

There was no way out!

Suddenly, Danny groaned; and his energy orb unwittingly disappeared as he fell to his hands and knees. He could barely keep his head up from how lightheaded he was now feeling and he gripped at his chest from how much it hurt. Had he not been so in need of calories or if the neck restraint been off, he might have been able to damage the lock. But he could tell he was getting to that limit that Vlad had already passed. His core couldn't take much more!

Sam didn't stop from her task, though she now swallowed a large lump when she could see how drain Danny looked.

Vlad was finally awake, but not alert. He, too, felt too dizzy to even attempt to move, much less, help in what he could only vaguely guess was another prison escape attempt—though he still had no idea who was leading it. His blurry vision didn't allow him to distinguish any of the people outside the cell.

In the meantime, Tucker and Skulker pressed onward against the prison guards, even as Skulker tried in vain to keep his shield steady and forward.

And just when it looked as if the shield would shatter at any second, Tucker's eyes widened in dread when his eyes wandered a bit further behind the assaulting guards. He then gasped. He could see the distinctive black, needle-like tipped weapon jutting up and down, as it weaved its way through the thick group in front of him. His heart skipped a beat.

Iluzisto was coming!

Nevertheless, he increased his efforts.

And just when the shield finally shattered and the human boy and the Ghost Hunter were forced to shield themselves from the scattering shards as they rained down upon them and the guards. But right after, a very loud crash and then an even louder scream pierced the air—_farther _down the hallway!

Tucker's eyes now widen in fear and then astonishment when he suddenly saw that dozens of prison guards behind the ones in front of him and Skulker were now being thrown here-and-there, pell-mell in the hallway. And then, he spied other guards being frozen, and then flames of green fire were charging right into even more others. Finally, he saw red arrow-like projectiles pinning many of the remaining guards to the wall. And then the rest of the ones pulled away from him and his group, trying to counter this new force.

But when he saw more ice-rays being fired, Tucker instantly knew what was happening and whispered in surprise with a growing smile, "Karg-vid…"

* * *

All the while that Team Phantom and Skulker had continued in their efforts to locate the hybrids, Kvargvid had been in his cell, still trying to recover enough strength to escape. Then all of the sudden, he heard a loud alarm go off.

The creature startled and quickly rose on his four legs as the black head gasped out, "Brothers! The alarm! It only goes off when there are major escape attempts! And our rescuers… Oh, no! They must have been caught!"

The three other heads whined in worry back at their black-colored brother, clearly as distressed as he was.

"Yes, you all are right." He told his brothers. "We have remained here long enough; it is time to take action against our oppressor and aid our rescuers!"

And as his brothers nodded in agreement and their powers began to leak from their mouths, the black head narrowed his eyes; and pushing back any remaining weakness and fear, Kvargvid charged out of his door-less cell.

He raced down the hallway, heading deeper into the prison. Fortunately, there were not any guards around this area, since they all must have been busy with the escaping prisoners. But when the creature was about to destroy the door leading to the circular central foyer which he knew from listening to Iluzisto would lead further into the prison, he heard noise coming from two doors to his right. He stopped a moment and peeked through the small window imbedded in the door and saw a slew of prison guards heading toward the doorway directly across from him.

Able to fully access his powers now without the neck restraints, the creature turned invisible just as the guards raced out of the door, all going towards one specific door in the circular foyer. That's were his rescuers had to be!

At that moment, Kvargvid lost invisibility and quickly remembered how the timeless magic in the prison made ghost powers unreliable here. Still, he was strong now and nothing would stop him from helping his new friends.

But he had to hurry! His bile-color brother quickly vaporized the door in front of him and the area around it with his green fire, making the hole big enough for him to get through.

This, of course, got the attention of some guards that had been just on the other side of the destroyed door; but Kvargvid used their sudden surprise of seeing him loose to his advantage and had them all flying further into the hall with a ball of fire from his green-headed brother.

Because of his large size, it only took him a few steps to reach the now door-less cell hallway and plow through it.

Most of the guards were still busy trying to fight the small force keeping them from reaching the hybrids to notice what had been looming upon them from behind. In fact, not only had these new guards not expected an attack from behind, but Kvargvid had also been able to catch the large group of guards and Iluzisto, who had used the shortcut to arrive to the scene prior, by surprise.

And now, the full-strength beast had unleashed his terrible power onto his oppressors, creating a terrifying confusion among them!

Even Iluzisto was not immune to the creature's fury. In fact, the Prison Head had been caught as much off-guard by Kvargvid's increase in strength as had his guards.

And Tucker could see the black weapon that had been so visible before suddenly jerked downward amid the mass of prison guard ghostly bodies.

But the boy also knew that they didn't have much time.

"C'mon!" the bespectacled boy commanded Skulker, and the two of them rushed to the cell.

"Okay, Sam, let us try!" he yelled to the girl.

Sam, though exhausted from her efforts, hadn't stopped in shooting her beam into the lock even when Danny had collapsed. She just didn't want to yield.

Jazz quickly wrapped one of her arms around Sam's shoulder before pulling the wrist ray gun from her hand and then immediately pulling her out of the way of Tucker and Skulker.

In the next instant, Tucker and Skulker fired upon the door with their Observant weapons and the cell door instantly evaporated. Without hesitating, all four rescuers piled into the cell. While the humans rushed to help Danny up, Skulker flew to Plasmius' side.

Tucker immediately spied the neck collar on his friend and gulped. He just knew that this collar was not going to be as easy to take off as Kvargvid's, because he was sure Danny would have already gotten it off….Unless…like the four-headed beast had said, that neck brace greatly inhibited his best friend's powers. So not good.

And that only meant that he had to use this Observant weapon to get it off of him, like he had used it on Kvargvid's collars. Still, he was worried at seeing how badly his best friend looked and hoped he could zap the much smaller collar off without hurting Danny more.

"Quick, Danny! Let me zap that putrid collar off of you!" he said as he rushed to his friend's side.

But just as Tucker was about to fire into the collar, Skulker commanded, "NO! That collar is too small and with all that very hot firepower, you will most certainly take the whelp's head with it!"

"Then what can we do?" Jazz asked in a panic as she and Sam struggled to hold up the weakened Ghost Boy.

"You need to pour the energy slowly into it, but we have no time. We will have to take them as they are," the Ghost Hunter insisted as he readied his Observant weapon in one arm and tightened his hold on his employer. He then started to move out of the cell and toward the only exit he could see: which was _toward_ all that ruckus!

But then, Danny finally aroused enough to just hear what Skulker had said. He then hurriedly mumbled after his next thought, "N-No, we gotta get these collars off _now_! Or, we won't recover! Tucker, quick! Fire into my neck brace! I know what to do!"

Skulker halted and turned, just as he heard Tucker protest.

"But, Danny!" the boy cried in distress.

But this time, his friend firmly cut him off.

"Trust me, Tuck! Do it!" Danny commanded as he gripped either side of his neck brace, leaving a small exposed area.

Tucker didn't argue any more. He drew closer and moved the tip of the weapon in that open area while Jazz looked on in a panic and Sam bit her lip in dread.

Purple energy immediately spewed into the collar, instantly flaring hot with its power, threatening to shear the young hybrid's head off just as Skulker had warned.

But Danny instantly summoned his ice powers.

Tucker's eyes widened when the energy didn't just _not_ blow his friend's head off, but that cool steam was emanating off of the collar even as that open area was beginning to melt!

His best friend had been able to produce enough of his ice power on the surrounding area to counter the tremendous heat and destruction just enough to destroy only that intended area.

And since Danny had been also pulling on the collar while pouring his cold energy into it, he could tell when the collar was yielding…

A few moments later, there was a sharp 'crack' and Danny knew he had been successful. Tucker quickly extinguished his weapon before wiping all the sweat that had formed on his forehead with a sigh of relief.

Already feeling his strength almost instantly returning, Danny flung the collar off of him and then ran over to Vlad.

"Get out of the way, Skulker," Danny quickly commanded, too focused on what he needed to do to be polite.

Not that the hunter really noticed the boy's abruptness when he knew things were urgent, and he quickly moved without protest.

Danny grasped at the man's collar and now renewed in strength both from the effects of the atmosphere and his righteous anger, he grunted as he charged more of his ice power into the collar until it was frozen to brittleness. With another determined grunt, he poured his strength into the collar until it finally broke in half!

With a hateful growl, he angrily flung it toward one of their cell's walls, and it shattered to pieces. He had despised those collars as much as he despised Iluzisto!

But a sudden pang in his chest snuffed the teen's fury and he then stumbled now that the effort had drained him a bit more and Sam and Jazz lunged to support him.

And now that his neck brace was off, Vlad could feel some of his own strength returning. And it helped dispel the man's dizziness.

Vlad couldn't believe his eyes when his vision finally cleared, but he could only mumble, "Skulker? But… how? No, you can't be… real…"

"No time!" Skulker frantically said as he moved forward again. He lifted Vlad to his feet, but Skulker was still supporting him around his back and under his shoulders.

And too stunned and weakened to protest, the older hybrid did not resist, though he was still trying to figure out if this was an illusion or not.

The cyborg quickly hurried to the others and yelled above the intense noise, "Let us get out of here!"

No sooner had he said that when a furious cry startled them all.

"KVARGVID! YOU INSOLENT FOOL! HOW DARE YOU? I WILL DESTROY YOU FOR THIS!" Iluzisto screamed.

And right after, they heard a roar of immense pain!

"Karg-vid!" Tucker yelled, instantly recognizing it. "We have to help him!"

"No, we have to go! He made his choice!" the Ghost Hunter insisted.

Tucker frowned in anger at the cyborg's words; and tightening his grip on the Observant weapon, dashed toward the melee where Kvargvid was, blasting at any of Iluzisto's guards he saw. The large creature had somehow managed to push the fight with the guards and Iluzisto out of the cell hall and into the foyer; but Kvargvid was clearly now in serious trouble!

Sam then ran up to Skulker and yanked his Observant weapon that he was still holding in the hand that was not supporting Plasmius, and charged after Tucker.

"Sam! Tucker!" Jazz frantically yelled. But since she was still supporting her slightly woozy brother, she could do nothing.

But at hearing his friends' names, Danny pulled his head up and tried to focus his eyes. He then caught a glance of Sam as she dashed off, firing her Observant weapon.

That was all he needed to see.

Once more, he desperately commanded himself to dig deep, even deeper into his inner strength. In a heartbeat, he felt a surge of strength, though he could tell that it was not optimal and he could feel his core protest. Still, he quickly—yet gently—pulled himself from his sister's arms before soaring upwards and toward his friends.

Jazz watched helplessly as her brother headed down the hall and toward the battle. But then, she hurried over to Skulker and Plasmius...

The older hybrid eyes quickly grew wide when he found Maddie's daughter looking right at him.

"He looks bad," she muttered to Skulker.

"This isn't real," Vlad muttered, giving Skulker a glance. "Escape is only an illusion…."

Jazz bit her lips, realizing that the man's mental stability was as bad as her brother's. What had that awful spirit Iluzisto been doing to them?

But upon hearing the commotion of battle intensified, everyone, including Vlad, turned their attention to it. Even when they couldn't see much of it, since it was now taking place past the hall they were in, it sounded bad.

But right then, Vlad's head finally cleared enough and he realized this was _no_ illusion. He reached up and reflexively touched his neck. His collar was gone! He had been feeling some of his strength strangely returning and didn't know why. But now he did. And he didn't care how the collar had gotten off but when he looked back up and saw Danny's sibling looking back at him, his mind jolted to full clarity.

It _was_ real! And Skulker was _also_ here! Somehow, the hunter and Daniel's loved ones must have come to rescue them. They actually had a chance of escape! But by all the noise just ahead of them, that escape included a battle!

The man glanced around him even more and saw that the cell door was gone and so was Daniel. The boy must be in the midst of that battle, then! But Daniel's core was as compromised as his own. And that would mean that Daniel would need help!

Even though he was still weak and could not even turn ghost at this point, Vlad's own willpower renewed and he began to push Skulker's grip away.

"Plasmius? What are you….?"

Taking a big breath in and mustering more of his returning strength, Vlad pulled himself to an unsteady stand and said with determination, "I might be out of ghost energy, but I'm not out of this game yet, Skulker. Give me one of your weapons."

The hunter frowned, but then silently complied. He turned another mechanical switch and a small compartment sprung open, revealing a small gun in it. The ghost quickly unstrapped the gun and handed it to his employer.

Vlad's eyebrows creased in order to focus his eyes enough to cock the weapon and activate it. He then glanced at Jasmine, who looked surprised by his efforts.

"Come on, girl. Let's go help your brother," he told her, his own newfound determination the only thing keeping him strong.

Jazz smiled weakly, raised her small weapon up, and hurried after the man with Skulker right behind them.

* * *

From his higher vantage point, the young hybrid could see what was happening. Just ahead, a large strange creature was being attacked by Iluzisto and several of his prison guards who had survived the beast's initial assault.

Yet, the beast had still managed to drive his oppressors back into the central area of the prison. Unfortunately, with the more wide open space of the circular area, the creature was open from all sides and Iluzisto and his guards were not hesitating to take advantage of it.

Danny had no idea that this very creature had been the one Iluzisto used to trick him into believing he had touched his friends and sister's dead bodies. And that…. he had been in his very cell, where he found the symbols and strange word 'thera' below it.

Finally, the Ghost Boy finally spotted his friends! Tucker and then Sam were fast approaching that scene, blasting at any prison guard they saw.

"I'm not even going to ask," the young hybrid muttered, still confused why that creature had been helping them. But he could ask his friends about the ghost later, when their lives weren't in danger!

Danny quickly narrowed the gap between his friends, and immediately opened fire upon any other prison guard that tried to counterattack.

Sam and Tucker instinctively knew when they heard and saw their friend's ectoplasmic energy beams shooting from above and behind them that somehow Danny had recovered enough to come to their aid. Encouraged by this, they increased their efforts.

Finally, the three best friends were close enough to set Iluzisto in their sites. Without hesitating, all three fired upon the evil spirit.

Not expecting such a blow since he had been concentrating on subduing Kvargvid, Iluzisto screamed as his body was thrown against the nearby wall at the insult of the combined power of the teens.

As the Prison Head's body slid to the floor, he slowly re-focused his eye and gasped when he saw _who_ had attacked him.

But when Iluzisto further saw how the young crossbreed had no collar on and was using his powers freely, the Prison Head's eye turned a brighter red, even more furious; but now, determined to get the teen. There was no way he was letting his ticket to freedom get away!

And seeing the illusionist spirit's hungry and angry stare, Danny briefly froze in fright; but Iluzisto's next words jolted the teen into action.

**"Seize the Ghost Boy!"** Iluzisto barked out at his guards.

Danny glared darkly at the Prison Head, and didn't hesitate to fire again at the evil spirit.

But upon seeing the amount of energy the young crossbreed poured out towards him, Iluzisto briefly paused in surprise; but then quickly aimed his weapon at Danny.

Still, that slight hesitation in the Prison's Head response time was enough, and before the illusionist spirit knew it, he was not only being attacked by the teens once more, but now Kvargvid had also renewed his efforts with all his power!

Not usually having to defend himself against such a massive force of energy all at once, the Prison Head struggled to counterattack and his mind was too shocked to even use his illusions in defense. But the opposing team didn't let up; and a moment later, Iluzisto and the rest of his guards were pummeled so hard against the far side of the hallway that he they crashed through the solid wall at the end of it. That attack left the Prison Head on the floor on the other side, unable to muster a retaliatory blow at the moment.

Danny, who was beginning to feel dizzy again, still plunged down toward his friends. He quickly scooped them up and twisted himself in a tight arc before flying back to his sister and the others.

"C'mon, Karg-vid!" Tucker yelled as they turned; and the beast stomped right after them.

But just as the young hybrid and his two friends and Kvargvid were approaching the others, Danny was surprised to see Skulker, Jazz,_and Vlad_ running _towards_ them.

"Vlad!" Danny gasped, not believing the man was awake. But just as he said this, the teen readily gasped again and stumbled with a more fervent bout of dizziness. He gripped his chest yet again and knew that he had outspent this round of extra energy, but he also knew that they could not waste anymore time.

"Daniel, you remember what I told you about pushing yourself and how you could permanently damage your core, right?" Vlad said with a frown.

"I don't have a choice, Vlad. And you are one to talk!" Danny retorted after taking a weak, shaky breath. It was more than obvious the man was forcing his own body as well.

For once, Vlad had nothing to retort back.

Knowing time was of the essence, Danny quickly looked at his friends and sister and said, "Thanks, guys! I don't really care how you all got in, but I'm hoping it's the same way we're going to get out!"

He then frowned in worry when four sets of frowns 'answered' him.

"So, that's not an option. Uh, just great!" he groaned.

But Vlad quickly spoke up, "Then, we will just find a new option. Or, rather, we could try a _previous_ option in the direction of the trial room…," he added, smirking at the young hybrid this time.

But while everyone looked confused, the teen grinned, instantly remembering the vents in the trial room and the directions Vlad had given him to escape! He also thought that with the weapons Tucker and Sam were using, they could easily bust a wider hole in it and get everyone out…except that strange beast. But that was the best thing he could come up with, given the circumstances.

Recharged a bit by Vlad's idea, Danny then commanded, "C'mon, guys! I think we know of a way to get out!"

But suddenly recalling something in his murky mind, Vlad grabbed Danny's shoulder and commanded, "Daniel, wait."

The boy looked questioningly at the other hybrid, but the man quickly said, "Do you remember what happened the last time we tried to escape this prison? We got lost, Daniel. There is some sort of illusion over this place that turns this place practically into a maze."

"He is right, child," Kvargvid suddenly interrupted. "The illusion makes the doors move and change locations. Only our oppressors can find a way out of this place without getting lost!"

"Then. what are we….?" Danny began fearfully, only to be interrupted.

"Just a moment, Ghost Child," Skulker said, sniffing the air. "Yes… I can still smell our fresh scents…" And seeing the confused looks on everyone's faces, the hunter smirked and said, "If there is a visual illusion in this prison, then let us not use our eyes. I can _smell_ us out by 'retracing our scents' They are fresh enough here in the prison at least."

"That's right! Then, let's go!" Vlad immediately ordered.

And knowing that they had hesitated in moving too long, no one argued with the older hybrid. They all quickly ran after Skulker, who was following their scents as they raced down the hallway.

The kids and Skulker saw how they were moving through different doors than they had used to get to the hybrids. But they could tell by their surroundings that they were going the _right_ way, since they recognized the halls.

Kvargvid also realized they were returning back in the direction of his cell. Still, he followed, determined to aid his rescuers.

But just when they spotted Kvargvid's cell ahead, they heard noise in the distance coming _towards_ them! Other guards must have been alerted and the reinforcements were heading their way! And then, they all could see the top of Iluzisto's infernal weapon again, and hear his furious yell bellow toward them! Somehow, the Prison Head had caught up to them and had cut them off from the front!

In the next instant, they could see a large red dragon charge right out of Kvargvid's cell and then lunged at them.

But Danny's head quickly cleared a bit more when he recognized that cell; and since he had already been in there once before, Danny knew that there had been no dragon in it, but it must have been that strange beast instead since it was definitely large enough and its entrance had been destroyed. That meant that the dragon was just a desperate illusion Iluzisto was throwing their way until he could reach them!

Kvargvid cringed in fear! He just knew that he and his brothers would be destroyed by such a violent creature!

But that wasn't all. Now they could not use the same way that Skulker and the kids had used to get into the prison because Iluzisto had cut them off and in turn had now blocked their escape route.

The rest of the escaping companions stood still, unsure of what to do.

But then, Skulker turned his head toward the door, which resembled a mere solid cell door, directly on his right and took in a deep whiff. He thought that smell was familiar. He muttered his thought out loud, "Iluzisto has been through that door before but is not there now!"

Jazz frowned. Of course Iluzisto wasn't behind that door! He and his guards were closing in on them from the front! And now by the sounds of it, there were more guards coming from _behind_; so they couldn't even race back towards the foyer!

"Looks like a regular solid prison cell door," Danny replied back to Skulker, confused by what the hunter was trying to get at.

But once again, Skulker quickly spoke up. "Yes, it _seems_ like it. But Iluzisto clearly took a shortcut to head us off. So, he _must_ have 'back-ways' through this prison. And I distinctly smell his scene—_and only his scent_—through _this_ door. ...Worth a try?" the hunter asked the others.

"YES!' they all yelled before Kvargvid quickly broke down the metal door for them.

They ignored Iluzisto's scream of fury as they darted in, except for Kvargvid who struggled to get his large girth through but still pressed forward.

Skulker grinned when he instantly saw that he had been right and that the appearance of the door had just been a trick to make others believe the door just led into a cell. But he and the others could clearly see this was no cell—it was a hallway; but not one like any they had gone through thus far!

The hallway they were now following was more like a murky corridor found in catacombs made of solid concrete with no doors or windows. It was definitely meant to be a hidden passage!

Still, all they could do was continue to follow Skulker as they raced through the long concrete passageway. The hunter could only hope his _other_ hunch was right and that this led somewhere besides a _dead-end._ But as they were nearing the end of the murky tunnel, they heard more commotion and turned their heads back. They all gulped when they realized the guards and Iluzisto had caught up to them enough that they could now _see_ them again coming at them!

"Blast," Vlad muttered, sounding as nervous as everyone looked at the sight.

However, just as the escapees finally reached the end of the tunnel and spotted a single door, they gasped at a sudden loud roar behind them.

That red dragon illusion had now reappeared and it was lunging towards them at lightning speed!

Skulker grabbed the handle of the door and found it locked. He then fired his gun at the metal door; but it barely made a crack in it. The hunter growled before he turned his head back to look at the large creature that had been helping them; but he could see it was the last one of their group and it was struggling to just get through the tunnel clearly not meant for a ghost his size.

"Girl, quick! The door!" Skulker said, turning his hopes on Sam.

But the girl quickly reminded him in a loud and nervous voice, "I lost the bobby-pin, Skulker! Remember?"

The hunter cursed to himself, knowing they were trapped again if they couldn't get through this locked metal door!

Meanwhile, a cry of pain sounded from Kvargvid as the dragon finally reached him and attacked with its large jaws. And since Kvargvid couldn't move, let alone turn to defend himself from the illusion, all he could do was thrash as his heads snapped back at the red dragon.

Vlad gasped as rock began to rain down above them with the large ghost's thrashing.

"Daniel, freeze the door!" Vlad suddenly yelled at the teen, remembering how he had done that during their first escape attempt—and hoping it would work now.

The young hybrid didn't even hesitate and flew to the front of the group and quickly did as he was told.

The older hybrid then looked at the hunter; and nodding knowingly back at his ally, Vlad and Skulker didn't even blink as they aimed their guns on the frozen door.

But finally catching on to what they were doing, Danny quickly made a shield in front of the door just as his two enemies fired at it. As if it had been made of glass, the door exploded into pieces of frozen metal shards, which harmlessly fell to the ground thanks to the teen's shield.

"Let's go!" Danny yelled as he dropped the shield and flew out of the passageway they had been trapped.

And as the rest of them ran out, Kvargvid, who had still been battling with red dragon, sent a desperate message to his blue and green heads. They instantly combined forces and produced a wall of thick mist around him. And the moment Iluzisto lost sight of the four-headed creature, the red dragon illusion vanished.

Knowing the mist was already dispersing, Kvargvid didn't waste any time and pursued his companions out of the tunnel, carving out a hole large enough to accommodate him with fire from the green head.

And knowing that he was the last—and the largest—in the group to flee, Kvargvid twisted tightly back as soon as he passed through the remnants of the door and commanded his brothers to fire upon the large hole with all of their powers, quickly caving in the tunnel's exit. Fortunately, that was enough to effectively seal their escape route—for now.

But now they found themselves in _another_ foyer, this one more oval-shaped; but, somehow, it was different in other ways than the prison's one. This foyer wasn't as dark or murky as the one in the prison. It was actually very bright and clean.

"I think we made it out of the prison," Danny said with a growing smile.

"I think you are right, Daniel," Vlad said and pointed at the nearest door. "These doors are different than those in the prison. We are at the connection between the prison and the Observants' territory. And since we are out of that maze-of-a-prison, then I am sure now I can lead us back to the trial room and then to the exit out of this wretched place!"

Danny nodded, finally recognizing some of the things around them; but the kids and Skulker also began to realize they had been here, too. It was where they had stumbled upon Iluzisto room. They were indeed out of the prison.

But with no time to celebrate that triumph, since they were not out of the frying pan yet, Danny took the lead this time and he quickly pointed at the door they always took to get to the trial room.

"C'mon! This way!" he said and flew to the door, which was thankfully not locked.

The escapees entered the new hall and moved quickly through it, but Kvargvid, who didn't want to use his powers to carve a wider passage for fear of hurting his allies, only used his own scaly mass to slice through loose rock and crash through parts of the wall as he squeezed through. Every once in a while, however, the vibrations from his efforts would at times cause parts of the ceiling to rain upon the others just ahead of him. But Danny reflexively formed a shield around the group, keeping everyone safe without losing their pace.

Fortunately, however, the passageway became wider and higher as they moved forward. Before anyone knew it, they found themselves in another, but much larger, dimly-lit hallway lined with odd-shaped doors.

Kvargvid sighed in relief as he wrenched himself through the final portal, loosening even more of the structure surrounding it. But he didn't care now that he was in this much larger hall. Even still, his large frame scraped along the edges, tearing at the walls and ceilings and scraping the doors as he pushed through.

"Now what?" Skulker impatiently asked, when he saw that the Ghost Boy had abruptly stopped. He sniffed the air. There were vague scents that he and the boy's companions had been here. But with all the whirlwind of all those prisoner guards also being here all at once and since it had been some time since he the humans had been through here, then he wasn't sure which way to go anymore. But he definitely also could _smell_ that the younger hybrid was unsure as to where to head next.

However, Vlad, whose memory and sense of direction finally came into more focus, recognized this hallway. It was the one where all of those odd doors with the different symbols on them were. He brushed past the hunter and walked up to the teen before answering his ally.

"That way. It leads to the trial room," Vlad said, pointing in the direction they needed to go.

But Danny quickly glanced at him when he heard the weakness in his voice. All their running around had clearly taken a toll on the man… The teen still didn't know how he was managing to stay on his feet.

Still, the teen knew this was no time to argue with the older hybrid. Truth was, he was pushing himself just as much.

The teen nodded and again led the way to his right. But the escaping party hadn't gone very far at all from the passageway they had just left when Kvargvid screeched in excitement, his brothers mirroring his anticipation with their own increased movements.

"What is wrong, Karg-vid?" Tucker asked in worry as he stopped in his tracks.

Everyone else also halted.

"I am sorry if I startled you, master…"

"Friend," Tucker firmly corrected him just as Danny and the others doubled back to Tucker's side.

"Yes,…friend! But I remembered this hallway shortly after we had entered it! It has been far too long since I have been here, but I am certain!"

He then motioned with his ebony head toward a very large and wide purple door just to his left. He then continued, "This is the place! All those years of puzzling over everything have not been in vain. All those years of marking my cell so I would not forget! I listened to everything our captors said. I saw all that they wrote. I searched and searched my mind until I was certain of the answer. And now, I just know this is the entrance to our beloved _Thera—_our home! I am sure we were taken from our homeland and brought to this dimension through that door." Then touching the symbols with his snout, he excitedly answered, "Let me translate to your human language. There is the 't', the 'h', the 'e', the 'r' and the 'a' right there! Don't you see them? The door points the way itself!"

Tucker frowned in confusion when he looked at the strange symbols on the door. Still, he smiled when he realized what this might mean. He quickly told his friend, "Well, then, what are you waiting for?"

"Thank you for understanding. Be assured that I will rectify the wrong done to me with justice—and mercy!"

"Go, my friend!" Tucker gently urged.

Kvargvid smiled in appreciation before he quickly and determinedly said, "I hope you find your home….View _Thera!"_ The door instantly swung open and without another word, Kvargvid exited through the large purple door to his world dimensions away.

The moment he passed through the doorway, the door slammed shut.

But while the others frowned in slight confusion over Kvargvid's remarks, Danny's mind suddenly raced, any remaining dizziness instantly clearing after he heard the beast's explanation and saw what he did. The teen pulled out the piece of paper which he had scribbled all those symbols he had seen in Kvargvid's cell. He stared at the symbols: ð- ζ -ǿ- ς and then: Ћ- Ж - ǿ- П - Д.

And then he looked at the symbols adorning the door through which the large creature had gone: ð- ζ -ǿ- ς on the first line and Ћ- Ж - ǿ- П - Д on the second.

He furrowed his brow and pressed his lips in concentration. And then it hit him! Those symbols! They were the same! And Kvargvid just said that the second part, 'Ћ- Ж - ǿ- П – Д' spelled T-H-E-R-A. Thera! The word he saw written under the symbols in his cell!

That meant these symbols **did** spell out words! But… what did ð- ζ -ǿ- ς—the first set of symbols—spell out?

Wait. Those four symbols. He had seen them _not just here_! And not totally different or random ones! And he had seen almost the exact symbols—when Spektanto wrote his name: ð-ζ-ǿ-ς-ǿ-П.

Somehow, they were connected. But how? And if they did spell things out and the symbols could be translated into _letters_, then what did these other symbols say?

The Ghost Boy's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise—no, two sets of loud noises! And those two groups of loud sounds were now coming from the front of the group—which led to the trial room and their planned escape route—and the second group of sounds were to their back from the foyer connecting the prison to this place. The guards must have made it out of the destroyed shortcut or somehow found another way out because they were clearly coming. And that meant they were trap in this hallway from both ways!

They were about to be pinned in!

Hearing all of the ruckus making its way to them quicker than any of them would want, Jazz frantically yelled, "Try all the doors!" She then yanked on the knob of the door nearest to her.

Danny, Tucker, Sam, Vlad and Skulker also reflexively pulled on the knobs of other doors, including the one Kvargvid had used…

"Locked!" they all anxiously announced at once.

Danny growled in irritation and charged up his ectoplasmic energy and fired. His beam didn't even nick the door! But remembering something else, he tired freezing it; but the cold energy didn't even cling to these doors! His face fell as he said, "And my powers won't touch it!"

Skulker also readily tried his own powers; but it was of no surprise that he couldn't even form an ecto-blast in his hand. Without the power of his upgraded suit, he couldn't do anything to the doors! All he had to rely on now were his weapons! But they weren't even scratching the doors! Heck, not even the Observant Weapons helped at this point!

But then, in desperation, Danny was suddenly hit by an idea. Acting on his hunch, he yelled, "This way!" He immediately took off to his right again, toward the trial room, glad that at least the noise in _that_ direction sounded _farther_ away—for the moment.

His companions ran blindly after him, uncertain on what they could possibly do now that they were getting bottled in.

And then younger hybrid stopped in front of the door that had intrigued him when he was first aware of this hallway on the second day of his and Vlad's trial. The one with what looked like sunlight shining underneath the bottom.

He looked at the symbols on the door again: ð-ζ-ǿ-ς and Ћ-Ж-ǿ-П-Д and then down at the paper where he had scribbled how Spektanto wrote his name: ð-ζ-ǿ-ς-ǿ-П.

The rest of his party came up to him moments later, puzzled on why he stopped here.

"Daniel… What…What are you doing?" Vlad panted out. "We need to keep going! Perhaps we can fight our way into the trail room before they completely pin us in!"

But then hearing the noise echoing in the hall become more thunderous, Skulker had a hunch why the Ghost Boy had halted—though in reality he was wrong about that hunch. "I think we're too late, Plasmius."

The older hybrid frowned in worry, but sharing a glance with his ally; they nodded at each other before Skulker firmly said, "Whelps! Form a circle and face outward. Here, we make our final stand!"

The teens quickly obeyed the ghost, but then turned to Danny and frowned, puzzled that he hadn't joined the circle.

"Daniel!" Vlad called at him.

"Wait, Plasmius! I think I can figure this out!" the teen snapped back, before focusing back on the doors.

"What are you talking about?" Vlad yelled back—or tried to in his weak voice.

The teen heard his friends and sister and even Skulker calling to him as well, but he ignored them and turned and narrowed his eyes on the many locked doors around him. "Darn these Observants with their dumb doors and symbols! Why can't they just observe things and stop all this nonsense? Don't they know that windows have the best vieewwwss…"

He stopped dead at the thought. And then his mind sped up again. View. Doors. And then a lightning bolt flashed in his mind, when he suddenly remembered how Spektanto first introduced himself to him and Vlad: _'I am the Appointed Defender. My name is Spektanto, which means '**viewer**' in your language.' _Spektanto's name meant 'viewer'—two letters more than 'view'. Just like the written symbols for Spektanto's name, ð-ζ-ǿ-ς-ǿ-П, was only two symbols more than this group of symbols that were written on the first line of each door: ð-ζ-ǿ-ς!

It had to be! Spektanto's symbolic name translated into 'Viewer'. So, the first lines in each door read 'view'! Of course!

And then, there was the beast. And he left to _his_ world through that other door! The second symbols—Ћ-Ж-ǿ-П-Д—spelled out Thera! But what about this door with the light under it? The symbols on this door, this smaller one that looked like a normal door from his world were: ǿ-Д-П-Ћ-Ж. They were the **same** symbols used to spell out 'Thera', but in a **different** order…

He frowned in thought before his face suddenly brightened with his hunch. He rearranged the letters in his head…

"That's it," he cried, turning to his companions in excitement.

He then scrunched his face in confusion to see them all huddled in a tight circle, ready for a fight. But then, he heard all the noises converging on them and knew why.

Still, he smiled as he grabbed the door's handle, the one with 'ðζǿς' on the first line and ǿДПЋЖ' on the second line written upon it and the light shinning from under it, and said with a slight chuckle, "Change of plans, guys! This is the way out!"

All the others turned to Danny just as he turned the handle; and much to his chagrin, it, too, was locked!

"Danny, what are you doing?" Jazz yelled. "Those doors are locked!"

But before Danny could reply, they heard a blast in front of them. The guards had broken through!

Everyone gasped when they saw beams come their way, but readily ducked to avoid them. But at that instant, about a dozen guards broke through and ran at them with guns blazing.

"Daniel!" Vlad exclaimed, which was followed by the boy's friends and sister's shouts of warning when they saw Danny, who had been the most exposed, get tackled by two of the guards.

But before they could do much, the rest of the group were face-to-face with the remaining ten guards. They quickly fired and attacked with what they had.

And while Skulker punched one of the guards in the face, Tucker and Sam, who had the remaining two Observant weapons, placed themselves in front of Jazz to protect her, even though she was now firing with Sam's wrist ray gun as well. They quickly took down three guards; but then, a fourth blasted the gun out of Tucker's hand.

"Tucker!" Sam exclaimed, firing at the ghost about to hurt her friend.

Meanwhile, Danny grunted as he tried to fight off the two ghosts on top of him. Since they had tackled him from behind, they had managed to pin his hands behind his back.

"Get off!' he yelled angrily, but he couldn't do much more than struggle in his still weakened state.

However, a blast suddenly came his way, slamming into one of the guards on him and knocking the ghost senseless.

The other gasped when he looked up and saw a gun in front of its face, courtesy of Vlad.

"You are not taking us down this easily!" the man declared.

But just when the man was about to blast the other ghost away, a blast came his way and hit the small gun in his hand, destroying it. Vlad hissed and quickly turned to face whoever had just attacked him, only to be blasted in the chest!

"Vlad!" Danny exclaimed, while everyone gasped when they saw the man slam into the wall and slump into unconsciousness.

Danny growled and somehow found the strength to grab the guard on top of him and hurl him off. He then quickly stood, narrowly avoiding a blast from the other guard in front of him. But when the guard was about to fire again, Jazz, who had picked up the weapon Tucker had dropped, quickly took aim and finished off the remaining guard.

Danny blinked at his sister. She actually had hit something other than him for once!

But the young hybrid did not have time to say anymore, since he suddenly heard a sudden volley of blasts from behind! And when he looked, the teen realized it was Skulker, who had just fired several missiles in the direction the guards had come from, which was in the direction of the trial room and their escape route. The force tore large boulders from the ceiling and walls. They collapsed into a pile in the middle of what once was the passageway.

"That should hold them for a little while, even when I'm all out of missiles that I can manually activate right now!" he grumbled.

But the teens gasped. Now they were really trapped! Their escape path was gone, and the only way to go was back towards the prison—towards their doom!

Nevertheless, the defenders didn't forget the downed older hybrid and they ran over to him. But since he was closer, Danny got to him first.

The teen's eyes widened at the sight of a red liquid staining the unconscious man's clothing. "Oh, crud," the boy muttered in dread.

"Move, whelp!" Skulker demanded as he knelt beside his employer and looked for a pulse. The ghost readily frowned. "He's still alive… But we need to get out of here soon, Ghost Child, or he is done for…That is, if we are _all_ not done for first," he corrected soberly.

Danny frantically searched his mind for some kind of alternative plan.

But just then, there was another loud blast, this time _behind_ them.

The guards had broken through the collapsed shortcut and had entered the hallway through the foyer that led into this hall in which they all now were!

And that meant they were very near—_too_ near! And Iluzisto would be among them!

Everyone gasped, but then Skulker picked up Plasmius and placed him against the door which had the light shining from under it. He took an aggressive stance in front of his employer as he commanded, "Get ready for another fight, whelps!"

Danny's eyes darted quickly around, anxiously looking for something that could help them. Just then, a small stone fell from one of the walls. Skulker had a good idea, after all! And now he remembered that Kvargvid's large body had scraped against the walls and ceilings and _loosened_ some of their structure!

As he flew toward the pursuit of his quick plan with everyone but Vlad running behind him, another idea suddenly surfaced when he thought about Kvargvid and about what the beast did and _said_ in order to get through that door to his world.

"Wait a minute!" he reflexively uttered and all of his companions looked at him in confusion and anxiety. "_That's_ what I was doing wrong!"

"What?" Sam desperately urged, wincing when she could tell the guards were getting even closer from the far end on the other side.

Danny smiled in triumph and replied, "Kvargvid wasn't just _reading_ 'View Thera' out loud, he was _saying_ it; because we have to **say** it!" He then pointed to the door with sunlight under it bearing the symbols: 'ð-ζ-ǿ-ς and ǿ-Д-П-Ћ-Ж', which was now much further away from everyone but Vlad.

"We have to **say**: '_View_ **_Earth_**' and the door will open!" Danny excitedly said

But just then, the Ghost Boy gasped when he could _see_ guards flying toward them from the way of the prison, like hornets shooting out from the small entrance of their threatened hive. And they would be ramming right into them before they could reach the door home! "Hurry! Get them out of here, Skulker! I'll hold them off until you can get out!"

"But, Danny!" Sam objected just before Tucker grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.

"C'mon, Sam! He'll be back in no time!" Tucker firmly replied.

But Sam kept her eyes glued on Danny even as Tucker was pulling her along.

Danny quickly flew over to the rubbles of the passageway and reflexively dodged the next few purple beams the prison guards threw at him. He immediately fired back, hitting his mark each time.

He then flew to the ceiling and pummeled it with more of his energy rays. It shivered under his assault even as he had to dodge yet more Observant energy beams.

Large chunks of rocks and debris then rained down upon the guards at the entrance and they screamed and fell back.

But the guards didn't stop firing even when Danny sent more beams into the ceiling and rocks. This time, in spite of the fact that more of the debris was falling upon them, the guards hit their mark and Danny grunted in pain at the powerful force as it slammed him into the nearby wall.

The teen ghost slid down to the ground and lay in a momentary daze. But then, as he shook his dizziness away, he gasped when it looked as if the guards would get to him at any moment.

In the next instant, however, several purple beams fired at the guards in a direction that no one would have guessed.

Danny looked in that direction. There was no mistake. Skulker, Sam, Tucker and Jazz, who had left Vlad near the door to their world, were racing toward the melee, their weapons blazing!

Skulker immediately flew up to the rousing Ghost Boy and snipped, "Since when do you tell me what to do, whelp?"

But the cyborg ghost didn't wait for Danny's answer as he charged into the attacking prison guards.

Danny and the others also didn't waste their time arguing as they joined the assault.

In no time, while Sam and Tucker had beaten back the rest of the guards as they shuttled through their bottleneck of an entrance, Danny and Skulker had continued to pour their energy into the walls and ceiling around the old entrance to the passageway in the hopes of resealing it.

Finally, the ceiling and walls exploded under the boy and cyborg ghosts' combined power, stirring up a large cloud of dust and debris in its wake. When the dust had finally settled, the two ghosts sighed in relief when it seemed that they had been successful at caving in the hallway from the prison side as well.

But then, suddenly, oddly, the angry noise also corked behind the rocks came to an abrupt halt.

Perplexed, Danny landed on the ground at the base of the sealed entrance. He reflexively touched the large boulder in front of him, only to discover that his hand went right through it!

"It's a trick!" he exclaimed in warning.

But before he could react, the 'caved-in hall' blurred and a black weapon suddenly thrust right through the 'large rock' and its sharp tip rammed right into the teen's central core.

Danny immediately screamed, feeling something finally shatter inside him and the small pang in his chest turned into a mind-numbing agony as Iluzisto, who at this point had obviously created the illusion that the entrance had been sealed, activated his weapon with the intention of siphoning off _all_ of Danny's energy.

"You will give me what I want now, _Ghost Boy!_" Iluzisto said darkly before the spirit angrily and hungrily plunged his weapon further into the teen, goaded by the smoke and vibration that were erupting around his wrist restraints!

"Danny!" Sam screamed, reflexively firing right at the illusionist spirit with her Observant weapon.

The force of her blow was enough to repel Iluzisto back, but it was too late for Danny.

Iluzisto had fulfilled his intention!

Sam and Jazz immediately dropped their weapons and ran up to a now unconscious Danny, who suddenly reverted to his human self; but there was no white rings. His ghost form had… peeled off, starting from his hair turning black to ending with his ghost suit flickering away into his current prison clothing.

But still in danger, the girls didn't take time to think about it and they instantly grabbed him by both of his arms and dragged him out of the way.

They gasped when they saw the illusion of a sealed entrance disappear, with Iluzisto in its stead.

"Now, Tucker!" Sam screamed, not stopping for a moment from dragging her friend from the entrance.

Tucker needed no other cues. He opened fire again, rapidly firing at all angles of the surrounding ceiling and walls.

Skulker quickly joined him and this time they didn't stop until they were sure that the entrance was fully caved in.

"Let's go!" Skulker then commanded. He instantly scooped up all of the teens and flew as fast as he could toward their escape route.

Just as he reached the door with the sunlight under it and the still incapacitated Vlad on the ground and leaning against it, the cyborg ghost could now hear noise coming from the makeshift barricade he had made before their fight with Iluzisto and his force just now. And that barricade had blocked the force of guards heading toward them from the direction of the trial room after turning the corner in the near distance. And that would only mean that those _very_ _real_ things wouldn't take long to break through!

He pushed on the mechanical override to his arm extensions and jolted when it was smashed and jammed from all of the fighting!

Now desperate, Skulker punched on the doors of each of the compartments that held his arm extensions. He yanked each of the four arms out, quickly scrunching each of their 'two-finger hands' around Jazz, Tucker, Sam and Vlad. In some ways, then, it was fortunate that the arms were stiff from having no computer available to command them. He then threw the still unconscious Danny over his shoulder and turned toward the door with the sunlight coming out of it.

"I hope you're right, whelp!" he said to the senseless Danny.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of voices as Skulker, Sam, Tucker and Jazz saying the same thing, **"View Earth!"**

An instant later, the door flew open. In a heartbeat, all six of them plunged head first through the entrance, and the door slammed shut behind them.

Meanwhile, the guards who had been coming from the direction as the trial room finally broke through Skulker's temporary barrier. They searched all around. But all they could see was a little bit of sunlight which was still shining under the brown door just ahead. They didn't know that just before they had arrived, the escaping group had just gone through it; and that it had immediately shut and locked once more.

So, none of the guards had suspected that they had escaped through that door. After all, the foreigners couldn't possibly read their language and figure out that 'ð-ζ-ǿ-ς' and 'ǿ-Д-П-Ћ-Ж' written on that door translated to "View Earth" in the human language. And that was the Observant's secret way to and from that dimension and, really, all the dimensions that existed, since each door around them led to different ones...

Still, this set of guards hastily searched the area, only to hear a loud explosion coming from the part of the hall just a little further down in the direction of the jail.

Their lone eyes widened in dread when they saw Iluzisto standing in their midst. Now that he had absorbed all that he needed of Danny and Vlad's energies, he was even more powerful—and had more than enough strength to do what he had been waiting for during all of those centuries!

As his red eye curved with malice and victory, he raised his now glowing purple hands in front of his face, watching as his wrist restraints began to crack, unable to hold back his powerful energy anymore.

And as his wrist restraints completely vaporized into black metallic ashes, he raised a hand and released a fearsome blast at the barricade made by all the teens and Skulker and finished destroying it with another deafening 'boom'.

With a quick flick of his wrist, he wielded his staff; and a tremendous bolt of purple lightning lit up the entire area, which violently shook the hallway. Several loosened stones fell from the ceiling or off the walls.

All of the guards quivered at the magnitude of this demonstration of the illusionist spirit's powers and they dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, prostrating themselves in front of him in fear.

The area blurred and flickered with his illusionist powers now at full capacity and Iluzisto's lone eye concaved even higher in triumph as he cackled, "And now, all my plans will be fulfilled!"

* * *

The moment the group of escapees had gone through the door, they were jolted by an unexpected surprise.

They were suddenly…. plummeting!

But Skulker instantly reacted when he realized what was happening. And though they were temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight, he quickly stopped their fall, hovering in what they could now see was the bright, beautiful, earthly sky…

At first, Skulker hesitated, his eyes searching the horizon for something, anything.

"We have to get away from here!" Tucker suddenly exclaimed.

Skulker then addressed him, "Agreed. I see a small cave in the distance. It may offer us some shelter and stealth until I can figure out where we are!"

Everyone nodded, except for the still senseless Vlad and Danny.

Once they got into the cave, Skulker released his hold on everyone, making sure to lay Vlad and Danny carefully down. In the meantime, Danny's friends and sister hovered around their unconscious human friend, trying to get a response out of him. They were a bit thankful that his chest wound wasn't bleeding any more. But they knew he was badly hurt and looked very pale.

It took a good ten minutes before Danny finally opened his eyes with a soft groan. Jazz and his friends sat down beside him, both relieved even as they were exhausted.

At first, the group remained silent as Skulker attended to Vlad's injury and just made a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. It would have to do until they got to his employer's home. But the thought quickly turned the hunter's attention to the console on his arm. He needed to find out where they were… And he was suddenly encouraged when the PDA on his arm band had suddenly lit up!

Sam then turned to Danny; and gently placing her arm on Danny's arm, whispered, "Are you all right, Danny?"

Tucker and Jazz turned to look at them both when they heard Sam.

Now a bit more alert, Danny smiled weakly, "I'm not sure. I really feel awful. My chest is killing me, and I could sure use a buffet-load of food right now," he quietly replied, before glancing in Vlad's direction and unconsciously placing his hand to his still hurting chest. "But I don't think I'm in half as bad as shape as Plasmius right now!"

If only he knew how wrong he was….

The group looked at the incapacitated older half-ghost, and all the teens except Danny startled a little when Vlad suddenly groaned a little, but stayed out.

"Once we can figure out where we are, I will bring him to his castle—and to the medicine you _both_ will need," Skulker replied.

In spite the whelp's trying to pretend he was doing better than his employer, it wasn't by much. Skulker had seen what Iluzisto had done and he could smell that the boy was very weak. He would also need time to recover. Though, the ghost boy did have an advantage over his employer. And that was his more active core. Not to mention, his employer had a pretty bad injury in his human form, which was probably why he wasn't waking up.

But with a good amount of rest and nourishment, the teen's core would most likely replenish its lost energy before Plasmius would—or, he could only guess. He wasn't sure how injured the child's core was.

They would only truly know the extent of the hybrids' injuries once they got to his employer's home, where the man had the proper things to examine them and heal them as much as they would need …

Danny briefly closed his eyes, fighting to stay awake. But he then breathed in a bit before suddenly opening his eyes and telling his friends and sister, "Thanks, guys. I don't think I could have lasted another day in that place." He glanced at Skulker and added, "You, too, Skulker. You really saved me and Vlad back there..."

Skulker almost smiled at how sincere the child sounded; but remembering he was a hunter and emotions were for the weak, he grunted; and looking back at his PDA on his arm, he muttered back, "I was only fulfilling my duties to my employer."

Sam rolled his eyes and answered her half-ghost friend, "That translates to 'you're welcome' from him, Danny."

Skulker quickly scowled at the girl, but she ignored the ghost and further told Danny, "And, you know you don't have to thank us."

"Yeah, Danny," Jazz agreed. "We couldn't have done anything else. We were so worried about you, little brother!"

"Yeah. You have no idea how glad we are to have you back," Tucker said with a smile.

Danny smiled back at them, but there was some sadness and fear in it as he remembered how he thought Iluzisto had...

Danny swallowed and said back, "You guys have no idea how happy_I_ am to see you, too–to see you're all okay."

"Whelps! Stop crowding him," Skulker suddenly scolded Team Phantom before adding to Danny, "And you, Ghost Boy, need to stop talking and rest."

The kids just rolled their eyes, but listened to the ghost and fell quiet. Danny was about to close his eyes again when right then, Tucker suddenly—but gently—helped Danny to a sitting position and shoved something into his friend's hands.

Danny looked down at the granola bar and a huge smile broke out on his weary face. "Right now, this is better than pizza! Thanks, Tuck!" he said, though his voice was hoarse.

"Well, you know I only allow friends to break into my 'emergency food' pants' pocket," Tucker quipped back with a half-smile.

The humans softly laughed and Skulker smirked before they all fell to silence once more.

Though he was very hungry, Danny was surprised how even chewing was more of a task for him in his weakened state than he thought; and all he could do was slowly munch on his granola bar. Even still, he stopped after a few bites and swallowed before he lowered his head. His head was spinning again, and he knew he was going to fall back into unconsciousness. Still he sighed in relief at his next thought, even as he felt himself drift away:

Freedom—at last!

And it tasted even better….

For now.

* * *

**A/N: truephan here: Are ya'll as exhausted as I am? I finally wrestled down Ms. Hyde…And this chapter was exhausting, too! I almost thought the hybrids weren't going to escape! But, really have they escaped when their central cores are so damaged? Meh-heh! You'll just have to stay tuned. And, oh, while you're waiting, be sure to push that little blue button down below. There will be fireworks just as if it were Independence Day! Uh, not really. But we would like you to light up our night with your thoughts! Happy Independence Day, America!**

**Pearl: Yes, Happy Independence Day, USA! Not where I was born, but I've lived in the U.S. since I've been three; so it's my home and I love it!**

**But I also have another shout out for Invader Johnny! Heh! I didn't think we'd post this chapter this weekend; but since we did, then…. HAPPY ONE-DAY-LATE BIRTHDAY, MY FRIEND! I wish you many more and many blessings for your life. Don't worry; I still owe you that dedication I promised you for later. *winks***

**Well, phew. I am very glad we got this chapter done! I also had to stuff Vlad muse in a thermos, so that Truephan and I could finish this. But as she said, our hybrids have escaped at last! A true triumph—that came with a price. Now, we have to hybrids with very damaged cores, which is still to be seen if they will recover. And a….illusion-creating and full-powered_spirit_ on the loose… Yeah, things are about to get even more interesting….**

***winks* Ta for now, dear readers! We look forward to your thoughts!**


	25. Chapter 25: Reap What You Sow

**Pearl: Hello, dear readers! Welcome back to another Sid chapter! Yes, out hybrids have escaped the prison at last, but things are far from over! Still… I think most of you all will like this chapter. I know Truephan and I enjoyed writing it. It's probably even one my favorites… heh! Well, happy reading!**

**A/N: truephan here: Hello again, everybodee. Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews and support. We thrive on it! Now back to the story….Of course y'all have already guessed that even more mayhem is in store for everyone, right? So, are y'all ready for more things happening in the Realm Beyond Time? I certainly am! So, without much more ado, time to roll it! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Reap What You Sow**

* * *

The next day in the Real World soon arrived. But back in the Realm Beyond Time, the Observants remained oblivious to the hybrids' escape…

Or, how Iluzisto's had gained full power…

But what the Observant Council was focused on during this entire time was that today was the proper time for the execution of Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius. Except that, the Prison Head Iluzisto, who was supposed to be bringing the condemned before the Council for the last time, had yet to arrive with them at the Council room.

It was irritating at best. Everything had been already arranged and properly prepared, too. The _requirements_ for the bonds surrounding their _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto_** (1) **had already been fulfilled. The prisoners had been given a fair trial and had been rightfully found guilty to the highest degree. They had further been marked for execution by the brands on their foreheads; and lastly, the prisoners were in proper condition and had time to repose before this day. So through it all, the Observants had upheld their laws.

All that was left now was to execute their _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto _through the bonds of Timeless Magic.

They just needed the hybrids here. After all, every time in the past that they had to perform this type of execution, they never did it without the prisoners present—nor without the entire Council there.

The difference this time was that it wasn't just the Council that had come to witness this particular execution. _Every single Observant_ in existence was gathered here. And they were all waiting and eager to finally eliminate the half-ghosts and the threat they posed to Time and Existence.

Clockwork was also there, but would rather not have been. He had more important things to do. But Justeco had insisted upon it since he had been the prosecutor and he obliged.

However, as earthy time passed, the Observants began to grow even more impatient.

"Does _anyone_ know why the Prison Head has yet to arrive with the two prisoners?" Justeco asked, sitting on his chair with an unhappy expression.

He usually did not voice such improper questions to the Council in general. At any other time, the leader of the Observants would have simply asked his question directly to the Master Liaison; but Okulo had left a moment ago to see what was keeping Iluzisto.

But when no one answered, the judge quickly looked over at Spektanto and pointedly demanded, "Well?"

The former defender quickly raised his arms and answered, "Do not gaze at me! My work with those two dangerous creatures is done."

"Clockwork?" Justeco questioned, sounding more aggravated.

The Time Master, who had been calmly fiddling with the clock on his staff, paused; but then passively looking at Justeco, he replied, "I'm sorry…Did you say something?"

The judge all but growled; but right then, Okulo finally floated in.

But he was alone.

Pulling the liaison aside to avoid a scene, Justeco quietly demanded, "Okulo! Where are the Prison Head and the prisoners?"

The liaison's eye almost curved into an evil smile; but he forced himself to keep a calm expression. He knew exactly what had happened just yesterday. And although he had initially been furious when Iluzisto had told him the crossbreeds had escaped, that anger had turned into excitement when the Prison Head had further told him that the creatures had not gotten away without Iluzisto getting from them what he needed for their next plans to be set in motion.

Okulo knew exactly what was taking Iluzisto so long to arrive, but he wasn't about to spoil the 'surprise' for the Observants…

And… Okulo had just one more part to play, one other little detail that needed to be cleaned up… He needed to make sure those half-ghosts would not cause him and Iluzisto any future troubles…

Quietly clearing his throat and ignoring the annoying fact that Konsilisto had joined them—even when he had expected it—Okulo replied, "It seems he got caught up with his duties in the prison. He is… speaking with his guards. But he has informed me that he would be here shortly. I am sure it will not be much longer…"

"Not much longer?" Justeco repeated, affronted. "Everyone is waiting! Whatever is keeping him can wait until _after_ the hybrids' execution! No, this is unacceptable! Master Liaison, return to the prison at once and order the Prison Head _in my name_ to bring Prisoners 485 and 484 to this council room at once!"

Okulo raised a finger to protest, though he respectively said, "I will do as you order, High Tribune. However, if I may suggest something…" And seeing the annoyed, but expectant, look on Justeco, the liaison continued, "I believe we all agree that it is highly improper to delay such a serious and delicate ceremony as is the _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto._ And it has been delayed enough. I suggest that we begin the ceremony without the prisoners present. After all, the requirements have been met. The brand they wear has marked them for this moment; therefore, they do not need to be present. Why do we not activate the Timeless Magic Spell now, while we wait for their arrival? In this way, when they do arrive, all that will be left is to see through the final act of the _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto." _

Justeco's eye narrowed a bit, though he looked uncertain. He then glanced at the High Council members, and saw they were whispering among each other.

"That…," the High Tribune began hesitantly. But he then suddenly shook his head, "Your suggestion sounds appropriate and beneficial… However, we have never begun this ceremony without the condemned present. They have a right to witness the order of their execution… No, Master Liaison. Your suggestion is not proper."

"With all due respect, High Tribune, I find it even more improper to continue to keep all the Observants waiting any longer." Okulo paused for a second for effect, before asking, "What example and image will the Observant High Council project towards our other fellow Observants when we allow two condemned criminals to dictate our proceedings, especially one as sacred as the_ Ceremonio de Ekzekuto?" _

This time, the murmuring got louder, and Justeco glanced nervously around the room. However, before he could say anything Okulo added more.

"As the leader of the Observants and High Tribune of the Observant High Council," he said with a reverent voice, "it is in your right to resolve unexpected matters such as this current delay. After all, we respect your judgment and expect your wise leadership to guide us when we are caught in unwanted dilemmas… _"_

Justeco almost cringed at those words, but his counselor suddenly tugged on his cloak and grabbed his attention.

"Perhaps we should heed the Master Liaison's suggestion, Justeco," Konsilisto whispered to him. "We do not want anyone to believe that we are dependent on outsiders to carry out our proceedings, nor do you we want others to believe you are not superior enough to make decisions outside normal circumstances…"

Justeco sighed, still reluctant. He surely hated breaking customs. And… he also still firmly believed that the hybrids deserved to be present and see the entire proceedings of the _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto_. But… this had indeed been delayed enough. And… he also didn't want to appear weak or indecisive among those who looked up to him for guidance.

"Very well," Justeco at last said. "But make sure Iluzisto has brought the prisoners here for the very end, Okulo."

"I will send word to him at once, High Tribune and return post haste," Okulo said with feigned respect before darting outside the room. In reality, however, it was all for appearance…

Turning to the rest of the room and raising his voice, the High Tribune then announced, "If there is no objection from the High Council, then we will step outside our normal order and begin the ceremony without the prisoners' presence once Okulo returns. At least, we can set the Timeless Spell while we wait for their arrival. What say you Observant High Council?"

"Aye! Proceed!" they responded all too quickly, clearly also wanting to get started already.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow with the Observants decision before he glanced over at Okulo who was barely containing his smugness. The Time Master resisted the urge to shake his head and just quietly continued to watch his employers.

Justeco glanced at the opening door of the Council room. Okulo had returned. Once the doors had closed again, he sighed before turning his attention to his head guard.

"Antovid, dismiss the guards to the outside of the courtroom so that we may begin," Justeco ordered.

Okulo almost grinned in triumph. He also knew that only Observants and those they deemed worthy were entitled to be present for that part of the ceremony, which meant that most of the guards had to be sent out of the courtroom for a moment. In fact, only the Head Guard would be allowed to be present for the next proceedings; and, of course, the rest of the Observant guards would be just outside the doors courtroom—should they be needed…

"_Yes, Justeco… send them out,"_ Okulo thought with amusement.

Seeing and hearing the doors close and checking that only the Head Guard was left, the High Tribune continued.

"Observant High Council and fellow Observants. We are gathered here today to see through our rightful laws and ways. The_ Ceremonio de Ekzekuto_ is indeed a delicate and sacred ritual, one which we do not bestow upon just anyone or without certain requirements. However, in this occasion, we are once again faced with the duty and burden to call upon this proper form of execution in order to uphold for what we stand: Justice."

Justeco paused for a moment before continuing, "As the watchers of the Realms of Time and Existence, we dedicate our own existence to protecting their proper continuance. That means that although we do not directly interfere, we have the responsibility of making sure that nothing threatens either of these two Entities' own existence. But, when a threat does arise on rare occasions, it is our further duty to find a solution, and if necessary, to eliminate that threat. In this current instance, however, we are faced with something that we have never seen in all our existence: We are now being faced with not just one threat to the time line and all that exists, but **two**. Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius—the only true half-ghosts in existence—have been found guilty of several crimes against Time and Existence. And after having properly examined the weight of the threat they pose, it has been decided by this Observant High Council, that that weight is too great to allow their continuing existence. We are left, then, with the regrettable solution of eliminating them from the timeline permanently."

"However," Justeco added in the same grave voice. "Their elimination will be carried out in accordance to the Observant Laws. The _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto _is preformed through Timeless Magic. And although Prisoners 484 and 485 are yet to be present, they have been marked for execution. And therefore, we will begin the Timeless Magic Spell… Observant High Council, please rise and extend your hands…"

Once the council members, including Konsilisto, extended their hands towards the center of the room, Justeco did the same.

"In accordance to our laws, we must now unite as one to call upon the powers bestowed upon us," Justeco said as his hand began to glow not with its regular purple energy, but with blood-red energy as only proper for this grave occasion.

And then the High Tribune began to summon their spell, _"Mi, Kapo Observema Justeco, hodiaŭ alvok al la potenco de Sentempa Magio plenumi nian dekreton kaj efektivig justecon tra la Ceremonio de Ekzekuto." _**(2)**

"_Las ĝi esti sekve, por ni estas kiel unu akordo por ĉiuj vidi kaj aŭdi," __**(3) **_the rest of the Observants chanted after him.

"_Se__ntempa Magio Sorĉo, fari vin veran hodiaŭ kaj gvidilo vi tiuj ni havas observitan kaj markis kiel minacoj." __**(4)**_ Justeco continued.

"_Las ĝi esti sekve, por ni estas kiel unu akordo por ĉiuj vidi kaj aŭdi."_

_Once again, Justeco continued, "__Helpo nin protekti Tempon kaj Ekzisto de ilia malbonega kaj malordo. Don ni justeco kaj liveri ĝin tiuj mark la momento ni don la vorto de ilia pereo." __**(5)**_

"_Las ĝi esti sekve, por ni estas kiel unu akordo por ĉiuj vidi kaj aŭdi_,_"_ the council repeated one last time.

The second after they finished, a red beam shot out of Justeco's hand, followed by similar beams the color of spilt human blood from the rest of the High Council. The beams joined together and illuminated the room with their power. But shortly after they joined, the rays turned black with their murderous intent before molding into a sphere which floated in the center of the room.

The sphere, however, soon began to mold until it turned into two sets of recognizable numbers: '484' and '485'.

For a few seconds, the black energy-molded numbers floated there, before suddenly, they began to crack. In the next instant, the two sets of numbers exploded into shards of light which vanished into the atmosphere, leaving behind a chilling wind as cold as… death.

The Observants all lowered their hands before Justeco said, "The spell has been set. The prisoners must now be presented in front of this Council to carry out the final act…" He paused a moment before announcing what he had expected, "Iluzisto, if you could…"

However, when Justeco looked towards the door, he realized that Iluzisto and the prisoners were **still not present!**

Now furious, Justeco pointed a finger at Okulo and demanded, "Master Liaison! Seek out the Master Prison Head at once! His irresponsibility is beyond an outrage now!"

This time, Okulo became a bit nervous, now also agreeing that Iluzisto had delayed enough.

But before the liaison could think of what to do, a calm and confident voice suddenly sounded from nowhere within the room and quickly captured everyone's attention.

"No need to send your errand boy twice, Justeco. I am here," Iluzisto said as he came out of his stealth mode and slowly floated into the center of the room, his eye slightly curved into what seemed to be an amused smile.

Okulo jolted at what Iluzisto had just called him. But although it angered him, the liaison kept quiet, knowing there were more important things going on right now…

The judge blinked, also thrown off by the Prison Head's sudden appearance, and more importantly, his lack of respect by calling him by his name, and…

"Where are the prisoners, Prison Head?" Justeco asked, baffled.

"Oh, you mean the crossbreeds… Ah, yes…. They have escaped," Iluzisto calmly answered, placing his hands behind his back to hide the fact that the bracelets that once restrained his power _and_ kept him in the time stream were gone.

"What?" the judge exclaimed, while the others matched his alarm with gasps. "How is that possible? And why have you not gone after them?"

The illusionist spirit really didn't care how the crossbreeds had ultimately escaped; but they were indeed gone. His guards had searched everywhere for them yesterday after they somehow disappeared from the hallway in which, from the reports of his guards, had all the indications that the hybrids had been trapped. But even when his guards had been thorough in that search, they found nothing. Though Iluzisto was impressed that the crossbreeds had somehow managed to just 'vanish', he, too, had wondered how, especially since his guards had insisted that they had not gotten past them. They _had_ had them trapped.

Iluzisto ultimately had to conclude the only logical outcome: the crossbreeds had somehow figured out how the Realm Doors worked and used one of them to escape. How? He did not know that, either. Still, he knew that the crossbreeds could not have done that without help. That infernal Kvargvid had created enough of a distraction and Iluzisto wouldn't be surprised if that creature had been the one responsible for showing the crossbreeds how to open the Realm Doors….

Then, there were those human children and that one ghost. Iluzisto was just as astounded that they had been able to get into this fortress, much less get the crossbreeds out of the cells and successfully escape. That was a more interesting question for him since those outsiders couldn't have possibly known the 'ins and outs' of this complex. But really, none of that mattered for now.

The edges of Iluzisto's eye curved higher into a smirk. "'How' is indeed a good question. But there will be plenty of time for all of that _later_. After all, I cannot just let them escape when I did promise myself to finish them off with my own hands. That… and, I believe they can _still_ be quite _useful_," he added evilly.

Justeco tensed and warily asked, "What do you speak of, Iluzisto?"

The illusionist spirit chuckled. "Your arrogance truly blinds you—_all_ of you," he said, sparing a glance around the room and seeing everyone was there—just as he wanted…

All the Observants gasped before Konsilisto, who had been standing on the right of Justeco, quickly moved forward a bit and hissed, "How _dare_ you speak to the High Tribune—_to all of us_—in that manner?"

"As easily as this..," Iluzisto said evilly before suddenly aiming his staff at Konsilisto and firing a blast at his chest.

Justeco jolted with another gasp, while the other Observants now looked horrified—well, all except for Okulo, who was still quietly watching the scene unfold with sick amusement.

Meanwhile, Clockwork just kept his staff close to him, looking a little tense; but otherwise, just kept a firm frown on his face as Iluizsto turned against his own kind...

But when the High Tribune was too stunned from the attack on his counselor to react, the head Observant Guard, Antovid, stepped forward in defense.

"Guards!" he shouted, knowing the rest of his companions were just outside the council room doors.

But no one came.

This time, the edges of Iluzisto's eye curved into an evil grin at the sight of the stunned Head Observant Guard. "Guards?" he mocked. "Oh, you mean _these_ guards…"

The main door to the council room abruptly opened and the Observants gasped again when they saw Iluzisto's own loyal prison guards walk in with the Observant guards bound and gagged.

Antovid instantly floated back when all the Observant guards were thrown right in front of him.

"What is wrong, Antovid?" Iluzisto taunted when the Head Guard could only stare wide-eyed at all his restrained and helpless companions. "Where are your mocking words and leers at me now?" But when the remaining Observant guard still said nothing, the illusionist spirit chuckled and added, "Finally speechless, I see…"

"But I am not!" Justeco abruptly exclaimed, after helping Konsilisto get back up. The leader of the Observants was thankful to see his counselor was only stunned and would be okay.

However, Justeco was now furious and it showed through his entire being as he sneered, "You are a fool, Iluzisto! I do not know what you are planning to accomplish, but you will do nothing! You might have been granted some power, but it is not enough! And it will never be enough to do _anything_ as long as you wear those power-restraining bands!"

"The bands?" Iluzisto asked innocently. "Yes… But there is one problem with them," he added with a sigh before he raised his arms a bit and finally showed his wrists. "I seem to have lost them."

"No!" Justeco gasped out. "How…?" But realizing how serious this was, the High Tribune turned his eye to Okulo and cried out, "Master Liaison! Subdue this treacherous Observant at once!"

But Iluzisto abruptly threw his head back and laughed.

"Okulo!" Justeco shouted again, both confused and disconcerted when the Prison Liaison did not move a muscle.

Okulo finally spoke up, cold smugness in his voice, "Forgive me, _respectable High Tribune_, but I have decided I no longer care to serve _under_ you… Therefore, I will not heed your decree…"

Justeco's eye further widened—if it was possible at this point. However, he looked as horrified as he did surprised. He had not expected this at all!

But before the judge or any of the Observants—who all looked as alarmed—could say anything, Iluzisto mockingly interjected, "Now, Now, Master Liaison. Let us not be _unfair_. He is still the leader of the Observants, after all. I think you should respect his command. You should subdue the 'treacherous Observant'…"

Okulo looked at Iluzisto for a moment, and understanding his underlying message, the edges of the liaison's eye curved evilly as he replied back, "I suppose you are right…" Okulo pulled out his green orb and it began to pulse darkly with his power as he turned his eyes to Justeco and sneered, "I will subdue that _treacherous Observant_ for you…"

The Observants cried out in alarm when Okulo suddenly aimed his orb at Justeco and fired a green beam right at his chest. Even Clockwork, who had still been quietly watching everything, frowned a bit in surprise.

The Time Master was a lot more interested in these turn-of-events than he let on. He had known, of course, of Iluzisto's plans up until he had had those bands on, which had kept him in the timeline and in Clockwork's 'line of vision.' But Okulo was a spirit, as were all the Observants. And Clockwork could not see their actions through the timeline. So, although the Time Master had foreseen this would happen through Iluzisto's previous actions in the timeline, Clockwork didn't really know how it would all end—especially for the Observants…

Or, for him…

"No!" Konsilisto cried out when his leader wheezed in pain and dropped to his hands and spectral tail after Okulo's beam penetrated him.

Okulo's eye narrowed as he stepped forward and said, "You are not worthy of being our leader, Justeco! Look at how weak you are compared to me!"

"I-I do not understand…," the judge answered through the pain in his chest. "W-Why are you doing this? Why are you helping Iluzisto? I have always treated you with respect, Okulo!"

"Ingrate! You do not know the meaning of respect!" Okulo angrily hissed. "I have served you unconditionally for centuries and all you have done is to use me to do your biddings! Do you think I am so worthless that you have forced me to interact and meddle all this time with lower life-forms and abominations? My power and intelligence deserve **more** than being some errand _and_ stable boy for the disgusting creatures you lock up in that filthy speck of a prison! As I said, you do not deserve to be called the 'Head Observant!' And I further say that the time has come within our timeless realm for a true change—a new era!"

Okulo gripped his orb tighter before he evilly said, "My orb now holds complete control of your core, Justeco. And you will do as I command. _Rise and come forward…_"

Konsilisto gasped as his leader was forced to do just that; but although he moved forward to aid Justeco, Iluzisto quickly raised his staff in silent threat at the counselor, forcing him to halt and just watch helplessly as Justeco was controlled by Okulo's orb.

Once Justeco was floating right in front of Okulo, the High Tribune stuttered out, "You are behind this… You somehow helped Iluzisto break his controlling-bands!"

Okulo chuckled. "I have been doing a lot more than that. As you are now, Iluzisto is also bound to me. He does as _I say."_

Iluzisto said nothing to the comment, though there was an unreadable spark in his eye…

"Do you see, Justeco?" Okulo continued. "I am the true mastermind behind this mutiny! I am the one with the true power! And once I realized it, I further understood that in all this time I have never been rightfully appreciated by any of you. You never acknowledged how special, how important I was. But no matter now. I have at last rectified your and everyone else's mistake. Fear not, though, I will bring about a new order to our kind. I will make the Observants the superior beings we are. No more of this 'watching on the sidelines and letting others do our biddings!' No! We will seize control of our destiny and bring down _all_ those inferior creatures who do not submit to the Observants' laws! And we will do it with how it should be done: with true power and force!"

"What is this blasphemy of which you speak?" Konsilisto whispered out. "That goes against all of our Observant laws and ethics. And, you talk as if…"

"As if I was the leader of the Observants?" Okulo finished, his eye somehow curving into a grin.

All the Observants' own eyes filled with shock at their realization.

Okulo laughed before looking at Justeco and saying, "It is time I take my rightful place. And that rightful place just so happens to be where you are. Justeco…, _bow before your new leader_."

Justeco grunted as his core was seized by Okulo's power yet again and he dropped down in front of the former liaison.

Everyone could only stare on in dread, all too fearful to move even a muscle to help their former leader. Even the smug Antovid was frozen in place, seemingly forgetting his responsibility to protect the Observants in favor of preserving his own after-life.

And Clockwork just... watched.

"No…," Konsilisto choked out. "You cannot do this! You cannot just force yourself to be our leader!"

Okulo's eye narrowed at the counselor and he raised his orb at him as he darkly asked, "And what are you going to do about it, fool? Mark my words. Anyone who does not accept and respect me as their leader will be sentence to eternal imprisonment at Iluzisto's prison at my command!"

"W-We are your kin. You cannot do that to us, Okulo," Konsilisto fearfully said, though he floated back a bit in fear of the orb being aimed at him.

"Believe me, it is not so hard to betray your kind when they have betrayed you, first, Konsilisto…," Iluzisto suddenly spoke up.

But raising his gaze from where he was prostrated on the ground, Justeco turned his head to the only one who could help them now…

"Clockwork… s-stop them!" the former leader of the Observants gasped out.

But before the Time Master could say or do anything, Iluzisto just laughed. "Clockwork? What is he going to do? Freeze us in time?" The evil spirit glanced over at the quiet and pokerfaced Time Master; but seeing no reaction from him, Iluzisto looked back over at Justeco and haughtily reminded him, "I have destroyed the bands, Justeco, and that means the Time Master has no power over me… In fact, he has no power here at all. Among his own kind, among those outside the timeline, he is as weak as you are… It is sad, really…"

Now more hopeful when he could see that Clockwork was still on their side, Konsilisto spoke up again, "His time powers might not affect spirits, but he is more powerful than you both!" And growing even bolder with that fact, the counselor focused on the Time Master and demanded, "Clockwork! In the name of the High Tribune Justeco, subdue Iluzisto and Okulo at once!"

But the time spirit just frowned at Justeco on the ground before looking over at the High Counselor and calmly replying, "No."

Konsilisto glared at the time spirit and gasped, "No?"

"I will not help you," Clockwork clarified coldly.

The counselor's eye widened in disbelief.

And though Justeco was just as shocked by the Time Master's refusal, he stirred with sudden fury now that even Clockwork had turned his back on him!

Justeco strained to look at the time spirit and struggled to sound demanding as he uttered, "Do not forget you work for us, Clockwork! Your duties are to _us_! You serve **us**!"

"My duties are to the timeline. And you all have just severely jeopardized it," Clockwork answered, for once an actual glare on his face. "I will not clean up the mess you Observants have made—_not this time."_

Up to this point, all the Observants had been too horrified to do anything. Their after-lives had been ones of passivity and indifferent observing for so long that they were numb at these turn of events. But now that it finally dawned on them that they were in _real_ danger, panic broke out among them, and all those that had once been sitting on the rows of seats around the room, abruptly jolted and fled towards the nearest exit.

But Iluzisto quickly raised his staff and an illusion of a wall of purple flames suddenly lined the entire circular room blocking all the possible escapes.

"Leaving so soon? But the fun is just about to start," Iluzisto said evilly, and his guards made his point clear by aiming their energy-sticks at the Observants and forcing them to back away from the exits.

"Why are you doing this, Iluzisto? _How_ are you doing this?" Justeco asked in shock.

It just still made no sense! Even with Okulo's help, there was no foreseeable way for Iluzisto to free himself of those power-inhibitors as he had! They were practically indestructible! _How had he done it?_

But Iluzisto ignored the judge and turned his dark gaze on Clockwork. "So…you really are not going to try to stop me?"

"Even if I wanted, I could not stop you now," Clockwork calmly replied.

"True," Iluzisto said smugly. "But… I am not buying your submissive act, Clockwork. I know how your clever mind works. And… I know how your staff is the source of your power _and more."_

Clockwork didn't respond.

But Iluzisto suddenly glared menacingly at the time spirit and aimed his own staff at Clockwork. "Yield me your staff, Time Master," he suddenly demanded.

"I said I would not help the Observants. However, that does not mean I will help you, Iluzisto. I will not give you my Time Staff," Clockwork answered seriously.

"You forget, Time Master, that I was once an Observant," Iluzisto answered back smugly. "And although the Observants falsely say that they do not interfere with the timeline, they—and I—have the ability to will it to some extent. After all, we can see through it at certain times. And that means, I can easily take control of your Time Staff."

"You would have to take it from me, first," Clockwork answered coolly.

"Why of course…," Iluzisto said in the same smug voice and suddenly used his illusionist power on the time spirit.

Clockwork tensed, but then frowned when his staff suddenly disappeared from his hand. He stared back at Iluzisto and said, "An illusion. I know my staff is still in my hand, Iluzisto."

"Perhaps. But if you cannot see it, how are you going to keep it from me? And how are you going to use it to protect yourself?"

Clockwork jolted when Iluzisto suddenly fired a blast in his direction; but he instinctively reacted and raised one of his hands in front of him, creating a blue barrier to protect himself.

The purple beam violently ricocheted away from Clockwork's shield. But several Observants gasped in dread before ducking and narrowly avoiding the illusionist spirit's ray.

Clockwork narrowed his eyes and then counter-attacked, throwing his own blue beam at the illusionist spirit.

Iluzisto chuckled darkly at the challenge and aimed his black weapon as Clockwork's ray neared him.

Suddenly, Iluzisto's black weapon seemed to 'suck' Clockwork's beam right into it, just like a black hole sucks in anything that comes near it. An instant later, however, Iluzisto was snapping his black weapon behind him before thrusting it forward with a cracking sound at Clockwork. That same blue energy ray then shot right back out of it, only that it was more solid and still attached to the tip of the black weapon. And just like a bullwhip, the blue glowing strand wrapped itself tightly around the Time Master before he could react.

And the moment it did, Clockwork's arms were forcefully pinned at his sides and a thump sounded at his feet. The Time Master then knew he had just dropped his staff—as Iluzisto had wanted.

The illusionist spirit wasted no time and levitated the now visible staff before drawing it to him. Clutching it tightly, Iluzisto's eye glistened in triumph. He was right. That had all been too easy….all because his incredible, crossbreed-enhanced energy had been able to squash whatever power the time spirit threw at him as easily as a small insect! _Truly_, now that he no longer had his inhibiting bands, Clockwork had no real power or control over him!

But the instant his hand had wrapped around the Time Staff, the rod's blue glow faded and then lit up with a purple hue, while the clock on the top of the staff turned a dark plum.

Clockwork's frown deepened but he said and did nothing, even as the illusion of the bullwhip pinning his arms vanished and his hands were freed once again.

The Observants, on the other hand, backed up some more from Iluzisto and his guards, while Justeco and Konsilisto stared on in dread.

Iluzisto sighed, feeling his hunger becoming more satisfied at the feel of the Time Staff's power. He knew only those with some form of time-power or magic could command it. And, conveniently, being an Observant, that included him. Perhaps, he could not command it to the extent that the Time Master could, but it would still serve its purpose. And as he grew more powerful, Iluzisto was sure he would eventually master it… _completely_.

Meanwhile, Okulo's eye had widened in surprise. In fact, he was so surprised that Iluzisto had just taken Clockwork's staff that the liaison lost slight control of Justeco, who instantly took the opportunity to rise and back away from the two evil spirits.

However, before Okulo could even think about what the Prison Head was doing, Iluzisto, looked over at Antovid and asked, "Do you have your energy-cuffs on you?"

The Observant Guard, who had hoped to stay in the background, gasped at being addressed, but then fearfully nodded.

"Good. Restrain him completely," Iluzisto commanded, gesturing with his head to Clockwork.

Antovid's eyes widened behind his helmet. "I… No! I cannot!"

Iluzisto immediately aimed his own staff at the guard and fired it.

"No!" Justeco exclaimed when their remaining free guard was swallowed up into a ball of purple energy. Antovid's ghostly body convulsed under the vengeful purple power, twisting and turning in agony until the hand shackles were shaken from him. As soon as Iluzisto heard the clang of the manacles on the floor, he flicked his wrist. Instantly, a purple lightning bolt charged through the still-encased Antovid and the hapless Observant guard instantly vaporized, leaving a pile of glowing ashes raining upon the handcuffs already on the ground.

All of the Observants were stunned to silence and dread at what they had just witnessed.

Iluzisto ordered one of his own guards, "Retrieve the cuffs from what's left of that pathetic maggot. I waited too long to repay him for all of his foul insults….And now, it's time to finish my other priorities…"

As his subordinate did as was commanded to him, the illusionist spirit's glare homed in on Konsilisto before he said, "You. Come here."

Justeco suddenly turned defensive. "Leave him be, Iluzisto!"

But the Prison Head narrowed his eye further and darkly said, "Do not oppose me, Justeco. Or, you will be the _next_ I execute."

That was enough to jolt Okulo out of his shock. H-He executed Antovid? And he was threatening to execute again? What was Iluzisto talking about? They agreed that they would only punish those Observants who would not accept Okulo as their new leader. But they had said nothing about destroying anyone!

Okulo gripped his orb again and it suddenly began to burn green. "What are you doing, Iluzisto?" he demanded. "You are swaying from my plans, and I do not like it!"

Iluzisto quickly turned his attention to his ally and the corners of his eye curved as he innocently answered, "I do not understand how I am swaying from your plans, Master Liaison. You are now the leader of the Observants. And the others are clearly too afraid to do anything against you. Is that not what you wanted?"

Okulo's glare faltered and he replied, "Y-Yes, but we were not supposed to condemn anyone to the Oblivion! They are our race, Iluzisto. And our guards are loyal to us! What you just did is repugnant to all that is proper and all that we hold dear! I have not ordered you to harm _anyone_, so stand down! And… And give me Clockwork's staff! That weapon now belongs to me! I am now the Head Observant, and only I hold the right to control the Time Master and his power!"

Iluzisto stared down at the time staff in his hand, as if considering Okulo's command.

"Hmm… No," Iluzisto calmly replied at last, looking back at Okulo. "No, I do not think I will."

Okulo jolted, but then his eye narrowed. _"What?"_

"I said, I will not give you Clockwork's staff, nor will I stand down. Why would I? I have only just started. In fact, perhaps now would be a good time to mention that I have decided to change our plans. I will not imprison anyone. No, I think I prefer something more…final. I am going to send every single Observant into the Oblivion."

Okulo gasped. "Are you insane? That is genocide! You are going to extinct our _entire race?_"

Iluzisto happily nodded. "Correct. Every. Last. One. Well, except for me, of course…"

The Observants only pressed further away from the evil Observants, clearly scared out of their minds with the promise of their demise.

Okulo, however, stared in alarm for a moment; but once the significance of the Prison Head's last words finally sunk in, the liaison quickly raised his hand and aimed his orb at Iluzisto.

"You think you can turn against me?" Okulo sneered. "Fool. You are bound to me! You might have escaped the High Council's controlling bands, but you are still on **my** leash. And do you know what humans do to their inferior _pets_ when they turn on them? They _put them down._ You have outlasted your usefulness…. Goodbye, Iluzisto! "

A beam of green energy shot out of the orb and right into Iluzisto's core…

But this time, it did nothing!

Okulo gasped before quickly firing again, only to end up with the same results. "No, this cannot be! Why are you not succumbing to my orb's power? Why is it not destroying your core?"

Iluzisto chuckled before he said, "Really, Okulo. Must I explain to you how _your_ _own_ orb works? Very well, then. I have been intently and secretly studying it myself for some time, so I suppose I can give you a little lesson…"

Iluzisto lightly touched the glowing purple clock-piece at the top of Clockwork's staff as he calmly explained, "This Time Staff is such an amazing creation. Those with weak minds can only understand so little when one tells them what it is and what it does. …Is that not right, Clockwork?"

But the Time Master still kept quiet, his seemingly indifferent eyes locked on Iluzisto as the illusionist spirit continued to caress his stolen staff.

Iluzisto chuckled again, knowing Clockwork was internally fuming in spite of his emotionless stare. Still, he turned back to Okulo and continued, "Your orb is also a very unique piece. Not many understand how we spirits have such unique gifts and powers, either. And ironically, very few spirits themselves understand that as strong as we are against those within the grasps of time, we are weak against _our own kind_. I suppose it keeps us from turning on each other—or, from it rarely happening, anyway!" Iluzisto laughed some more.

But Okulo looked as confused as ever, and a growing fear was rapidly overcoming his boldness.

"I-I still do not understand…"

Iluzisto's amused look abruptly turned into a dark glare as he said, "You brainless maggot! Your orb is unique _because_ it can work against ghosts **_and_** spirits! But the Time Staff negates your orb's influence against _the holder of the Time Staff_ because it keeps me, its **new** master, protected from other spirit's powers and timeless magic! In short, your orb and any other Observant power are useless against me as long as I hold this Time Staff! Why else do you think the Observants have never been able to truly control Clockwork? Fool, he's more powerful than any of you! He only serves under you because somewhere in his manipulative and conniving mind, it conveniences him!"

Clockwork blinked in surprise at the indirect compliment, though he knew it was only uttered by the evil spirit because Iluzisto hated the Observants more than him. Still, it was both amusing and ironic. Iluzisto was very right, of course… more than he realized.

Still, the Time Master kept his thoughts and emotions to himself and just quietly continued to watch—doing absolutely nothing as things turned from bad to worse….

Then again, Clockwork had uttered the truth: he really could do nothing against Iluzisto. The spirit was also right in saying that no matter how powerful any other given spirit was, it was all but powerless against its own kind….unless that spirit possessed an instrument of mysterious origins… Another irony, the time spirit supposed.

"Do not fret, though, I will permit you to keep your title as 'Head Observant'," Iluzisto said mockingly at Okulo.

But although Okulo was now too shocked and terrified to say anything, Justeco spoke up again. "Okulo, you ignorant spirit! Did you truly think you could control Iluzisto? Have you forgotten all he has done—_why_ we were forced to restrain him and keep him from his true potential?"

Okulo turned to look at Justeco before he spat back in a trembling voice, "Y-You are just as ignorant! You and the High Council granted him power! Without it—"

"Silence!" Iluzisto commanded sternly. "You will have _plenty of time_ to argue among each other for who is to blame. For now…," He extended a hand at Okulo and further demanded, "Hand over your orb, Master Liaison."

Now, Okulo really panicked and he suddenly pleaded, "No, not my orb! Please, Iluzisto! My orb is sacred to me!"

But when he saw Iluzisto's eye flash red, Okulo recoiled in fear before extending his trembling hand still clutching his orb.

"No! What are you doing? Do not give it to him!" Justeco exclaimed, hoping to convince Okulo to snatch it back. He was certain of what would happen next if Okulo yielded Iluzisto his orb…

Iluzisto moved over to Okulo and calmly took the orb from the liaison, and the magical crystal turned purple with the touch of his power.

"Okulo!" Justeco yelled in warning again.

"_Silence,_ Justeco,_"_ Iluzisto commanded evilly and the orb pulsed a deeper purple, immediately forcing the former Head Observant to stop talking.

Okulo floated back a bit as Iluzisto's eye turned back to him. "Thank you, Okulo. You have been most helpful. For that, I will spare you from the fate I have in mind for the rest of the Observants."

Okulo swallowed before quietly stuttering out, "Y-You w-will?"

"Yes," Iluzisto assured him with a glimmer in his eye, before he suddenly aimed the orb in his hand at its former master.

"No!" Okulo gasped out, raising his hands in a plea. "Iluzisto, I helped you gain freedom! I helped you with all your plans and to keep them a secret from the High Council! If nothing else, at least grant me mercy!"

Iluzisto's eye curved evilly again. "But I am going to grant you mercy. You will not suffer, Okulo. I will make your destruction quick." His voice turned darker as he added, "No one controls me—especially not some _pathetic coward_ like you. And it is now _I_ who tells _you_: you have outlasted your usefulness. Good-bye, _Master Liaison!"_

"NO!" Okulo cried out when the orb Iluzisto was controlling fired a beam of purple energy at his chest. But as the orb grew darker, a pain consumed Okulo's core and he screamed in pain.

"_No, stop!"_ Justeco wanted to cry out, but his voice would not work. Okulo might have been power-hungry, but the Head Observant had not wanted this fate for the liaison!

Okulo's cry soon vanished as his body ignited with a purple hue before he suddenly exploded into sparks of bright light which burst out like shattered glass.

However, when it was over, a lone white sphere remained floating in the place of Okulo before the orb in Iluzisto's hand somehow pulled it towards it; and in an instant, it was absorbed into it.

Iluzisto curiously studied the orb as its bright glow returned back to its normal intensity. He knew that the orb had the power to destroy the core of the ghost or spirit it controlled, or to absorb its power as its own; but it had been the first time Iluzisto had witnessed the orb's doing that. It had been quite interesting.

"Such a nice little toy," Iluzisto said to himself with a chuckle.

But suddenly remembering everyone, the Prison Head cleared his throat before slipping the orb into his cloak's pocket. He then smirked when he saw the panicked looks on all the Observants' eyes—even Justeco and Konsilisto looked horrified.

"So, where were we?" Iluzisto asked pleasantly before adding, "Oh, yes… Konsilisto, come forward…"

With the orb now put away, Justeco was able to speak up and he pleaded, "Iluzisto, I implore you. Leave him be. Leave them all be. I am at fault! It is I who has forced you under the Observants' control! Do to me as you want, but I beg you. Do not harm Konsilisto—or any of the Observants! They are your kin!"

"I have no kin," Iluzisto replied darkly. "And you—and they—will pay for what you have done to me… Konsilisto!"

Justeco looked about to protest again. But in spite being scared out of his mind, Konsilisto placed a hand on the judge's shoulder which silently told him to yield.

He then floated over to Iluzisto, and with a trembling and pained voice from his previous attack, the counselor quietly asked, "W-What do you want, Master Prison Head?"

"Trupo," Iluzisto called wickedly to his guard holding the energy-cuffs he had ordered to be picked out of the ashes of Antovid.

Seeing Iluzisto pointing to what he still had in his hands, the guard stepped forward and he handed them to his leader without hesitation.

Iluzisto then turned his attention back to Konsilisto and replied, "Here. I want **you** to restrain the Observants' little time guardian dog."

Konsilisto cowered when he knew exactly what the illusionist spirit was telling him to do. And with a trembling voice, he replied, "Even without his staff, Clockwork is—"

"Konsilisto," the Time Master suddenly interrupted him. And when the counselor turned his eye on him, Clockwork raised his hands in front of him in submission.

Konsilisto's eye widened. He didn't understand it! Why was Clockwork being so compliant when he could—?

"I am waiting," Iluzisto suddenly growled, pulling the counselor from his thoughts.

Konsilisto resisted the urge to glare at Iluzisto. Even if the evil spirit pretended otherwise, Konsilisto knew Iluzisto _feared_ Clockwork, which was why he wouldn't risk restraining him _himself_.

But now knowing better than to say anything, Konsilisto finally took the power-inhibiting cuffs from the illusionist spirit. He then went over to Clockwork, who had his hands lowered back down again, though they were still in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Konsilisto whispered, his eye wide with uncertainty and disbelief.

"I told you: nothing," Clockwork answered back emotionlessly.

Konsilisto only slightly hesitated before stepping a bit closer to the time spirit before finally placing the shackles around his wrists, which instantly suppressed Clockwork's natural powers.

But as he did, no one—not even Konsilisto—saw how Clockwork discretely touched the counselor's robe inner pocket and pulled it slightly open….

Konsilisto turned back around to look at Iluzisto and asked, "Anything else?"

"Yes. Get out of the way," Iluzisto suddenly said evilly and fired a purple ball of energy in the counselor and Clockwork's direction.

Konsilisto gasped and turned intangible in time for the attack to go harmlessly through him. But now without any sort of power, the blast hit the Time Master directly in the chest and sent him slamming into the prosecutor's desk.

Clockwork hissed before he slowly stood from the broken pile of wood. "That's an excellent weapon the Observants gave you," he commented, controlling the pain in his voice as he slowly turned his gaze back to Iluzisto.

Justeco and rest of the Observants cringed at the fact, as well as, the _implications_ of Clockwork's comment.

But Iluzisto hardly noticed the Observants' reaction and nodded proudly. "Yes, it is, is it not? Of course, I have perfected it with my power and added features," he said, lightly touching the sharp needle-end at the top. "But, you know, an improvement is needed… And thanks to you I have the best improvement right here in my other hand…"

Clockwork's eyes slightly narrowed when he watched Iluzisto bring his staff close to his own stolen Time Staff.

And the two suddenly merged into one, though overall the staff still looked more like Iluzisto's original black staff.

Konsilisto slowly backed away until he was back at Justeco's side.

But the judge grew even more furious and suddenly growled at Iluzisto, "You will not get away with this! You will be stopped!"

Iluzisto just laughed heartedly in response to the cliché remark. "And who exactly is going to stop me? Clockwork? Is he not the one who does your dirty work—as he calls it?" But when Justeco only glared back in response, Iluzisto continued. "Well, surely not Clockwork. As he said, he cannot stop me now, especially when I now control his Time Staff and when his new home, for what _remains_ of his _existence_, will be my wonderful prison…"

The Observants gasped again when Iluzisto suddenly snapped his fingers and several guards grabbed Clockwork from behind and began to take him out of the Council room towards Iluzisto's prison.

"Make sure you give him a _proper welcome_," Iluzisto told his guards evilly.

Clockwork said nothing as he was led out, though he did glance back at Justeco one last time before he was taken away…

"Now that your time guardian dog has been caged, let us continue," Iluzisto said smugly. "You mentioned something about… stopping me?" He chuckled. "Are _you_ going to stop me, Justeco? Are _any_ of you going to stop me?" he asked, looking around the room full of Observants, who only cowered when Iluzisto looked at them.

"I think not," Iluzisto said smugly, his eyes back on Justeco. "Not to mention, I will be the _last_ thing on your mind after what I plan to do with all of you. And thanks to Clockwork's staff and those crossbreeds' endless energy supply, I can now have my revenge! And… it will start with a trip to the Human World…"

The Observants began to panic when Iluzisto raised the staff in his hand and the whole room became encased in blue energy. With a flash of light, Iluzisto sent himself, the Observants, and several of his guards through a time portal. And they were suddenly all in a murky dark cave…

"W-What have you done?" the Observants gasped out, instantly realizing they have been forced out of their realm and into the human world—_into the_ _time stream!_

"We are at a place called the Rockies," Iluzisto replied happily. "Well, one of the many caves around here, anyways. But **this** cave I have picked out just for all of you…" he told them evilly before he called, "Guards…"

The Observants cried in surprise when they were all suddenly scattered by Iluzisto's guards, and forced through the many tunnels in the cave by their goading weapons. They all cringed in fear at the foreign sounds the cave made, since no place in their realm dripped of unseen water or carried the echo of every little pebble that fell when they had brushed against a wall. Not only that, they had never felt so much darkness, coldness, or moisture before, and that unsettled them just as much.

The last tunnel they were herded through opened into a large common area, off of which were other halls that contained cells located in the deepest part of the cave.

And for some reason, Iluzisto ordered his guards to halt them at this common area for now…

Floating over to Justeco even as he watched his guards corral the rest of the Observants so they would all clearly hear him, Iluzisto asked with amusement, "So, you like it? It took me decades to construct this masterpiece—especially when I could only sneak out moments at a time—with Okulo's help, of course. It cannot compare to my prison back home, but it will serve its purpose now..."

"You cannot keep us here, Iluzisto!" Justeco exclaimed, along with the other panicking Observants. "We cannot survive in this realm!"

Iluzisto rolled his eye. "That is _obviously_ the reason I brought you all here…" He then evilly added, "I know the true reason why you use Clockwork to do your biddings. I was once one of you all, after all. See, I know your weaknesses. And you all have quite a few. So, ultimately, the whole 'vowing not to interfere' is just your way of covering up those weaknesses. And the reason the Observants use Clockwork to do their dirty work is this: the moment an Observant leaves or is taken out of his precious Realm Beyond Time—the Observants' _comfort_ zone—he becomes powerless. Well, except for myself, of course. If anything came out of being disowned by my own race and being forced into the timeline by those wretched bands it is that I have evolved immunity to that weakness. Not without a price of course."

He almost shoved his reddened eye into Justeco's own eye. And then ignoring how the former Head Observant had gasped and floated back in surprise and fear at the illusionist spirit's abruptness, Iluzisto still growled, "I can now repay you and all of the other Observant fools for all the pox and craters littering my body. These scars and blemishes ravished my body because you subjected me to _time_ all those centuries. Had it not been for my special powers, I would have succumbed to the Oblivion long ago."

"We did not know!" Justeco gasped in defense, only to be hotly interrupted by the illusionist spirit.

"How could you not? How else would you explain my features slowly deteriorating, making me more than an outcast of camaraderie but also of body? I am forever deformed thanks to you all! Or had you never _bothered_ to notice?"

Justeco's eye lowered to the ground. They _had_ been indifferent to the changes in Iluzisto at first. But through the centuries, they had become accustomed to those deformities and never given them another thought.

The veins around Iluzisto's red pupil pulsed in hate as he said, "Unlike I now, you all cannot set foot in any realm found within the grasp of time for too long because it begins to _affect_ you. You will become like me—and more!"

"You cannot destroy us, Iluzisto! You will cause a serious imbalance to all existence!" Konsilisto said fearfully.

"**And you will perish with knowing that fact**!" Iluzisto suddenly snarled. "Did you all really think you could keep **me** under your _control? _Did you believe you could lock me up in some _**spit**_ of a prison doing **your** work for all eternity without consequence? You will pay in **ectoplasm** for that mistake! I am no one's puppet!"

"Please, we do not have your unique powers or endurance. Time will wilt us away in this place!" Spektanto suddenly exclaimed from within the crowded group. "Have mercy! You were once an Observant, too! Surely we can work things out! Please! Just give us a chance! Give us more time to mend our wrongdoings against you!"

Several Observants quickly agreed and began to plead with Iluzisto.

But Iluzisto just watched them, a satisfied gleam in his eye. Suddenly, though, he raised a hand, silencing their pleas. "Perhaps I am being too harsh... Considering our history together, I should show _some_ mercy."

Justeco and Konsilisto glanced at each other and then tensed, while the others also tensed, but in anticipation and hope.

"I will do as you say, I will give you all **more** time…"

Before anyone could question what he meant, Iluzisto quickly raised his staff and slammed the bottom of it against the ground. The Observants cried out in fear as a flash of blue light expanded through the cave, shaking it briefly as the energy coated its stony gray walls with almost dark blue, pulsing energy. But at that very moment an energy-made clock face appeared and floated in the center of the room, its ticking second hand doubling in speed.

Gasps soon followed their surprise and the Observants began to stagger back, their physiques and appearance slowly becoming weaker, as if they were rapidly aging…

"What? Is this not what you asked for?" Iluzisto asked with an evil laugh. "You wanted more time; so I gladly complied! Time now moves twice as fast within this cave; and therefore, your destruction will come twice as swiftly! I say that you are not for long within this world's time line before you are extinct." The illusionist spirit paused a moment, lazily twirling the staff of his black weapon before he gripped it tightly and added with wickedness, "You know, I can speak from experience when I tell you that time is a strange phenomenon, which you will soon experience... To some who are not aware of it, it moves swiftly; to others who anxiously watch its passage, it seems to drag on endlessly. Yet, the same amount passes onward for all creatures caught up in it… But even though you do not know yet what I mean, I will estimate that you all will not survive more than seventy-two hours here—_an eternity_ for you who have never experienced it. And I want you to have _every excruciatingly long second _of that slow and painful time thinking about all that you have done and have deserved!"

"You-You cannot…," Konsilisto began as he supported his now aging body against a wall. But it really wasn't the sudden awareness on how heavy his body felt that just now focused his thoughts. This was another kind of burden. The weight of his conscience. He knew this was all wrong. But then, the counselor felt a sudden stirring within him. It was a strange sensation, one he didn't really recognize or understand. Still, he felt a strange kind of strength from it, something that prompted him to glare weakly at Iluzisto and then abruptly shout, "Danny Phantom will stop you!"

Everyone suddenly stilled, including Justeco who looked shocked by Konsilisto's claim. But then the Observants looked at one another, a spark of hope returning to their gaze.

But a loud laugh jolted everyone again and they turned their eyes to Iluzisto.

"You all are such hypocrites!" Iluzisto exclaimed, still laughing. "You think the young crossbreed is going to _help_ you? After all you did to him and the other crossbreed? After all you accused them of? After sentencing them to _death_?"

The illusionist spirit chuckled some more before amusedly adding, "No one is _that_ stupidly noble. Besides, the boy stands no chance against me, not even with the older crossbreed at his side. I have deeply damaged their cores. They will probably never recover, in fact…"

"Regardless, they escaped," Justeco suddenly spoke up. "They escaped and you could do _nothing_ about it!"

"Fool!" Iluzisto sneered. "Their escape was merely a fluke. Do you know the things I did to them? I have scarred them for what remains of their life! …You should have listened to them when they tried to tell you the truth. But, of course, you are all too closed-minded to listen to reason or to _non-Observants_, even when it was staring at you in the face. I _barely_ had to even raise a finger to get you all to do my bidding, and for that, they hate you all as equally as I they despise me."

Iluzisto suddenly paused, but he then abruptly chuckled and added, "Even Clockwork warned you. He told you of the amount of power the crossbreeds have. He told you not to bring them together."

"You said you kept them separated!" Konsilisto snapped, though he was mostly angry with himself…

Iluzisto scoffed, his glare seeming to bore a hole right through Konsilisto with a sudden odd understanding. "You all are so pathetic. You have known Clockwork forever and you _still_ cannot even interpret his words. You **brought** them **together with this trial!** And I just used it to my advantage." Iluzisto's eye curved into an evil smile as he said, "It was all too easy. I took their energy time and time again. You practically handed me **two** keys to my escape and revenge!"

"That is how you destroyed your bonds!" Konsilisto gasped. "You used their energies to regain your full strength—and more!"

"Well, that took you long enough," Iluzisto replied dryly. "But, yes. And do not forget that all the while I had them in my prison, **your **ignorance and haughtiness allowed me to torture them to an inch of their sanity and lives as well as steal their precious ectoplasmic life energies. And I intend to finish the job…"

The Observants tensed, not liking the sound of that.

"You know why the crossbreeds will not be able to help you, even if by some miracle they would want to?" Iluzisto asked darkly. "Because I plan to deliver your final verdict to them—just through _my_ _own_ means. And…" The evil spirit chuckled, "Thanks to you all having been _stupid_ enough to activate your little 'doom spell' on the crossbreeds, it will be all too easy."

Justeco gasped. "No, it cannot be! You… You tricked us into commencing the_ Ceremonio de Ekzekuto_ beforehand! You wanted us to activate the Timeless Magic Spell over the half-ghosts to keep them weak!"

Iluzisto laughed some more. "Yes, Okulo was so good with manipulative words, was he not? I was present in stealth mode the whole time, hearing how easily he convinced you fools. I will admit, I did not expect the crossbreeds to escape. That is why I realized that I needed to make sure that although they escaped their physical chains, another form of shackles would remain on them. And… that condemning spell you Observants are so good at was the perfect thing. As I said, thanks to you all, the crossbreeds are as helpless as they were while in my prison. They are as trapped and doomed as ever—and all if it, _thanks to you all!"_

Justeco and Konsilisto just stared back horrified, though internally they cringed every time Iluzisto rubbed it in that all this was thanks to them...

"But as I said, I plan to deliver their final verdict _myself_… You see," Iluzisto continued sneakily, "_I_ was paying attention through the entire trial against the crossbreeds. And thanks to you all, I know all about that dark creature hidden in Clockwork's Tower…"

"No! You cannot free him!" Justeco suddenly cried out.

"Free him?" Iluzisto asked, amused. "Oh, please. Why would I want to do that? No, I have no interest in that creature. But, you see, I did learn one thing. And that is that that creature had become the most powerful and evil ghost in all existence. But **I** know why…."

Iluzisto grinned with his eye again. "He is made up of both crossbreeds. That creature has both of their **cores** fused inside himself! Do you realize the importance of that? Whoever can obtain that sort of power, whoever can obtain _their cores_, would be invincible! And guess who will be obtaining them? ME!" he said with a victorious laugh. "It will be all too easy. All I have to do is reach right into them while they are in their ghost forms and rip out their cores, and fuse them both with my own! And it will all be so easy now that I have Okulo's orb!"

"You… You planned **all** of this, didn't you?" Justeco whispered fearfully.

The half-ghosts really were doomed! Either they were going to be eliminated by Iluzisto, or the curse of the Timeless Magic Spell was going to make them weaker and weaker before doing them in—just as it was meant to do!

Iluzisto shot a glance at Konsilisto before his eye sparked with victory as he replied, "Of course I did! I had _plenty_ of time to plan it down to the last detail! I was just waiting for the right creatures to set my plans in motion, and, even then, thanks to you, I learned of them. So, once again, you are responsible for choosing them for me! And those crossbreeds have proven to be more useful than I could have ever imagined! Once I have both their cores fused with my own, I will be more powerful than that creature in Clockwork's Tower—my powers will be limitless! And with Clockwork's Time Staff now in my possession, I will be unstoppable! I will become the _Master of Time and **all** Existence!"_

"The half-ghosts will never allow it!" Konsilisto said, though his voice was beginning to waver.

"I told you. They are weak at best after what I did to them, and we all know they will only continue to grow weaker with the spell…," Iluzisto replied evilly. "I doubt either will be able to do more than gasp in pain as I take their cores from them. My only regret is that you all will not be around to see me become all powerful and take control of Time and all Existence!"

This time, the Observants were too shocked to say any more, so they could only stare fearfully at the evil Observant.

He chuckled at their silence. But then he raised his now time-willing staff again, motioning for his guards to deposit the Observants in their respective cells.

Even though some struggled against what was happening to them, they were all finally forced into the deepest part of the cave and into the cells there. Most of those cells were arranged in a 'U-shape' formation, opening to a small foyer just before that foyer opened into a lone hall. The Observants ended up there and were placed in their cells in groups of six.

However, Iluzisto had other plans for Justeco and Konsilisto.

The former High Tribune and his counselor gasped as they were forced farther away from the other Observants and into a cell that was in a more remote part of the cave. And to make sure that they were well locked up, Justeco and Konsilisto were escorted to their own cell by Iluzisto himself.

Iluzisto did not want to risk any chance of the former Head Observant somehow rallying the other Observants, even if it would really all be in vain. And he also did not want the pair to know where the other Observants would be. And, of course, he wanted to save them for his 'entertainment' later.

Once everyone was secured, Iluzisto ordered and transported most of his guards back to the prison within the Realm Beyond Time. He knew he did not need but a skeletal crew of them here, since nothing but the Time Staff could undo the spell he had placed over the cave. Not to mention, the Observants were too weak, as well as too pathetically passive and cowardly, to even hope to escape. Plus, there were other ways to keep them _compliant_…

Their fates were sealed.

Iluzisto smirked at the fact. But, he then raised the staff again and spun it in the air creating a portal to Amity Park. "I must be heading off. I have realms to rule… And two crossbreeds to kill!"

Justeco, Konsilisto and all the other Observants sat totally helpless in their cells, too frightened and too shocked to voice what was burning in their central cores. And even though at this moment of time all the Observants were essentially separated from each other, and as the floating clock continued to callously tick with their doom, all of their minds were united in guilt and in shame on one thought:

_What have we done?_

* * *

Clockwork sighed in annoyance as Iluzisto's guards finally left, locking the very new door and promising to return to give him that 'proper welcome'.

"The things one must do for the timeline…," he muttered, looking at one of his wrists currently chained to the wall, before dryly adding, "I need a new job."

The time spirit then glanced around the cell, knowing all too well that it was the strongest and most secure prison cell in Iluzisto's prison. But when Clockwork's eyes stopped on familiar drawings all over the walls, he smirked.

They had locked him in Kvargvid's cell.

Even though Danny's companions and Skulker had freed Kvargvid using Observant weapons, they had not needed to destroy the chains since the locks had _easily_ snapped open with one zap. So, it had been easy for the guards to connect the energy-suppressing cuffs on Clockwork's wrists to the chains still on the walls.

But it had been just as easy for the time spirit to foresee Iluzisto's guards' actions against him… For during this entire affair, _they_ _had been_ influenced by time.

Then again, even without his time powers, it didn't take much thinking to guess how these guards ticked. They were very loyal and followed orders down to the letter, but they lacked common sense and their actions were typically predictable.

It only made sense in their limited minds to lock up a strong spirit such as the Time Master in their strongest cell.

Except that they seemingly forgot that a prisoner had already managed to escape from this very cell. Oh, well. At least the guards had remembered to fix the damaged entrance and add a new reinforced cell door…

Not that Clockwork did not foresee that part, either… He had after all, also seen that Danny's friends and sister and Skulker would free Kvargvid from this place. It had been just a matter of… cheating a bit…

"I suppose my job isn't all that bad… After all, being the Time Master does have its advantages….," Clockwork said to himself as he pulled against the chains connected to the energy-suppressing cuffs on his wrists. And thanks to a bit of planning on his part and… Kvargvid's fight with Danny's companions and Skulker, the cracked wall gave and the chains broke free from the wall.

He ignored the dragging chains still connected to the cuffs on his wrists as he walked over to the large unused bed against another wall of the large cell. Without hesitation, Clockwork raised the mattress a bit and found a single key right where he had placed it the day he had visited Kvargvid's cell to replace the creature's power-inhibitors with… 'stronger ones'.

So, he had lied a bit, too. No matter.

It took minimal effort to unlock the cuffs on his wrists and regain control of his normal ghost powers, and with them, he destroyed the key—since he would not need it anymore. He ignored the empty-feeling that had been with him since his staff had been taken and instead proceeded to phase his hand into the mattress itself. He pulled out the other thing he had left there during his last visit to Kvargvid's cell.

Clockwork smirked as he raised his time medallion to his eyelevel. He might not have his staff, but his medallions could create time portals when you knew how to use them—and a portal was just what he needed when he couldn't phase out of the locked cell door of this cell…

Pulling the medallion away from his person, he sent his energy through it as he mentally told the ghostly relic to open a portal to his Clocktower. In an instant, a blue portal appeared from nowhere before it turned into a picture of his home.

He didn't hesitate to step through and he was suddenly at the entrance of his tower. The portal then closed behind him as he walked up to his door and opened it.

He then moved over to the holder for his medallions and neatly put the one in his hand back on its hanger. For a moment, his eyes drifted down to his empty hands, but he then sighed deeply.

"…I suppose I should _check_ on my employers…," he thought with some irritation.

However, without his staff, he could not travel at will through any realm, including the Real World. Luckily, his tower had many doors, including some to the human realm—Not that he was planning on going there any time soon. But he felt somewhat obligated to at least keep an eye on the Observants. And since he had seen in the timeline how Iluzisto would place them into the time stream at this moment, Clockwork knew he could 'check' on his employers by using his Time Viewing Orb...

In any case, he had no intention of rescuing them. He tried to warn them; but as usual, they were too arrogant to listen. So, now they would have to reap what they sowed.

"Everything is as _they_ wanted it to be," Clockwork said coolly as he walked across the main part of his home and eaved a hand across his viewing orb…

* * *

Iluzisto gasped when instead of the portal opening up where he had wanted—which had been near the young crossbreed's house—it opened up at the outskirts of Amity Park.

"How… strange," Iluzisto muttered, glancing at the staff in his hand, which still looked like his own expect for the added 'clock' at the base of the black crystal and the pulsing blue energy which alternated with his own purple one…

He had been sure he had commanded the staff to take him near the young crossbreed's home. After all, the time staff could open up portals to anywhere as long as you commanded it and had an image in mind of the place you wished to go—similar to teleportation, really. So, why was he now _out here?_

Iluzisto turned his eye to the city, only to jolt in surprise when he finally saw that there was a bright green shield covering almost the whole city.

He growled, remembering he had seen a smaller version of this strange barrier surrounding the older crossbreed's home when he had first gone there to capture him and the younger one.

"Fools," he sneered and aimed his weapon at the shield and fired a blast. But even with all its power, the attack did not penetrate and just bounced off the shield. Even more angered, he tried creating another portal, so that it was under the shield. But as quick as the portal appeared, it just as quickly fizzled out of existence.

"What is this made of?" Iluzisto wondered irritably, though he was just as baffled that he could not create a portal into the town. It was odd. Wasn't Clockwork's staff known for being able to travel freely through any time and realm? So, then, why was a mere energy shield keeping him out of this place when he had the Time Staff?

Iluzisto growled in growing frustration and tried to create another portal once more. But when that failed again, he even tried teleportation, and still, the illusionist spirit could not get past the shield!

"Wait…," he suddenly said thoughtfully, trying to recall some of things he had seen and heard at the trial. "I am sure that at least the young crossbreed has a permanent portal at his home. I could access it through the Ghost Zone!"

Iluzisto grinned and quickly made another portal, this one leading into the Ghost Zone. He didn't know where the young crossbreed's portal was, but he was sure he could find it! And perhaps this delay in his final plans for the crossbreeds was not all bad. He still had several things to prepare before he could properly deal with them…

"Escape is only an illusion, crossbreeds. Hide under your pathetic shield all you want, I **will** find you!"

* * *

**Translations:**

**(1) Ceremonio de Ekzekuo = Esperanto for "Ceremony of Execution"**

**(2)"I, Head Observant Justeco, now call upon the power of Timeless Magic to fulfill our decree and carry out justice through the **_**Ceremonio de Ekzekuto."**_

_**(3)"Let it be so, for we are as one accord for all to view and hear." **_

**(4)"Timeless Magic Spell, make yourself real now and guide yourself to those we have observed and marked as threats." **

"_**Let it be so, for we are as one accord for all to view and hear."**_

**(5)"Help us protect Time and Existence from their evil and disorder. Give us justice and deliver it to those marked the moment we give the word of their doom." **

"_**Let it be so, for we are as one accord for all to view and hear."**_

_**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx**_

**Pearl: Say 'Aye' if you feel sorry for the Observants! *hears cricket* Aw, you guys are mean! Haven't you heard of forgiveness? Okay, okay! I gotta admit they had this coming. They have been complete jerks. But I do feel pity for them myself... *Vlad muse scoffs in disgust* What? Oh, fine. I'll be quiet! *sticks out tongue* Anyways, it seems we have a trigger-happy and power-happy-and-hungry, crazy, illusion-willing spirit with CW's staff and Okulo's orb on the loose! Oh crud! That's very bad... yup. Very bad. And... poor Vlad and Danny! It seems that on top of everything, they are now cursed by some killing spell! What the heck is wrong with your authors? I-I mean, don't worry! You know good always vanquishes evil in our stories... er, eventually. heh-heh! Okay, well, enough ranting! On to something more interesting. About CM, I am working on that next chapter. I have been busy as usual, but I am working on it. As for DoaS, no, I have not abandoned it. I just am so close to finishing CM that I've been focusing mostly on it. You know once I am finished with CM, I'll be able to give DoaS so much more attention; so you can say it's kinda on a 'hiatus', but not really since I'm not stuck on it or anything; and I AM working on it, just very slowly. At least, until CM is done. So, sorry for all those who are waiting for DoaS, but I promise to make it up to you as soon as CM is done! Kay?**

**Well, ta for now! Share your thoughts please... We've been missing a lot of you readers reviews who haven't been reviewing as of late. You are not obligated to do so, of course, but it really makes us so happy when you do. So, if you could leave us your thoughts, that would be awesome! Okay, ta for real this time! Thanks for all your support! XD**

**A/N: truephan here: Well, were any of you surprised with this chapter? OK, officially smart people, I'm sure you knew that the O's were going to get it, especially since the title of the chapter so deliciously tells you that…But did you think they would be condemned like this, to be subjected to the ravishes of time? And I'm also curious if you noticed that Iluzisto had gotten to look as ugly as he did with all those holes and blemishes all over him because he was affected by time with those wrist restraints. Just wondering about your thoughts, of course… so don't be afraid to let us know them! Until next time, then, dear readers, thank you for your support!**


	26. Chapter 26: Take Two Breaths

**Truephan here: Hello again, everyone! And thank you so much again for all your reviews and support. It sure keeps us cool on these hot summer days! Heh-heh. And we hope you're having a great day and your summers are going well, too! Well, lookey here! Time for an update! Are you as worried about the hybrids as we are? Well, then, good, because this chapter is going to let you know how their doing and you can judge for yourselves if this brings your blood pressures down. But then again, why would we want you to do that? Heh-heh…And right before pearl gets the bullhorn, we want to thank Balshumet for letting us use her little sweetly evil nickname for Iluzisto. And, just for her, we let Danny say it for her. Thanks again, Balshumet! And thanks go out to Desiree Phantom for her review. We couldn't give her a PM but would like to thank her all the same! Hope to keep you excited and see you down below!**

**Pearl: Yay! Fun time again! Oh, and sorry for the day-late update. Totally my fault! Well, I don't have much to say, just enjoy the chapter and… take a deep breath… Or, two. Heh-heh….**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Take Two Breaths**

* * *

Shortly after Danny fell unconscious in the cave, Skulker had immediately set to work. Not only did he still need to tend to Vlad, but he also was busy with other things.

Team Phantom, in the meantime, was clustered together and sitting several feet away from the cyborg ghost and the still senseless Vlad. They weren't that far from Danny, who was still out for the count, so they knew they could still whisper among themselves without disturbing Danny—or Skulker and Plasmius for that matter. They still had their Observant weapons, which they had already placed on the ground in front of them once they knew they had nothing to do at the moment but talk. They wanted to make sure their weapons were within reach should the Observants discover where they went.

"Man, I'm sure glad to get out of that place!" Tucker sighed, taking a bite of Danny's unfinished granola bar. He then lifted it up, offering some of it to Jazz and Sam, who promptly shook their heads in refusal.

"Yeah, me, too!" Jazz agreed. "That place gave me the major creeps."

Sam just kept quiet, listening to her friends while intermittently shooting side glances at Skulker to see what he was doing or glancing worriedly at Danny.

The three fell to silence for a few moments before Jazz noticed how skittish Sam was all this time. The red-head then glanced over at the cyborg ghost, too, before looking back at her friends and suggesting, "Shouldn't we ask Skulker if we can help?"

Half-listening to Jazz, Sam finally commented in a quiet, yet suspicious, voice, "Just what is he doing anyways?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Tucker remarked as he shoved the rest of the granola bar into his pants pocket and pulled himself off of the cold floor.

The girls watched as their male friend walked steadily toward the Ghost Hunter before slowing just a couple of feet from the ghost. They were thankful that they could still hear their short conversation, even if their voices echoed a little within this cave.

"Uh, is there anything we can do, Skulker?" Tucker tentatively asked.

"I work more efficiently by myself, pup," Skulker tersely said at first. "I will need to do a bit of preparations before we venture further."

Tucker paused, not sure what to say to that. But then he finally replied, "Uh, well, okay. If you need anything, please let us know."

Just as he turned to go, the cyborg ghost remarked less tersely, "Do not think your offer has gone unnoticed. But understand that I work much more quickly on my own."

Tucker bit his lower lip and nodded before he turned to go. He made his way back, glancing worriedly at his still unconscious best friend. He didn't like what he saw but still quickly rejoined the girls.

Just as he sat down, he whispered to his friends, "Could you hear what Skulker said?" When the girls nodded, he quietly added his real concern, "Do you think Danny will be all right? And now that I think about it, what was that medicine that Skulker said that Danny will need? Do you think it'll get rid of _that thing_?"

"I don't know, Tucker," Jazz replied, also keeping her voice low, and knowing what he meant when he said 'that thing'. All three had noticed the scarlet brands on both hybrids' foreheads ever since they first saw them, but of course they all were _way_ too busy trying to escape rather than take the time to ask about them. And now that both of the hybrids were still unconscious, the three teens would still have to wait for any explanation.

Jazz then added, "But we all know something definitely happened to Danny physically besides that ugly thing on his forehead. But I know that something also happened mentally to him and I'm worried."

Once again, the trio fell silent.

Several moments later, Jazz said, "I wonder where we are?"

Pulling out his PDA, Tucker said a little excitedly, "Hey, I forgot that I can check on that!"

But Sam just grumbled, "As long as we get back home, who cares? I just wish we'd get going." She quickly glanced back at Skulker, Vlad and then Danny. She frowned when she could see that her best friend still had not stirred.

"Hey, Sam, I was just trying to help. I just thought it would be good to know where we are so we would know how long it would take us to get to, uh, wherever we're going," Tucker said a bit defensively before he frowned and looked back down at his PDA.

Sam's face fell before she apologized, "Sorry, Tucker, it's just that…"

Looking back up at her, Tucker gently cut her off, "Hey, it's okay, Sam. Honestly. I understand. I'm worried, too."

Sam smiled weakly at her friend before all of Team Phantom reflexively looked over to Danny again. He seemed to be comfortable, but he was very pale and he was sleeping very deeply. The trio glanced at each other once again. None of them had anything else to say for the time being.

The only things making any sounds in the next few minutes were the heavy breathing of both of the unconscious hybrids, the tapping of keys from Skulker and Tucker, and the sound of dripping water faintly echoing from somewhere deeper in this cave.

Finally, Tucker quietly cleared his voice and told the girls, "I think we're somewhere in the Rockies, and you know that means that we have a lot of ground to cover before we get home."

"And that means we have to depend on Skulker to get home," Sam grumbled.

"But you know," Tucker added, "Skulker might take Vlad to his chalet that's somewhere here in the Rockies."

"But he won't," Sam simply replied.

"How do you know that, Sam?" Jazz piped in. "Vlad is very hurt and this does qualify as an emergency of sorts."

Sam squared her chin, certain of her hunch. "Hello! Vlad's been mayor of Amity for a while now and don't you think he would always have whatever he needs in the place he's at the most? Then, that would be his home in Amity, not anywhere else."

"Well, that's a good point, Sam…" Jazz replied, relaxing a bit, "…especially since I can't remember the last time that snoopy news reporter, you know, that 'Lance' guy, said anything about Vlad going off to one of his other homes."

"Then we're safe to assume that we're going back to Amity?" Tucker asked.

The threesome glanced at each other in silence, nodding a bit to try to assure each other that they were right in their assumption, even when they still were unsure of it.

Finally, Sam looked over to Skulker. And seeing that the Ghost Hunter was now busy gathering what looked like scraps of debris and doing something to them, she said in a firm hush, "I think we should have Skulker drop us off at yours and Danny's house, Jazz."

"Why, Sam? Skulker says that Danny will need some medicine, so shouldn't we go to Vlad's house, especially when we'll still be in Amity?" Jazz said, slightly objecting.

Sam looked back at Skulker and then glanced at her senseless friend again. Even though she really partially agreed with Jazz, she bit her lower lip before replying, "I agree with you that Danny needs to rest, get some food and maybe even take some medicine. But most of all, he need to be _safe_!"

"What do you mean, Sam?" Tucker asked, now getting more concerned when he could see the gravity on his female best friend's face.

Jazz, too, focused more on the raven-haired girl.

"Don't you get it?" Sam began in a hush, grabbing another quick glance at Skulker to make sure he was still busy before turning back to her two friends. "The moment Skulker gets Plasmius back to his home, our truce will be over and Danny will be fair game to Skulker again."

"I think you're wrong, Sam," Jazz began before her female friend firmly, yet quietly, cut her off.

"Hear me out, Jazz. Skulker is Plasmius' _ally_, not _ours_. Don't you remember how he almost wasted us at first when we tried to get him to talk to us and how hard it was to convince him to help us? And even after that, remember how we had to be careful what we said to him while we were trying to look for Danny?"

"Like you said, that was 'at first', Sam," Jazz countered. "None of us trusted the other then. But in the end, he came through for us."

"He 'came through for us' because of _Plasmius,_ not because of _Danny or any of us_," Sam insisted. "Somehow, he needed us or else I don't think he would have been so 'cooperative'—if you want to call it that."

"But…He was beginning to grow on me," Jazz sadly added. "In fact, I don't even want to call him 'Ghost X' anymore."

Tucker and Sam smiled weakly at her comment before Tucker spoke up. "Hey, I understand how you feel, Jazz. I was sorta beginning to like him, too, since we all got to see a side of Skulker that we never saw before. And it would be great to have him as an ally. But honestly, Jazz, I have to agree with Sam on this one. After all, we have a history with him. And even though I think we all got the feeling that Skulker keeps his word, I also think he was keeping his word all this while for _Plasmius'_ sake… And once Plasmius is completely safe, that would be the end of it."

"But what if Danny needs that medicine like Skulker said?" Jazz persisted.

Sam and Tucker paused. That was a good point.

But Sam replied with determination, "Since when did Skulker become a doctor? And how do we know whether Danny needs any kind of medicine? Maybe that's the way Skulker wants to lure Danny into another trap—his! Oh, and let's not forget that Vlad's Danny's arch-enemy. How do we know Vlad would even _want_ to help Danny now that he's not _forced_ to get along?"

The trio fell into silence again, uncertain on what to do now.

Just then, however, Danny groaned and started to stir.

The threesome immediately hurried to and then knelt next to him.

Jazz gently grabbed one of her brother's hands and quietly asked, "Danny? It's me, Jazz. How are you feeling?"

Danny struggled to open his eyes. But even when he finally did, he was having a hard time focusing on the three teens around him. He finally managed to say, "Terrible." But his word was slurred.

Tucker frowned but nevertheless kept his voice low enough for Skulker not to hear, "Dude, Skulker wants to take us all to Vlad's place to get you some medicine."

"No!" Danny definitely said, his voice a bit stronger. "I want to go home, guys. All I need is some more rest and some food, and I want to do that at home."

The young hybrid now understood the saying, 'there's no place like home'. He was so homesick that he just wanted to be in _his_ bed, in _his_ house, where things were familiar again and he felt safe…

Team Phantom briefly glanced at each other. They were partially relieved that Danny had made the decision for them after all.

Still, Jazz replied, "Are you sure, little brother? You still don't look like you feel well."

"Yeah, I'm sure, Jazz. Please," he replied, feeling light-headed once more.

"But what if…?" Jazz began, only to see that her brother had drifted out of consciousness again.

The alert teens looked at each other again before Sam quietly but firmly said, "We all heard him. We have to get Skulker to take us to your house, Jazz."

Jazz bit her lower lip, glancing between her brother and her two friends. She finally said, "Okay, guys, we'll go home."

At least Sam breathed a sigh of relief even as she unconsciously reached for Danny's other hand and squeezed it a little.

But just then, Skulker loudly cleared his throat. Sam quickly pulled her hand away from Danny's and looked up at the ghost.

"I know where we are, whelps, and Plasmius should be well enough to travel now that his wound has stopped bleeding. I have also made some makeshift stretchers to carry him and the Ghost Boy in our next leg of travel. And we will be heading to Plasmius' home in Amity Park since the supplies he will need are there. I suggest we go," the Ghost Hunter said almost casually.

Although all three teens were relieved with the news that they were going to Amity after all, Sam immediately got up from Danny's side and stepped forward, along with her friends.

"All right, Skulker, we agree, but…" Sam began, only for her to stop when she felt someone grab and gently squeeze her upper arm. She turned and looked at Jazz. The Goth girl knew from Jazz's face as well as from her gentle nudge that the older teen wanted Sam to let her handled this. Sam frowned slightly but then silently nodded in agreement.

Skulker, meanwhile, hitched one of his eyebrows up in surprise and slight suspicion at the pair's silent exchange before he asked, "But what?"

"Skulker," Jazz gently began, "We just wanted you to know how much we appreciated your helping us all this time, and…"

The cyborg ghost suddenly interrupted her, "No appreciation is needed. And what does this have to do with leaving?"

"Nothing, really, but we wanted to let you know that. But, we also would like to ask you for another favor," Jazz continued, carefully choosing her words and keeping her tone as steady as possible.

Skulker raised one of his eyebrows in even more suspicion this time as he tersely replied, "Which is….?"

"If it's not too much trouble," she began, "would you mind just dropping us all off at Danny's and my house? We, uhm, were talking about it and think that Danny will be alright as long as he just gets some more rest and some food. He even told us that himself a few minutes ago when he woke up for a moment. Not that we don't appreciate your offer to get Danny some medicine, you know." She ended with a weak, yet encouraging, smile.

Skulker studied her and the other two human teens' faces for a moment. He also could smell their apprehension….and something else. He frowned as he thought a moment about it. He really had given his word that he would get the Ghost Boy some medicine. Still, the way they smelled was undeniable and he then realized that he really couldn't blame them for not trusting him now. Maybe he should feel the same way—only, he didn't really _want_ to feel like he should…

Still, the ghost said, "Your home _is_ on the way. Very well, then. I will bring you there. And it is time to go."

This time, the threesome relaxed and quickly helped Skulker place Danny and Vlad on those makeshift stretchers that the Ghost Hunter had made. They readied themselves, including keeping hold of the remaining Observant weapons.

And then they were on their way; though all along the way to Amity Park, the foursome did not exchange any words.

The three teens then tensed a bit when they could see the outskirts of Amity Park. They were almost home! And finally, they could see the tacky roof of Fenton Works. In no time, Skulker had phased through the roof until he reached Danny's room. And then he left the three teens standing on the floor right after he had deposited Danny on his bed.

"Thank you again, Skulker," Jazz sincerely said.

"Yeah, dude," Tucker added with a weak, though honest, smile.

Sam just nodded, even though Skulker could tell that it, too, was a genuine gesture of thanks on her part.

Skulker eyed them all a moment before he turned away from them without a word; turned himself and Vlad, who was still secure on his makeshift stretcher, intangible; and then carefully soared upward and out of Fenton Works, heading towards his employer's home here in this town just twenty minutes away.

Once they were sure that Skulker was gone, Jazz sadly said, "We should have trusted him."

"Maybe. But his loyalty is to Plasmius _first_," Sam firmly reiterated.

Jazz and Tucker looked at their friend. Even though deep down they knew she was right, they were still a bit saddened with the loss of what could have been a wonderful friendship with Skulker.

Sam bit the inside of her lower lip before suddenly walking toward the nearby window so that they could not see her face fall in regret as well. Even though she knew she was right, she somehow gotten vibes from what her two friends had felt and really agreed. It would have been a plus to have some kind of alliance with such a brave, honorable and loyal ghost as Skulker…

* * *

It was about ten in the morning the next day when Vlad finally regained consciousness. But when waking up also included realizing that he was in pain, he began to prefer being back in the dream world, where he could easily ignore his aching body and embrace that dream that he was back home, sleeping on his bed that cost ridiculously enough to really be made of clouds…

However, when his mind and body began to realize that he was indeed laying on something as soft, he forced his eyes open with a gasp of alarm. He quickly sat up, only to regret it and hiss as he gripped his chest when a biting pain shot through his muscles there. He lowered his blurry gaze and his eyebrows creased with uncertainty as he stared at his unclothed chest which was wrapped in white gauze.

He slowly looked up and stared around at what first were foreign surroundings. But then, they grew familiar once his blurry vision became more focused. He was… in his room—in his mansion in Amity Park.

But… he couldn't believe it. Hadn't he been trapped in some jail cell under the Observants orders with a demented illusionist spirit as his warden?

So… How was he home?

Unless…..Had that all been a horrible nightmare?

But a deeper pain, suddenly throbbing from inside his chest quickly made him realize that that hadn't been any nightmare. It had been real. And his… painful dormant core was solid proof.

Then, did that mean he was trapped in an illusion again? Was Iluzisto messing with him?

Vlad narrowed his eyes a bit, his body tensing as he continued to look around with a still murky mind, though it was still alert enough for him to be suspicious.

Suddenly, his door opened and he almost jumped out of his bed. But when he saw his closest ally walk in, the man froze again.

Skulker frowned at the wary look on his employer's face; but deciding to break the sudden silence, the hunter cleared his throat and said, "I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake… Are you alright?" he added, a bit troubled by his employer's odd behavior.

Vlad stared at the hunter for another moment before swallowing against his dry throat and then at last speaking up; but the only thing he could think of saying was, "I'm… home."

Skulker raised an eyebrow. "Yes…I brought you to your Amity Park abode."

"But I was…," Vlad began again, but then suddenly, covered his face with his hands and groaned. He just took in even breaths for a moment as he willed his mind to fully clear; and when it finally did, his memories also returned to fully clarity.

Vlad quickly lowered his hands and stared back at Skulker, just as abruptly asking, "Daniel?"

Skulker searched his employer's face for a second, unsure if he was truly seeing worry in the man's expression. Since when did Plasmius care about the whelp? But then again, he had to remember that his employer had been locked up with the Ghost Boy for some days now; so perhaps, something grew between them while they were there…

Skulker couldn't help but suddenly remember the Ghost Boy's sister and friends and his time with them. But when he felt a strange stirring in his chest, he quickly squashed his thoughts and at last replied, "He is at his own home. The whelp's friends and sister insisted to take him to their own abode. I simply respected their wishes."

Vlad scoffed lightly, but not really at Skulker's response. He just couldn't believe they had escaped. When they had been trapped in that hallway, he had been certain they were all done for, even before he got knocked out. Their escape was so unbelievable that part of him was still warning him that this might be just another illusion.

Vlad's eyebrows creased as he inspected his wrapped chest before he glanced back at the hunter and asked, "How did you do it? How did you and those children manage to break into that fortress, find us, and get us all out alive?"

A smirk slowly curled on Skulker's lips as he crossed his arms and leaned on the door's frame. "I am the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. And the whelp's helpers are a headstrong and determined bunch. It was hardly an effort."

Vlad's own lips curved upward as he realized that this couldn't possibly be an illusion—no one could replicate his ally's egotism and quirks.

The billionaire shook his head a bit before lightly chuckling. "Ah, yes…How could I forget…? How fortunate, then, are Daniel and I…"

Skulker frowned a bit this time as he asked, confused, "For escaping?"

Vlad shook his head. "No… We're fortune to have such loyal…friends."

The hunter's eyebrows shot up. Wait. Had Plasmius just called him a…?

"Excuse me, sir, sorry to interrupt," a third voice said from the doorway, and both Skulker and Vlad looked in its direction.

"Derek?" Vlad questioned, confused. What was his butler doing here? He was sure he had sent them away to his castle in Wisconsin after Iluzisto appeared, posing enough threat for him to be concerned for his staff's safety.

"I took the liberty of calling your staff back, Plasmius," Skulker explained, guessing what the man was thinking. "I do not think you would like anything I could prepare you for nourishment, so I was certain they would do a better job with that…"

Vlad finally noticed that his butler had a roller table with him with three covered dishes on it. At that moment, the billionaire suddenly remembered how starved he was.

But there was one thing he wanted more than food right now…

"Leave it, Derek. Thank you," Vlad calmly ordered his ghostly butler before he moved to stand from the bed.

Derek left the trolley in his employer's room before he disappeared.

Meanwhile, Skulker watched as Plasmius held a hand against his chest and slowly got to his feet.

Resisting the odd urge to offer the man help, Skulker instead said, "You got a serious injury from the guard's weapon. It was a level nine weapon, after all… I wrapped up the wound; but… I am certain you will know how to treat it better."

Vlad just nodded as he moved towards his closet to get a change of clothes. He wasn't as concerned for the injury to his chest as he was concerned for his damaged core, which was probably why the injury on his chest wasn't healing as fast as it should have been…

Skulker suddenly cleared his throat and said, "Well, I will take my leave. I have repairs to make to my lair thanks to that spirit Iluzisto."

But the mention of the spirit quickly stopped Vlad dead in his tracks, and he tensed as he recalled something.

"Today was our execution…," the man whispered before he quickly looked at his closet's door length mirror and saw the bright red numbers still on his forehead. He pressed a hand against it, feeling his dread begin to swell. He had thought this brand would disappear once they were out of the Observant's realm…

He was clearly wrong.

But there was one other thing that now worried Vlad more:

They had escaped, but nothing was to say that Iluzisto and the Observants would not come after him and Daniel and try to recapture them so as to make sure their dark fate would be upon them. In fact, it was almost certain they would come for them once the Observants became aware of their escape.

Vlad focused on his core and tried to stir it, only to gasp in pain and grip his chest.

This time, Skulker took a step forward and asked with concern, "Plasmius?"

"I-I have to raise the ghost shields," Vlad breathed out. "The Observants and that wretched illusionist spirit will not allow me and Daniel to escape from their clutches this easily. I need to take precautions, at least until I can figure out how to fix my damaged core."

"Damaged core?" Skulker asked, now truly worried. "How did that happen?"

"I'll tell you at another moment," Vlad said dismissingly as he forced himself to move and head towards his room's exit. But just as he got there, another jolt of pain came from his chest, followed by a wave of weakness.

The billionaire staggered forward, and would have fallen face first if Skulker hadn't grabbed one of his arms to steady him.

Skulker studied his employer before seriously saying, "I think you should rest, Plasmius."

Vlad pulled his arm from Skulker's hold, his frustration and pride returning as he answered, "I'll be fine, Skulker! And in any case, I do not have time to rest! I need—"

"I insist," Skulker cut him off. "I will take care of the shields for you. And anything else if you will allow me. After all, I have no true hurry to return home. The repairs are not that… urgent."

It was Vlad's turn to look surprised by the hunter's remark. Was Skulker actually concerned for him?

Too stunned to argue, Vlad just nodded.

Skulker nodded back before turning and floating off to get the shields up and the rest of the ghost security. Suddenly, the hunter's determination to aid his ally was stronger than ever. Perhaps it was because deep down he knew he wasn't just helping his ally anymore, but… a friend. The idea was foreign to him, but he did not want to think about it at the moment. All Skulker knew was that he had a new task to fulfill.

Besides, Plasmius was too weak to protect himself from any possible attempts of an attack from the Observants. It was only honorable of the hunter to stay with his employer and protect him until he could do it himself…

Meanwhile, Vlad stared after Skulker. He would have thanked the hunter if he wasn't so surprised by his… care. But then again, 'thank you' would never express how grateful the billionaire truly was for all Skulker had just done and was doing for him…

Vlad smiled a bit as he muttered to himself, "Perhaps I should have mentioned how fitting that new suit looks on him…"

With a huff of amusement, the man turned and returned to his closet. He picked out something comfortable before heading into his bathroom.

He paused as he looked at his grand Jacuzzi.

"At last…," he said with an exhale. He had been dying for a real bath—and for once, he planned on taking his time…

* * *

After his bath— during which the man had been careful to keep his bandages dry—Vlad had sat down to eat his breakfast in his room. He usually preferred the dining room, but he was too tired and hungry to tread the distance. The billionaire always knew his cook was an excellent chef, but the food he had prepared him today was twice as good to his taste buds after eating gray glowing mush these past days and starving most of the time in that horrible jail.

It was amazing how a bath and proper nourishment could lift someone's energy and spirit. Vlad wanted to go back to bed and just sleep for the rest of the day; but he was aware that he still had very pressing matters to which to attend.

One, he needed to call the mayoral office and let everyone know he was back and was alright.

Also…, as he thought of his own problems, he couldn't help but remember Daniel—and his friends and sister, too, he supposed.

Daniel and he had been missing for days, and Vlad had to wonder how Danny planned on covering that up. And he was almost certain that the boy's 'helpers', as Skulker called them, had not been to school or to their house in those days, either…

Vlad really shouldn't care, but…

The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before he headed into his office. He went over to his desk chair and turned on his computer before reaching a little further to the left and picking up a control.

He turned on the small flat television mounted on the wall in front of him and switched it to the local news…

Vlad frowned when he realized that there was an actual TV crew just outside his mansion, talking about his disappearance…

Well, that wasn't good. But at least the news did not seem aware _yet_ of Daniel and his friends and sister's absences… If they knew, that would make matters worse.

Vlad could not have anyone making any assumptions, or worse, connections with his disappearance and Daniel's…, especially if the Guys-in-White were now snooping around and suspecting 'something ghostly' was involved in all this…

No, he had to do something now before things got worse…

Vlad turned his gaze from the TV after a few more minutes before he focused on his computer and pulled up his phone directory.

With a sigh and a hand pressed against his chest, Vlad picked up his phone, muttering to himself, "I suppose it falls on me to do damage control, then…"

* * *

It was now almost noon over at Fenton Works, and all that while, Danny slept with Sam and Tucker keeping watch over him.

None of the kids was aware that at this same moment, the Observants had been impatiently waiting for Iluzisto and the hybrids' arrival to carry out their execution. The Observants had yet to know that the ones who would end up being doomed were them…

Meanwhile, the two best friends had been also quietly discussing what was going to happen next.

Now that they were a bit relieved to get Danny home, Sam and Tucker had time to be worried about something else: their parents. They had been able to convince them before they left for the Ghost Zone to find Skulker that they had a huge project at school and that they would be spending a few days at Danny's to finish it up. Of course, it took some _extra_ convincing on Sam's part, but with Jazz to back up their story to their folks, her parents and Tucker's parents had agreed. Furthermore, Sam and Tucker had been sure to check in with them by phone during breaks from Skulker and their investigating Danny's whereabouts at Vlad's mansion. Not only that, they had also covered their bases at school, too, so that the office wouldn't be calling their parents about any absences. They were pleasantly surprised that Tucker was able to program his PDA to mimic each of their—and even Jazz's—parents' voices when they called in with the story that they all had the flu. Still, they hadn't expected to be _this_ overdue with going home and with school, especially when they had not been able to call their parents anymore while they had been on their rescue mission. So, although their parents were aware that they would be absent, Sam and Tucker were sure their parents had to be at the very least displeased by their lack of calls in the last few days…

But in the end, they agreed that they just didn't have time to worry much more about it until Danny was well enough for all of them to figure a way out of this mess. After all, they both also agreed that they didn't think they were completely through with the Observants just because they had escaped. Sure, they were momentarily protected since Tucker had made sure that the ghost shield around Fenton Works was activated and they still had their Observant weapons, which they kept ready in a corner of Danny's room—just in case. But until Iluzisto was out of the picture, they felt that they were still not out of the stew. And that was why they needed Danny to get well. They all had to figure out what their next step would be.

In the meantime, Jazz was busy cleaning up after their meal which she had fixed and brought to everyone upstairs. Tucker had been especially grateful for the food and they all had quietly eaten their meals by Danny's side. Jazz was also worried about their long absence, but not as much as her friends. Sam and Tucker had already told her about the story they gave to the school and she thought it would fly.

As for Jazz and Danny, luckily their parents had called a couple of days ago and left a message on their answering machine to let Danny and her know that they were going to attend the several day-long workshops that had not been in the original brochure but had been announced during their regular event. They said they would not be returning for a few more days, which meant they wouldn't be home for another two more days. So that snag was covered on this end.

Still, Jazz was more worried about how her brother was doing than anything else. He still had not awoken even when they all tried to get him to do that to eat. And now she was beginning to think that they should have gone to Vlad's for that medicine. Nevertheless, since she didn't want to freak out about that, she kept herself busy with all this cleaning. She sighed when she had just finished. She didn't know which was worse: all the dangers she, her friends and Danny had faced in the Ghost Zone and the Realm Beyond Time—or cold, hard reality!

But before she could mull that over any more, she heard her name being called.

"Jazz! Come here!" Tucker yelled from on top of the stairs.

Jazz hurried up the stairs and met the boy half-way up.

"Danny's awake and he wants something to eat!" Tucker excitedly informed her.

"There's a plate for him in the refrigerator. And I also made some extra sandwiches," Jazz replied, also now both excited and relieved.

"I'll go and get it, okay?" Tucker offered, passing her and flying down the stairs so quickly that the older girl didn't even have time to respond.

Jazz hurried the rest of her way to her brother's room.

Sam was already by Danny's side, helping him to sit up and propping pillows behind him by the time Jazz had come in.

"Danny!" Jazz said with relief in her voice. "Welcome back!"

He smiled weakly but didn't say anything even when Jazz came up and gave him a brief hug.

In no time, Tucker arrived with four large sandwiches, chips and a large glass of juice.

"Thanks, Tuck!" Danny said hoarsely as he grabbed one of the sandwiches and began to slowly and carefully eat.

Tucker, meanwhile, took one of the extra sandwiches that Jazz had made and started to eat that one as the girls silently looked on.

Finally, Danny was through and he said, "I'm already feeling better. Thanks, guys. Those had to be the best sandwiches I've ever had! …But, uh, how did I get here?"

"Skulker brought us here after you told us you wanted to go home, remember?" Sam replied.

Danny frowned in thought before he said, "No, I don't remember that. The last thing I remember was being in some kind of cave and eating a few bites of one of Tucker's granola bars. But, I'm glad I did end up here because I really needed the rest." He chuckled slightly as he added, "In fact, I almost feel like I've been bumming on some kind of tropical island!"

Tucker grinned slightly, now that he was more relieved and he pointed out, "Well, up to now, you had been asleep or something for over fourteen hours, considering we returned late last night and it's already noon now."

"I have?" Danny said with a slight gasp before he chuckled slightly once more, "Man, that's _way_ more than I get on a regular 'after-ghost-fighting' night."

This time, Sam smiled weakly in relief, but she was still worried about her friend since he was still a little pale.

But Jazz was also frowning in concern and said, "Are you sure you're all right, little brother? Skulker did say that you needed some kind of medicine."

Danny paused in thought. He thought he felt okay. Sure, he still had a slightly nagging pain where his central core was, but he didn't think it was all that bad; and since he had been in ghost form when Iluzisto had run him through with the needle part of his weapon, the teen had no serious physical injuries in his human form from it, either. So, he shrugged it off and replied, "Well, I don't feel like I need anything. And you know that I heal pretty quickly."

This time, his sister and friends smiled a bit more now that Danny was sounding stronger and more like himself.

Danny noticed the worry fall off of their faces and he said, "Okay, now that's settled, I want to know everything that happened to you guys and how you knew how and where to look for me, how you even got into the Realm Beyond Time and then into the Observants' fortress—everything!"

"And we want to know everything that happened to you in that putrid place, too, dude," Tucker chimed in.

Suddenly, Danny's face scrunched up with the painful memory of his being first attacked and then ending up at Vlad's….Vlad!

Right away Danny blurted out, "Vlad! How's Vlad? Is he all right?"

At first, the others jumped at his outburst.

But then, Sam frowned in irritation and said, "We don't know and honestly, I don't care. We saw enough to know that he kept you at his house at the beginning of this whole mess. And I don't think it was because he was being _hospitable_."

Danny winced a bit at the bitterness in his friend's voice. But, of course, she was right. Still, he replied, "Yeah, even though you're right about that, Sam; in the end, Iluzisto wanted and captured _both _of us. And I really wouldn't have been able to hold out at all against Iluzisto or escape without Vlad. So, I hope he's all right."

His sister and friends didn't say anything to that, since they had mixed emotions about that. After all, they had to admit that if Vlad hadn't been taken in the first place, they would never have gotten Skulker's help. And they didn't doubt Danny's word that he might not have been able to get through all that mess with Iluzisto without some help—even if it had to be with _Vlad's help._ Not only that, they also had to admit that they barely survived getting attacked themselves by Iluzisto at Skulker's Island, or getting through all those obstacles in the Ghost Zone. So, they probably wouldn't have survived without Skulker's help. So, maybe Danny had a point.

After those few minutes of silence on all of their parts, Danny finally asked, "So, where do you want to start talking about everything?"

"How about the very beginning, little brother?" Jazz gently said with a slight smile. "So, that would mean that you would go first, of course."

Danny nodded and as soon as Team Phantom had sat down, he began to tell them the beginning of his story.

And as they listened to the young hybrid, their eyes unconsciously widened at all of the emotions twisting inside of them as Danny's harrowing experience unfolded.

But it was probably even harder for Danny to relive everything. In fact, at times he would hesitate to tell them certain things—things that his friends and sister could tell had been hard for their half-ghost friend. And some things had been so hard that Danny just wouldn't go into detail, but he still told them.

Finally, after an hour or so, it was Jazz, Sam and Tucker's turn to pick up where Danny left off. And now Danny in turn felt a whirlwind of different emotions as well when he heard how much the three went through for him….

"...So, after getting past that shield, thanks to the Infi-Map, we made it to the Realm Beyond Time," Jazz finished, having been 'assigned' to tell this part of their story .

Danny's eyebrows heightened. "I don't know what to be more surprised about: That the Infi-Map could carry you all; or, that crazy timeless barrier that 'attacked' you."

"Yeah, but the _crazy_ starts _after_ we got past that shield," Sam began, only to be interrupted when something unexpected happened.

Danny suddenly gasped in severe pain and clutched at his chest and his forehead.

His companions startled right away after noticing his reaction, and gasped at something even more alarming…

"What's wrong, Danny?" Jazz blurted out.

"I-I don't know," He breathed out, closing his eyes. His forehead and core were burning!

It took a few minutes, but the pain subdued and he opened his eyes again. Lowering his hand from his head, though he kept a hand on his throbbing chest, he regarded his sister and friends, who had moved closer and were staring at him with apprehension again.

"That... That was weird," Danny muttered, looking both perplexed and concerned himself. "I was feeling great one moment and then I felt all this pain and weakness without any warning. But now that I think of it, I'm still hungry." His frown deepened as he added, "Maybe all I need is something to eat..."

"But that doesn't explain that!" Sam said, pointing to her friend's forehead.

"What?" Danny asked his eyes widening when he saw Sam's reaction, and finally realized that his friends and sister also looked alarmed by something.

"D-Dude," Tucker began. "That red number on your forehead is _glowing_!"

Danny jumped up out of bed and ran over to the mirror over his bureau. He gulped when he saw the red '485' that Okulo had embedded into his forehead was indeed glowing…..But then, just like that, it stopped!

Even though Danny didn't feel that that was good news, he calmed a bit and remarked, "Well, it stopped glowing. Maybe now that we're here in the Real World, it will do crazy things. Not that it's not crazy enough that I still have it, thanks to that putrid Observant Okulo I told you about."

The other three teens frowned in sympathy with him, though none of them knew what to say about it. It didn't matter to them that Danny had to carry that reminder of all his horrible experiences in the Realm Beyond Time; but they still felt sorry for him that he did.

"Let me get you something else to eat, dude," Tucker finally said. "Maybe that'll make you feel better after all." He then smiled sheepishly and added, "Besides, I'm still a little hungry myself."

But little did any of the group know was that the reason Danny had reacted in pain and weakness and the brand had been glowing all of a sudden was because at that moment, the Observants had just finished completing their _Ceremonio de Ekzekuto_, which activated their spell with Timeless Magic…

Tucker was back a very short time later and then Danny felt a little better after eating more.

Once everyone was satisfied that Danny's being hungry must have been what was mostly bothering him, they resumed their conversation about everything that had happened to them; but like a lot of conversations, the group didn't go in perfect order of the events they were relaying since they were all asking each other questions and going on tangents at times. They would, of course, get back to where they had left off, but they still skipped bits and pieces of the entire story.

So, somehow they had skipped those very pieces and were now talking about when Team Phantom and Skulker had ended up in Iluzisto's room.

Sam and Jazz were giving Danny the details when Tucker suddenly blurted out, "That's right!"

He smiled sheepishly when the others had jumped at his outburst before adding, "Sorry, guys! But I just remembered something! I want to tell you about those three 'Real World' items I found in the drawer of that jerk's bedside table."

The others waited for him to continue; but before he did, Danny said, "One of Sam's bracelets and Jazz's headbands, and a piece of your shirt, Tucker…"

"Yeah! How did you know?" Tucker asked, amazed.

Danny swallowed a lump down and replied, "Because that was how Iluzisto—or I should call him Ilu-_sicko_—convinced me that he had…killed…you guys. I knew he went after you after…."

He stopped a moment, his heart burning with a mixture of sorrow and hate at the memory of…Clockwork telling Iluzisto the way that the spirit could mentally break him. Still, he swallowed down another lump and continued, "Like I was saying, I knew he was going to try to kill you after _Clockwork_ told him where to find you."

"Clockwork?" all three of his companions blurted out, stunned. They couldn't believe what Danny just said…Somehow, that couldn't be right. They were sure that Clockwork had… But their thoughts were interrupted when Danny continued to speak, and since they knew he was still very upset about this, they wanted to listen to him first.

"Iluzisto was gone for a while but when he later returned, he showed me those things and they were all still….bloody —and _wet_. And since I almost lost my mind after all that torture he put me through before, I had no problem believing him when he said he had killed you. Especially when he had created the mother of all illusions and I saw and… could actually feel your cold bodies. I didn't know how he was able to do that—make it all seem so real and yet still be an illusion, that is—but he could."

The three others shuddered at the thought, especially when they remembered losing those items—with some pain.

But then, Danny suddenly gasped, feeling more intense pain and weakness all of the sudden.

His friends frowned with more worry and alarm as they rushed over to Danny.

"Are you okay, dude?" Tucker anxiously asked.

"I-I don't know," his friend replied, grasping his chest again. "Can we please just stop talking for a while?"

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker nodded and sat back down.

All four were silent for several minutes.

But all that while, Jazz and her friends bit their lower lips in worry when they could see by the way Danny was breathing that he was in pain.

"Danny, are you…?" Jazz began, only to be rudely cut off by her brother…

"I already said I don't know, Jazz! Just let me rest a bit more, will ya?" he barely panted out.

The truth was he was probably more worried than his friends, because deep down, he knew at least partly what was wrong. His core. Vlad had warned him, and now Danny was almost certain that Iluzisto had at last seriously—if not _permanently_—damaged his ghost core. The teen had hoped all this rest would have helped it recover, but... he was just getting worse now. And... Vlad wasn't even around to ask him what to do about it...

"But I just—" Jazz added, hurt by his response, only to turn to the gentle pressure on her arm.

"Maybe we need to let him get more rest, Jazz," Sam gently whispered, squeezing Jazz's arm just a bit more to show her support. "You know it's not like him to be this harsh. Maybe he's more tired than we all thought."

But neither Sam or Danny were totally right.

With the collar off, Danny had been recuperating rather well physically up to then because of the dynamic nature of his central core. But now, there were still those other reasons why Danny was actually weakening. The main reason was that the Observants' curse was now working its mischief on him, countering his _already_ damaged central core's ability to heal properly. Still, if it could be considered 'lucky', the spell worked more slowly on half-ghosts, so its… deadly effects would not be as obvious—at first. But even then, it didn't help that the mental wounds of all his experiences from this whole affair were being picked open over and over again during all that time he had brought it all up with his friends and sister before this latest painful bout.

Still, even when recalling his disturbing experience had continued to cause him mental pain, it had helped Danny a little to talk to his closest companions about it. True, this terrible experience would always remain with him, but he knew he was strong enough to move on from it. And with his loved ones at his side, he was further sure he would be alright.

Nevertheless, with the spell's activation and with everything still so fresh in his mind, he was fatiguing more quickly—and now having more pain—in the last few minutes, and it wasn't letting up. And even though he was trying to stay alert, he was not doing a good job of it.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker shared a glance with each other at how Danny was acting. They knew that he was struggling to keep his eyes open, even when he hadn't noticed that or that he was quickly losing his train of thought. That was enough for Team Phantom. They weren't going to try to talk about anything else with him right now or try to keep him awake since it looked like it was becoming harder and harder for him to do that anyways.

But Team Phantom all knew how stubborn their half-ghost friend was—even when he was cranky. Underneath, they all agreed after all he went through, they could give him a lot of slack. So, they took it upon themselves to 'trick' Danny into getting more rest.

With a yawn, Jazz gently said, "Man, who thought retelling everything to each other could be so exhausting? Um, Danny? Would you mind if we left you alone now and got a bit of sleep ourselves…? We haven't been able to do that much yet…"

Danny, who had still been a bit out of it, jolted a little and creased his eyebrows at his sister, trying to comprehend what she was saying to him. It was so weird. He had woken up, feeling so much better and growing stronger the more he talked to his sister and friends; but then, suddenly, he was feeling sluggish again and just… weak.

"Danny?" Sam hesitantly asked when her friend didn't respond. She was willing to risk any verbal barb if it assured her that he was alright.

"Oh, uh… yeah. Whatever. I'll be fine," Danny quickly said, though he wasn't sure what he had just agreed to.

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker seemed reluctant to go now, but they knew Danny would not totally rest until they left.

"Well, we'll be close by if you need us, okay, Danny?" Sam said with a sad smile, while Jazz and Tucker nodded.

"Sorry, guys," Danny said, finally comprehending that he had been rude. "It's just that…"

"Hey, it's okay, dude," Tucker said, quietly interrupting his friend. "We get it. Besides, we're pretty beat ourselves."

Danny smiled back and settled back on his bed. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, guys…"

He barely watched them go before he closed his eyes with a sigh. He was so tired, but still so happy to be home. In the back of his mind, he knew this mess was far from being cleaned up, but... it felt nice to have the chance to just… take a breath of relief….

* * *

"So, that weapon Iluzisto has truly has the ability to penetrate a ghost's core and siphon off its energy?" Skulker asked, clearly disturbed.

"He doesn't particularly need his weapon to steal other's energies, but, yes... it can do that," Vlad muttered as he stood in front of a bench in his private lab, mixing a few glowing substances.

Skulker picked up one of the glowing test tubes, lighting up his hand with blue energy before infusing the test tube with the stabilizing ectoplasm. He watched with some fascination as the bright glow in the substance dimmed a bit once it had been bathed within the calmer energy in his hand. However, just as he then gave the evenly-glowing tube to Vlad, he asked tentatively, "And… you think this will repair your core, Plasmius? I know it's helpful for physical injuries, but a damaged core… From my experience, that's impossible to fix."

"In full ghosts, yes," Vlad replied with a tired sigh. "But… with my and the boy's unique cores, well, they naturally can repair themselves; so I hope to boost my core with enough of this purified energy and this healing substance to help my core recover enough for it to do the rest… At least, it is what I hope will happen…"

Skulker seemed unsure. It wasn't like his employer to 'test' things on himself that he wasn't completely sure would work. But it showed how desperate Plasmius was to heal his core, because they both knew that unless he could do so, the man was a sitting duck.

"Did you expand the Ghost Shield's radius like I asked?" Vlad suddenly questioned.

Skulker nodded. "Yes, I did. Amity Park is now completely protected. I just hope that this shield works on spirits, too…."

"It does," Vlad replied as he cut open a leaf from his best healing plant—'The Ives Ghost Plant'—and carefully suctioned the sticky white fluid within the thick leaf into a syringe.

"When Iluzisto first attacked Daniel and I," he continued, "I used this specific shield—impenetrable to even teleportation—and Iluzisto could not penetrate it. So, it should now buy us at least a couple hours…"

Skulker remained silent this time and just continued to watch his employer mix things. It was already past noon. And although Plasmius looked better after eating, changing, and washing up, the hunter could see and smell he was not doing as well as he was acting. For one, he suspected by the fact that the man constantly gripped his chest from pain that the wound was still not healed when it should have been by now; and his employer was very pale and his blue eyes were dimmed, too.

Skulker had also noticed the man wasn't even using his _own _blue energy. It was why Skulker was here helping. The healing antidote his employer was making required stabilization, and it had to be stabilized with blue energy—something his employer could easily do. Yet, he wouldn't do it now. And that only confirmed Skulker's suspicions:

Plasmius' core was so damaged that he could not even bring it out of dormancy without it causing him severe pain.

But Skulker said nothing. And instead, he just decided to help. In all the while, they had been talking here and there about what happened. But they didn't share much of 'their story' of the past few days; and instead focused mostly on speaking about Iluzisto and the Observants and trying to exchange as much information about them as they could. After all, they needed to be ready to confront their enemies.

And although Skulker knew this wasn't his fight per se and that he really had finished his obligation with Plasmius after he had rescued him, the Ghost Hunter couldn't just up and leave right now. And that was because his loyalty to his greatest ally was stirred, now replacing any sense of obligation he once had, especially when Plasmius was as hurt and weak as he was.

So, although Vlad had not asked him and Skulker had not voiced it, the hunter had vowed to himself to see this through with his employer—come what may.

Oh, and there was one other reason why Skulker was sticking around…

"Plasmius?" Skulker called to him suddenly.

Vlad blinked rapidly and looked up at his ally, asking, "What?"

Skulker resisted the urge to roll his eyes and took the vial in his employer's hand and exchanged it for the other one still on the stand on the table.

"You picked up the vial with the pure concentration. You want the _diluted_ version for this antidote, correct?" the hunter asked.

Vlad looked down at the new vial in his hand before slowly nodding. "…Yes, thank you," he muttered before grabbing a dropper and adding a few drops of the pure Ives Ghost Plant to the diluted version of the antidote Skulker had just given him.

Skulker shook his head. Honestly, at this rate his employer was going to kill himself if he didn't watch carefully everything he was doing.

The hunter could tell the man was exhausted. In fact, Skulker had been surprised Plasmius had even come down to the lab. He had thought the man would stay in bed and rest. But… his employer had always been stubborn, especially when he had serious matters over his head… And speaking of which…

"Out of curiosity, How did you explain your disappearance to the humans and ghost hunters in white?" Skulker asked.

Vlad raised an eyebrow, the question surprising him coming from the hunter. Usually, the ghost hardly cared about things like that.

But what Vlad didn't know was that Skulker was trying to keep him focused as well, and the hunter had already discovered that talking helped the man keep alert.

Vlad sighed again before answering, "It was simple. I called the mayoral office and told them that I was indeed attacked by a strong ghost at my home here, but that I was able to get away. I further told them I will be staying at my Wisconsin home until my 'good friends the Fentons' return and can give my home a proper inspection for any ghost contaminants. I ordered them to feed the press that I am simply on vacation for the time being and that the attack on my home was nothing to worry over."

Skulker raised an eyebrow. "But what of the ghost barrier around the town? Will the humans not be concerned about it, especially after their 'leader' got attacked by a strong ghost in his own abode?"

Vlad shrugged. "I explained the Ghost Shield surrounding Amity is a standard precautionary drill. Ghost attacks occur all the time here, Skulker. Its citizens are used to seeing these sorts of shields. In fact, it makes them feel _safe_ when they _do_ see them; so I know no one is really worried or suspects anything out of the ordinary. I further ordered the Guys-in-White to close all investigation since I will have the Fentons take over on their return."

Skulker's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "You can do that? I mean, call off those ghost hunters in white?"

Vlad smirked for the first time in a while. "Of course. Who do you think pays for their funding? The government hardly gives them enough to justify all their latest upgrades lately. Yes, those fools are wrapped around my finger, Skulker. They do as I say. And right now, I do not need their noses in this mess. At least for as long as I can help it, because if Iluzisto returns and he is spotted by these ghost hunters, then not even I will be able to stop them from interfering _and then_ people _will_ be concerned and even panic. That is why I asked you to expand the shield's radius to cover all the town. I need to keep Iluzisto and those Observants out of Amity Park for as long as possible…"

"Well, that covers almost all possible entrances into this town. And I know you have locked down your portal here, but… there is one other portal that could be used as an entryway, Plasmius…," Skulker said seriously.

Vlad frowned, knowing what portal his ally meant. "Yes… and I will have to deal with that as soon as I get my core repaired… Until then, I need this town oblivious to the impending threat of these spirits. And with 'Mayor Masters' away, it means _Plasmius_ has free rein to do what needs to be done… I also took a few more precautions and tied some loose ends before they could become a problem. So, for now, everything is in order…Except for _this_…," Vlad added, lifting up the vial in his hand and inspecting it…

"Does it need more blue energy?" Skulker questioned.

Vlad slowly shook his head. "No… it needs stability, but not too much that its effects are not strong enough for its intended purposes. I suppose I should run some tests on this before I…"

But whatever the older hybrid was going to say was cut off when he suddenly felt a sharp pain against his forehead and he hissed as he gripped his head with his free hand.

"Plasmius!" Skulker exclaimed when the man staggered backwards.

The hunter moved forward and grabbed the vial from the man's hand, just as he collapsed on the ground. Skulker would have grabbed his employer first, but he was sure Plasmius preferred him to save the antidote than to keep him from a small fall.

Nevertheless, Skulker quickly put the vial back on the stand and quickly squatted in front of his employer. But the hunter readily gasped at what he saw.

"Plasmius! Those red numbers on your forehead are burning brighter!" Skulker exclaimed. Although it had been an awkward conversation, the hunter had previously asked his employer about the numbers; so Skulker already knew that the Observants had branded them on his employer. But not only had the numbers _not_ gone away after they had left the Realm Beyond Time, but now they were glowing brightly and were causing his employer pain!

Vlad didn't have to see that his ally was right; he could feel the numbers pulsing and burning painfully on his head. But just when he thought the pain would last forever, it began to fade, just as the bright glow also faded again.

"What was that?" Skulker blurted out.

Vlad closed his eyes, this time gripping his chest as he whispered, "I don't know… but…"

Skulker's eyes widened when he saw a red stain slowly growing larger on his employer's white button-up shirt…

"Plasmius…, your wound is bleeding again…," Skulker said seriously, pointing down at the man's chest.

Vlad looked down, and when he saw the stain, he cursed. He must have aggravated the wound with his fall. But it should have been healed by now!

And instead, he felt weaker. He had been feeling a lot better after eating and bathing and his long rest last night, but… it was like he was suddenly back to square one!

And what bothered him more was his core. Even when it was dormant, it was still hurting. And with the strange glow from the brand on his head, his core was throbbing even more painfully.

He couldn't stand this anymore…

"Skulker, help me," Vlad quietly ordered.

The hunter was a bit surprised by that request, but still helped the man to his feet. Vlad moved over to the work bench with Skulker's help and grabbed the vial, while supporting his weight on the table with his free hand.

With a weak exhale, Vlad then ordered, "I-In the left cabinet at the end where I keep my medical supplies, there are some syringes and needles. Could you bring me one of each, please?"

Skulker frowned, but still went to get those things. However, when he came back and handed the items to his employer and further saw what Plasmius was doing, the hunter could not keep quiet anymore and fearfully questioned, "Plasmius, you are not planning on injecting that into yourself, are you? You have not properly tested it!"

"I've used these substances before, Skulker," Vlad muttered as he filled the syringe with a specific amount of the antidote he had just made.

"Yes, but not in _that_ large dosage or in _that_ concentration! At least test it on a sample of your ghost blood, first!" Skulker replied, his voice louder than necessary with his growing dread.

"I can't, Skulker!" Vlad suddenly snapped. "I cannot morph! My core is so damaged I cannot even change, so how am I going to acquire a sample of my ghost blood? This will work, alright? It… It has to…" Vlad added more quietly.

Skulker stared unsurely at the glowing syringe as his employer added the needle.

"Well, at least lay down before doing this, Plasmius…," Skulker muttered seriously. But when he got a strange look from his employer, he added, "I mean, in case it's too strong. You would not want to aggravate your wound even more, correct?"

Vlad stared at his ally for a moment, but then nodded. "Yes, I suppose you are right..."

But when Plasmius still didn't move from where he was supporting himself on the bench, Skulker realized why and muttered, "Then, let's go…"

Vlad wasn't someone that liked showing weakness to others, especially those that he was supposed to be superior to. And yet, as Skulker allowed him to support his weight on him as they returned back to his room, Vlad didn't feel as awkward or as 'weak' as he had expected. Actually, it was nice to have someone helping him for once…

Much like Daniel had…

They eventually made it to the older hybrid's room and after changing his shirt and bandaging the wound on his chest once more, Vlad finally got into bed. He could barely keep his eyes open by now and even with his mind as murky as it was once more, it troubled him how fast he was suddenly declining again.

He was so out of it that Skulker had had no choice but to be the one to administer the 'antidote'. From their previous conversation, Skulker knew that this would only be dose one of three—if this worked, that is. His employer had made the antidote to be injected in three doses because of how strong it was.

"Just be aware I have never done this before," Skulker muttered to his employer nervously.

Vlad smiled weakly at him and teased, "W-What? Is the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter afraid of pinching someone with a needle?"

"No, I'm just questioning both our sanities at the moment—you for wanting to go through with this, and me for _helping_ you go through with this," Skulker replied seriously before sighing and injecting the serum into the man's shoulder.

The result was instant: a green hue lit up the man's body and he clenched his teeth as he felt the ghostly antidote course through his veins and travel all the way to his core. The painful numbing sensation was not surprising to the older hybrid, since he knew it was the effect of the Ives Ghost Plant; but it was still horribly uncomfortable.

By the time it was over, the man's face was perspiring in a cold sweat and he looked even paler.

"Are you alright?" Skulker asked tentatively, though he was as tense as ever, since for a moment, he had thought he had killed his employer…

"Well, it's… strong," Vlad panted out, but he added with a small smile, "but it has helped the pain in my chest. I-I think this might just work…"

"I guess we won't know until you take the other two doses…," Skulker muttered.

Vlad just nodded, feeling his body now begging him to rest. And seeing that, the hunter sighed and said, "I will go clean up the lab and keep a look out while you rest…"

The older hybrid didn't reply this time, so Skulker just turned and floated out; but just as he was about to leave, his employer stopped him…

"Skulker?" he called quietly.

"Yes?" the hunter replied, turning slightly towards Plasmius.

"…The suit looks good…Very fitting...," Vlad complimented above a whisper; in spite of his tiredness, there was a slightly amused warmth blanketing his voice…

Skulker's lips curled up. "Thanks… I like it, too," he replied before he turned and finally left his employer to rest and enjoy this small breath of relaxation…

Skulker knew that Plasmius—and even the whelp—needed it.

* * *

**Truephan here: Hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it wasn't full of action. *pouts*. Darn! But, heh, we can't expect action out of a pair of curse-laden, central core-injured hybrids, now can we? We do have to give them some time to rest or they would be instant toast—and you know how Danny hates toast! *permission to groan*. Hey, I had to throw some humor in here since this chapter was just taking two breaths here! Hahaha! I'll shut up now! Please share your thoughts with us. And since FF does not Twitter, you'll just have to push that blue button below and twitter us there! OK, NOW I'll shut up! Thanks for all your support! *Ms. Hyde gags truephan***

**Pearl: Heh-heh! Someone is pun-happy today! But you know what they say, 'one or two puns a day keeps the boring doctor away'…. *gets slapped by Vlad muse* Ouch! Okay, geez! Sorry, being 'pun-happy' is contagious! **

**Vlad muse: The only thing contagious here is your abnormality. **

**Pearl: Ha! Vlad muse is making puns now, too! Ha-ha! *avoids ecto-blast* Okay, I'll stop! Un, time to get serious. So, as Truephan said, thanks for your everyone's support and we await your responses and puns! Yes, today, Truphan and I declare it 'pun day'! XD **

**Until next time, dear readers! **


	27. Chapter 27: Meted Justice

**A/N: truephan here: Yes, looks like we're back—just like a bad penny! But, hey, you know, a penny saved is a penny earned. Or is it a penny for your thoughts? Or pinch a penny?**

**Ms. Hyde: Would you please shut your mouth, dearie? The readers don't want to hear any of that blather. They want to read the story!**

**Truephan: You're absolutely right about that Ms. Hyde! So, instead of asking for a penny of their thoughts, I'll just ask the reader to keep their minds opened like a book…Or is it that they're like a book? Or do I throw the book at them?**

**Ms. Hyde (with hatpin in hand): Let me at her! **

**Truephan: YIKES! OK, have fun everyone! Enjoy and Byeeeeeeeee!**

**Pearl: Yeah, late update. My fault again! Vlad muse wanted to go to Disney on Saturday. He likes to wear his mickey hat! XD**

**Vlad muse: Do not! You made me wear it!**

**Pearl: Aw, but you looked so cute! Be glad I didn't make you wear a Minnie hat! ha-ha! Okay! Enjoy the chapter! No hybrids, but it's an important chapter! *winks***

* * *

**Chapter 27: Meted Justice**

* * *

Iluzisto was still not satisfied as he continued to soar through the Ghost Zone in search for the young crossbreed's portal into the Real World...He had complete control over the Realm Beyond Time. He had condemned its Observant inhabitants to certain extinction. And impressively enough, he had even thwarted that smug Clockwork, making the overconfident Time Spirit powerless to do anything to stop him now that he had his Time Staff.

He should be feeling triumphant, but it still wasn't enough for the wicked spirit. He had not been able to get to the crossbreeds yet! Perhaps, then, regurgitating his most relishing thought would help him…He suddenly chuckled. Perhaps those thoughts would help him whittle away the _time_...

His silver-blue eye suddenly glistened with delight at the thought of the Observants—especially Justeco, his sniveling counselor and the High Council members—being locked up like helpless sheep in a pen in that undiscovered cave in the Real World. But more than that, how ironically delicious it now was that all of his former, haughty rulers would be subjugated to the insult of Time as much as he had been; yet theirs would be more agonizing. Their ghostly bodies would fully feel the ravishing effects of Time and be in agony to such an extent that when at last they faced extinction, it would be a true blessing.

Time! Ironical Indeed! It seemed he couldn't keep himself from manipulating it whenever it benefitted him. And not just _Time_, but _Existence_ as well! ...But why should he stop interfering with Time and Existence when he so loved twisting them and making them squirm until they bent to his will? And now more than ever he was going to enjoy doing that even more, as these had merely been the start of his darker purpose, the spark of his evil destiny…

He then huffed at the thought that suddenly bubbled up from his brain before the evil ghost smirked at the sadistic twist of it all. The Observants' own self-righteous and prideful snobbery against other beings had been their own undoing! If they had not been so blinded to thinking themselves the most superior of ghosts, they would have seen him for who he was, and he would not be here. Too bad for them and too good for him! They would now be facing their own extinction because of it! He had even started that for them, too, since he had been able to absorb all of the energy of a few of them before he had them banished—especially that wretched Okulo. Now, he had even more strength, thanks to those arrogant fools!

Served them right, too! After all, the Observants failed to realize that _he_ was the superior spirit—over all beings! That must have been the true reason why they had condemned him. They were envious of his powers. They feared it! No Observant before had ever had the power to create illusions from sheer will as he. Any other Observant had to use some outside relic to enhance their own pitiful powers—like Okulo's pathetic orb. He chuckled. Even now, that was his as well.

Still, even as he relished the thought, Iluzisto was still not satisfied with the Observants' failure... And that just brought his thoughts full circle: his own failure, the one failure on his list that he wanted to erase from all existence before he would complete his ultimate plans. And when that failure was erased, so would any pocket of resistance that might interfere with him; that might prevent him from achieving ultimate control, ultimate rule over all of Time and Existence in both the Ghost Zone and the Real World! After all, he had shown how easily that had been done before and now…now, it would be even easier…

His mind actually eased, caressed with the echoes of his last thought, which momentarily distracted him from his quest. Once he was victorious here, he would extend his terror to other worlds and dimensions. His name would be feared and respected by all of Time, all of Existence. He even had picked a name most fitting for his most supreme station: Iluzisto the Invidious!

The illusionist spirit's mind drifted even more with the intoxicating wafts of power.

No one, not even Clockwork, could oppose him!

But then, he frowned in a moment of doubt. No. It was not impossible, but it could be difficult nevertheless. There would be some that would no doubt resist him:

Humans. He then scoffed at the mere notion of it. He already knew all too well how easy it was for him to fool their petty minds with his illusions. Especially for those who lusted for power and for control over other human lives…Yes, it would be _very easy_ to fool them. And once fooled, they would be easy prey for his devices…

Ghosts. He sneered, quickly diminishing the thought! How even more ridiculously simple to subdue them! After all, once they were tricked into believing his illusions were real, those chimeras would be their undoing!...Undoing indeed! He would be able to absorb all of their energies at will, thus becoming invincible for all eternity!

Spirits. Yes, they could pose a problem. But, fortunately, he was in the process of eliminating the most obtrusive ones, the ones that might have raised an alarm to the other spirits: the Observants. The others? Possibly. But then, usually the spirits kept to themselves in their own realms. If he left them alone, he was certain that they would leave him be.

But then, he grunted in anger as he finally realized what had been really bothering him, why he was not satisfied. His thoughts had come full circle —again. That was the problem. It was that failure he wanted to so much erase that had been gnawing at him all this while. It was neither human nor ghost, but, human _and_ ghost that would give him the most resistance. No, his failure, his opened scab of an ego wound, would be those _two powerful crossbreeds!_

Yes, he had finally become all-powerful from their special powers and had even _almost_ been able to completely destroy them. But because of his own foolishness, they had escaped! He paused. He suddenly realized how even more foolish he had been to have let them escape! They were such unique creatures that they might be able to recover and restore their powers! And once they had returned to full strength, they could be a threat to him. Together, those two might stand a chance and be able to wage a battle that could tip the balance toward defeat—but only if they were _ready_ for him! But if he could catch them off-guard again, attack and defeat each of them separately…Or, better yet! If he could rip out their central cores from the moment he could get a chance to get at them, then he would have no need for other ghosts. With the power of the two crossbreeds, if he totally absorbed their own cores within his core, he would be invincible!

The thought suddenly seized him as if he were an addict, and he thoroughly drew in the high of what would be the certain promise of his complete power over all of Time and Existence. He actually felt dizzy with the enticing hunger for it all.

But then, his thoughts drifted back to reality. It was time to rid of himself of the infernal Plasmius and Phantom—permanently! He knew he had to, since secretly, he was embarrassed that they had escaped him in the end…But they had not really escaped him now that they were under the Timeless Magic curse.

The thought calmed him again and he slowed in speed. He still had….time, especially when he was sure that by then he would have enough control of the Time Staff to roll back time enough so that the curse would be made undone moments before he would pluck the crossbreeds' cores right from them. After all, he could not expect them to just allow him to take what he wanted from them with open arms, weak or not. Not to mention, the crossbreeds still had their allies who would interfere! He would have to lay out his plans carefully, as he always did.

In the meantime, he would amuse himself with taunting and tormenting his former rulers once more. After all, why not? That kind of sport would actually help _charge_ his mind into thinking through the steps in pursuing _and defeating_ the crossbreeds. So, for now, it was best for him to clear his mind.

But he found his thoughts wandering all the same as he was. And they all centered once again on the crossbreeds. He frowned in anger. Of course, his best chance would be to lure them into the Ghost Zone so it would be all the easier to force them into their ghostly forms once more. And once they were ghosts, they were his….

But how to get them there?... But, of course! And he would not even need to _force _them there. He chuckled. He really had Clockwork to thank for that knowledge! Even now, that foolish Time Spirit was no match for his superior intellect. Still, he kept focus on his emerging plans. He knew how he could get them into the Ghost Zone: by capturing or making them believe he had captured the one human creature who was dear to the both of them: Maddie Fenton!

He smiled at how these plans were shaping into very clever ones! But, of course, he would not expect less of himself!

Nevertheless, he had to find that portal!

Alas, however, even after searching diligently, he could not locate that blasted portal. Even the Time Staff was not helpful in that task. He was not certain as to why, but could only suppose that it had no power to locate _human-made_ objects.

But then, how to reach the crossbreeds? He frowned in thought….and one delicious one presented itself to him before it actually made him angry. Of course! There _had_ to be one, another portal into the Real World he could use! The thought angered him more, though he had to admit that he really wasn't surprised!

And… he knew exactly who could tell him where he could find that alternate entrance…

He concentrated on his improved staff, only to narrow his eye in irritation as nothing happened and so he was forced to slow his body to a stop. He inspected the Time Staff and grunted in anger. It seemed he still couldn't use it while moving! He had to stop and concentrate, which annoyed him to no end! He growled. No. He would not let that be another failure.

He then grasped the Time Staff more firmly as he slightly chided himself. "_I will not fail and I have had more than enough time with this staff! And now I wish it to be the perfect time to pay a visit to the ones who will help me..." _

* * *

Justeco sat upon the cold floor of his makeshift prison cell deep within the foreboding bowels of the earthly cave. His lone bloodshot eye was lowered, covered by the hood of his black-and-gold cape, as he sullenly stared at the floor. Even doing that reminded him of all the life energy spilt from his errors since his ghostly aura both accentuated and reflected the blood-red lining of his cape. He shifted uncomfortably, even when his body was also hunched over and his spectral tail was bent upward enough for his elbows to rest upon it. He had already thrown his arms over the hood surrounding his eye, hoping for them to shield him from his emotions—and to drown out the incessant ticking of the clock that Iluzisto had created for their cell.

All in vain.

He groaned in guilt and some real pain, both constant reminders of what he had done. Still how he wished he could be totally alone even when surrounded by his cape and his wretchedness, so that he could wallow in it in peace!

But no! Iluzisto assigned a roommate to him to further his torment. And that cellmate was none other than Konsilisto, the advisor who had been constantly at his side during the crossbreed's trial and among other duties for as long as he had memory. But the former High Tribune instantly regretted that thought, even as he could not help but feel it at the moment.

Still, seeing Konsilisto in his current condition was an even bigger burden to Justeco now that the poor advisor was wailing in his own misery…and therefore, adding to Justeco's own. Not that seeing the pitiful Observant in such dire straits was something the former High Tribune had not seen before. In fact, he knew his advisor all too well. And he knew that Konsilisto was too rigid, and even too sensitive a spirit to be able to resist any kind of…inconvenience, any kind of stress.

Justeco sighed at his next thought. He now wondered why he had even listened to Konsilisto's often misguided advice for these many timeless centuries. Again, it was probably because he felt sorry for him. Even still, there was that _other _reason—that… stronger reason…

"Konsilisto?" Justeco called softly.

But when his counselor just continued to cry, Justeco sighed and glanced around. And seeing there was no one to hear his next words, he turned his eye back to Konsilisto and this time more tenderly called, "..._Brother_?"

This time, Konsilisto glanced up; but hearing his brother address him in a way only reserved when they were alone only filled the advisor with more sorrow, and he buried his face again and wept harder.

Justeco sighed once more as he briefly lowered his gaze, feeling more pangs of guilt inside him. So what if they were brothers? Sometimes, brotherly influences were best left at home and were not to be taken into in extreme and important matters such as ruling a race of spirits.

How the former High Tribune now wished he had come to his senses about his brother then instead of now, when it was too late! If only he had heeded his own gut feeling about rejecting what Konsilisto had advised just of late—that is, about putting the half-ghosts on trial—none of this incredible mess would have happened.

But, now that Justeco thought about it, it wasn't just Konsilisto's doing that he had ordered the trial of the half-ghosts. After all, he as High Tribune had the final say-so. He startled a bit with all these… thoughts. He was suddenly aware that he finally understood the concept of..._time._..including seeing beyond what was in front of him. But this new sudden realization was too disconcerting. And as quickly as he felt that, he tried to erase the unpleasant thought even as he was even more aware that Time was trying to lock it in.

He sighed a bit when he felt another thought coming, one that would come to his rescue. Instead, he groaned when that more brutally painful thought from before erupted again. But still, he knew that it was true and would have to face that truth no matter how hard it stung: that as Head of the Observants, _he_ was now responsible for the destruction of Time and Existence—entities that he and his whole race swore to protect! He had done more harm than any single creature in the universe with that realization. He heaved in sorrow and guilt.

But then, he heard another sigh of sadness and looked up. Konsilisto's eye was now reddened from all the ghostly tears he had unashamedly been shedding since they were locked up here. Pitiful thing!

He pulled himself up and floated over to his brother before putting his arm around him. "Come, come, brother. At least we are still well this earthly hour. And soon, it will be time for us to view the others, as it has become our new and proper custom!"

Konsilisto knew to what his brother was referring. That was just another cruel joke to which Iluzisto had subjected them. The evil spirit had created a magical viewing orb—not unlike a human two-way mirror—which allowed them to watch—but not hear—the slow and agonizing decline of their kin. And this portal would appear every three hours. He could tell that by each agonizing tick of that infernal clock! But the other Observants would not have the same luxury of sharing Justeco and Konsilisto's cruel fate.

"But that will just mean we will be closer to knowing the time of our extinction!" Konsilisto lamented, throwing his hands up to his tearing eye.

Justeco cringed at his brother's poor choice of words. Once again, his decision was, in a sense, still catastrophic! The time of the extinction of the half-ghosts was far more delayed than their own!… But in the end, did it really matter? The time for the viewing portal to appear was drawing near and they would be expected to be present. They really had no choice. He jolted at his next thought….Just as he had given _no choice_ to the half-ghosts!

Still, the former High Tribune shook his head, trying to fling those thoughts out of his mind. He succeeded, but that didn't void the fact that they would have to go to their assigned spot to check the viewing orb. He cringed, wondering if this would be the…hour that an Observant would finally have succumbed to Iluzisto's own meting out their punishment—and thereby rub his and his brother's imaginary noses in their errors and thereby feed into Iluzisto's hunger for savagery, no doubt! Still, Justeco knew he had no _choice_.

There was that word again: 'choice'! But before he could give it any more thought, the viewing orb appeared. Justeco sighed as he glanced at the clock. It was here just like clockwork….

_Clockwork_!

Justeco had almost forgotten about him and how the Time Spirit was just as much a prisoner as he and his kin. But then his eye narrowed in distain at the thought. Served his former employee right for having refused to help them! If Clockwork had only….interfered!

Justeco stopped at the thought before frowning at the next. Still, that was not the point. Right now, he could give the Time Spirit a great big chunk of his mind! As if Clockwork was perfect or had the audacity to refuse doing his job. In fact, Justeco could imagine Clockwork looking at him right now with those unemotional eyes that were just corks on top of all the bottled-up opinions that the Time Ghost undoubtedly had. Just wait until he could see him again! He huffed. And just like Clockwork to dig at him, even when he wasn't even present!

But suddenly, Justeco had a strange sensation seize his central core and just as sudden, Justeco felt that he couldn't blame the Time Spirit. Or, not fully, anyways. After all, it was through _his_ doings as former High Tribune that Iluzisto had gained enough power to take control and capture the Time Staff, and in turn, put all of Time in peril. So, ultimately, the greatest part of the fault was his. Still, the truth seared his central core and he didn't want to think about it any longer. After all, he never once thought before this moment that he was even _capable_ of making errors!

Justeco and Konsilisto floated in silence as they anxiously began to count heads in the viewing orb. They both sighed in relief at the same time. Though many of the Observants were looking worse for the wear, not one of them had perished yet. But they knew this was not the end. The incessant ticking of that nearby clock, which only seemed to grow louder as each minute tramped by, made certain that they _not_ forget…

The two brothers had hardly settled back into their dank cell when they heard a loud noise just toward the entrance to this part of the cave.

And, unfortunately, the noise was _very_ familiar!

The two Observants tensed. They could tell it must be Iluzisto, as the arrogant illusionist spirit was accustomed to barging into any entrance.

Justeco floated over to his cell door and anxiously grabbed its bars, waiting for whatever Iluzisto would demand of them this time.

But Konsilisto just shivered in fear near the far side of the cell.

Finally, the illusionist spirit stormed up to their cell door, his purplish-black and ominous weapon already glowing with his ire.

The two imprisoned Observants then trembled a little but remained silent, waiting for the angry spirit to speak or act first.

Iluzisto did not want to admit that he was having trouble getting to the crossbreeds. Instead, he tersely demanded, "I need to use a faster means into another part of the Real World. You will show me how to do that!"

Suddenly feeling his conscience—and an odd courage—stir within him, Justeco merely replied in a demanding voice, "What other evil do you plan to commit, Iluzisto?"

The former Prison Head answered him with a cruel blast from his weapon, which harshly slammed the former Head Tribune into the hard ground.

Justeco groaned in pain, barely comprehending what Iluzisto then said, "You dare speak to me in this manner? You no longer command anything save maybe the vermin that may perchance crawl in to accompany you here!"

Konsilisto gulped and motioned for his brother to lie still.

When he noticed what his brother was doing, Justeco's eye narrowed, his central core now burning with righteous anger. As he pulled himself up off the ground, he bravely said, "You cannot intimidate me, Iluzisto! And you will not get away with anything that you may have planned."

This time, Iluzisto laughed arrogantly before zapping the former High Tribune with an even more potent blast.

His maniacal laugh increased just as Justeco cried out in even more pain this time, and his body crashed into Konsilisto before the brothers fell to the ground.

Iluzisto floated closer to the cell door, and jeered, "Now, how do you like to be the receiver of meted justice, Justeco? The reality of it certainly stings and your feelings are just as bitter now, are they not?"

But Justeco didn't want to entertain him with any answer, as he pulled himself off of the ground.

Iluzisto's eye narrowed in hate, but he nevertheless said, "Oh, I see now that your voice is mute for the first time in your existence, Justeco! So, now, how would it feel to have you match that disability? Match it, that is, with a permanent blindness to justice, as you so willingly carried these many centuries?"

With a flick of his purplish-black staff, a slender metal rod suddenly appeared in front of the former High Tribune.

Konsilisto's lone eye widened in dread, but he was too terrified to speak or move.

The rod then began to glow, pulsating with heat as the vibrancy of its now reddened tip brightened.

"Your tricks do not frighten me!" Justeco still managed to utter, in spite of the fact that his green pupil had widened a bit in fear.

But Iluzisto had noticed. He jeered, "Oh? We shall see whether you continue with your arrogance! Perhaps this little tool of mine will help persuade you to show me another portal closest to my designation."

Seeing the peril his brother was now in finally goaded Konsilisto to utter, "But you have the Time Staff! It can transport you anywhere!"

"Do you not you think I know that, fool?" Iluzisto hissed before firing an angry beam at the Observant.

Konsilisto was thrust to the ground at the blow and he moaned in pain.

"Leave him be, Iluzisto!" Justeco quickly demanded.

The illusionist spirit grew even more irritated at the former Advisor's comment and the former High Tribune's command. They must then know that something was wrong. But it did not matter whether he confirmed or denied their suspicions. But he would make them tell him what he wanted to know.

He then hissed, "You do not command me, Justeco! Try it again, and I will do worst to your cowardly sibling! And as for the Time Staff, I have yet to master it! At the moment, it is not reliable where it places me—in time or designation! I have to have another means!"

"But the only way into the Real World is whatever portal you could create to get here!" Justeco desperately offered when he saw the hot rod at his eye-level pulsing brighter and hotter. But what really frightened him was the threat to his brother.

"That is not true! There was another, the one upon which you had me put a permanent illusion to hide its sealed entrance!" the angry illusionist spirit countered back. "And, therefore, I would not put it past the 'High and Mighty' Tribune and his pathetic Council to keep a portal _secret_ from the rest of us—just so that you may escape should you be pressured to actually _act_ upon any force against you!"

Justeco's eye narrowed in his own anger. Still, he would not give in and kept mute.

The red hot rod suddenly began to move toward Justeco. The Observant unconsciously backed up, but the rod still slowly pursued him—right at pupil level. Before he knew it, Justeco had his back to the wall, next to his brother, who was still on the ground.

"Please..." Konsilisto pleaded quietly, though he stayed on the ground as he continued to watch what Iluzisto was about to do to his brother.

But Iluzisto shot the former Advisor a dark look, and further threatened, "Silence, worm. You're next!"

Konsilisto could only shake in fear after that.

Meanwhile, the rod still continued on its slow approach, and just when Justeco felt it was too close, the former High Tribune began to throw his hands up to shield his eye.

But before he could successfully do that, Iluzisto pulled out a now very familiar orb which still had control of the former High Tribune's core, and the evil spirit ordered, "_Hands against your side, Justeco. And you will __**watch**__."_

Justeco gasped as his hands unwillingly pressed down against the wall, pinning him there.

Now Justeco was helpless as the hot rod continued on its slow, purposeful course. He groaned in pain and fear when he could now feel the first burning touch of the poker's heat as it neared his large green pupil. And he couldn't even close his eye because of the orb's power over him! As it drew even nearer, and the heat intensified, Justeco groaned more loudly as he felt _and smelled_ the outermost part of his eye being singed long before the actual poker was near enough to penetrate his ghostly flesh.

In the meantime, his brother continued to tremble in dread but was too petrified in fear to act.

His own fear at last overwhelming him, Justeco suddenly found himself yelling, "Enough! I will tell you where the other portal is!"

Instantly, the rod disappeared, along with its searing heat.

Iluzisto opened the cell door and quickly floated to his still-bound prisoner. Locking his glare on Justeco, the evil spirit said with distain, "You disgust me with your passivism! And I knew you were a coward from the moment you did not destroy me!"

He then turned to Konsilisto who was now at his feet and jeered, "And I knew **you** were a sniveling coward from the moment I set my eye on you! You are nothing but a pathetic sycophant ready to blind any Observant eye with your misguided justice!"

The illusionist spirit floated nearer to the former Counselor of the Council, and Konsilisto unconsciously backed away, crawling with his arms behind him, until he was pinned against the wall. The counselor spirit's eye widened in fear as Iluzisto's weapon drew nearer.

Unfortuntely, Justeco was still held in place by Okulo's orb's power, and even though he pleaded for his brother to be left alone, it fell on deaf ears.

But when the needle-like tip of the purplish-black rod finally rested against Konsilisto's neck, Iluzisto stopped.

Iluzisto's eye glistened with amusement. How easily Konsilisto cowered under the merest of threat! Still, the illusionist spirit pressed his weapon slightly against Konsilisto's neck as he finally and smugly told Konsilisto something that Konsilisto thought no one else but he and another knew, "Such a coward _and_ a fool you indeed are, _Counselor!_ You were so blinded, you did not see that _he _would _never _have been involved from the beginning of this whole affair! And you did not see that it was precisely my doing, my power which fooled your myopic eye! But then again, you are so foolish, so sniveling that compared to you, even a youngling could have seen the ruse! So, even having my distain would be _better_ than you deserve!"

Konsilisto's eye sudden widened with the sudden realization to what Iluzisto was alluding. From the beginning, he had been so easily tricked! But then, he lowered his eye in shame. He knew deep down that he deserved every insult that Iluzisto threw at him! After all, he now knew he had failed as Counselor. This was all his fault…

Justeco, meanwhile, frowned in confusion as to why Iluzisto was addressing his brother so cryptically; but he was so upset, he didn't give it another thought. Instead, he also gazed downward, choked with his own shame. He suddenly realized the bitter truth in the evil spirit's words about him. And he thought about all the mess that he and the Observants had made. But then, those very words joggled his brain.

They were almost exactly what Clockwork had once said! Though he was still angry at the Time Master, he could not deny how true those words were.

He looked up at Iluzisto, whose eye was still glistening with glee after humiliating his former Tribune and oppressor and his pathetic counselor.

"Clockwork was right!" Justeco finally muttered, though he had only meant that for himself.

"What? What does that meddling, arrogant spirit have to do with this?" Iluzisto growled.

"Nothing!" Justeco replied in fright. Still, he knew what he had to say. "But, the portal you wish to use is in my chambers. It will actually take you to any place you wish. You merely need to tell it where you want to go…"

"But, brother!" Konsilisto suddenly blurted out, and Justeco firmly interrupted him.

"Not now, Konsilisto! We have no _choice_ in this matter!"

Konsilisto's eye widened; but for some reason, he understood what his brother was saying and he said no more.

Iluzisto laughed again in triumph. "Just to let you know, then, Justeco, _former High Tribune!_ While you continue in your decay, you will have plenty of time to mull over several things. One of those is that you have committed the utmost crime against Time and Existence with your failure to keep me from ripping your governing power from you, and, of course, there is the matter of Clockwork's Time Staff. But now, you will have the blood of the two crossbreeds on your pathetic hands, now that I know the quickest way to them. I nearly totally destroyed them when I had them in prison, and again when they tried to escape. But now, I have to thank you that I did not; though even then, their annihilation is secure. And I want to leave you both with the thought that it all is because of your doing that this has been possible. But more than that…."

He stopped just as he waved his weapon. Suddenly, an image of both of the half-ghosts appeared, and they looked beaten and they were bound against the wall just opposite Justeco.

"I might not have full control of the Time Staff, yet. But I am quickly learning as you can see. Observe, the near future!" Iluzisto said wickedly, pointing his improved staff at the image he had just conjured up. "I know that you cannot resist that urge to observe, just as you will not be able to forget this!"

Iluzisto suddenly shot a blue beam from his staff at the image and it began to play forward. It showed the Iluzisto in the image moving forward and shooting a beam right at the younger half-ghost, who just as quickly yelled and reeled from the onslaught.

Iluzisto turned slightly away from the still yelling victim and glared at Konsilisto, before he hissed, "And this is what will happen to the one you said would rescue you!"

A moment later, Danny Phantom's chest peeled open; and just as his face widened in terror and his screaming increased, a strong green light poured out from the gaping hole in his chest before it turned to white. And at his last heartbeat, a pure white orb finally exited the young half-ghost's body and was quickly absorbed by Okulo's orb.

Danny Phantom's body then melded back into a now dead human teen before his skin shriveled as quickly as a snail being exposed to salt.

Through the entire scene, Iluzisto had been right! Though both Observants were trembling in terror, they were mesmerized by what they thought was the future scene that had just unfolded. They cringed but did not turn away when the same thing happened to the older half-ghost, only that the light that had spewed out of his chest was red before it melded into white.

Vlad Plasmius' body had also melded back into a dead shriveled man.

Then, with lust filling his reddened eye, the Iluzisto in the image pushed Okulo's orb into his own chest before he and the two Observants' cells lit up with Iluzisto's new power.

Suddenly, Iluzisto laughed hideously, but the laugh did not come from the Iluzisto glowing in front of them. It had come from _outside_ their cell door.

Justeco and Konsilisto immediately gasped and shifted their gaze, only to see that the real Iluzisto had retreated from their cell during his illusion. So, what they saw in the end was entirely a trick—or was it since he had the Time Staff?

Nevertheless, Iluzisto darkly laughed once more before he added, "As the future dead humans say: revenge is indeed sweet!"

He continued to laugh as he turned away from them, created a portal with the Time Staff, and left for the Observants' fortress and Justeco's secret portal.

Now, he had the crossbreeds…!

As Iluzisto left, the orb's influence over Justeco fell away and his arms were free. The former Tribune gasped at the sudden release and collapsed to the ground.

Konsilisto immediately pulled himself up off the ground and floated over to him. Without a word, he helped Justeco back up.

Both of them were still trembling, horrified at what they had seen and mortified at the sudden weight of their consciences.

Konsilisto was especially so upset that he could take it no more. He finally blurted out in a quivering voice, "F-Forgive me, brother! Forgive me for my foolishness and my cowardice all these years!"

"No, Konsilisto —" his brother began, only for Konsilisto to cut him off.

"Please, I must tell you!" He then paused, trying to muster his courage. "It is all **my** fault that we are here! It is all **my** fault that the half-ghosts are going to perish so horribly."

"What?" Justeco gasped. "How in the Realm could you—?"

But the former advisor interrupted him once more. "Did you not hear Iluzisto?"

"More than I wanted. But what does that…"

"That is not what I mean," Konsilisto insisted, cutting his brother off yet again. "I am speaking of what he said about Clockwork!"

Justeco's eye squinted in confusion before saying, "I am sorry, brother. I do not understand!"

"I am sorry that I did not confide with you earlier, Justeco, but before we had the half-ghosts arrested, I was warned by Clockwork—or whom I _thought_ was Clockwork—not to utter a word to anyone, lest it caused a disaster!"

But when he saw Justeco frown even more in confusion, he hurriedly blurted out, "And now, I am ashamed to say that I was tragically deceived about this whole thing! I wanted so much to have our dignity restored that I…let Iluzisto fool me!"

Justeco was about to say something when Konsilisto raised his hand for him to be quiet. He then said, "Please, brother, be patient in hearing my explanation."

Justeco nodded, though he still was confused about his brother's unusual behavior.

Konsilisto paused a moment as he collected his thoughts. Finally, he continued, "As you know, you, I, and, really, all of the Observants have been dissatisfied ever since the results of the past events concerning the hybrids. I speak, of course, of the future evil self of the younger half-ghost and the actions of the older one concerning Vortex…"

Justeco nodded, knowing he was referring to Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius. He motioned for his brother to go on.

"But then, not too long ago, Clockwork met privately with me. He told me that Time, Existence and even our own race were in danger!"

"Clockwork?" Justeco then uttered, not believing what he just heard.

Konsilisto then said, "Yes, but I should now say that I **_thought_** it was Clockwork! Only now I know it was not! It was **_Iluzisto_** using one of his illusions to make me _think_ he was Clockwork! Our discontent over the fact that the two half-ghosts were still free in spite of their past actions was known throughout the Realm, including the embarrassment it caused our leadership. I, in particular, was driven to rectify that. But I also can now see that Iluzisto used my foolish pride to his full advantage. And so, it was very easy for me to…let Iluzisto fool me into thinking that if we did _not_ capture and condemn the half-ghosts, Time, Existence and our very race would become extinct!"

"And then, not only did he convince me of that," Konsilisto continued, "the illusion of Clockwork warned me not to reveal that to anyone, that it was my destiny alone to save our race and all that we hold dear and for once, to show all of the Observants my…mettle... And…and as you well know, I strongly advised you to put forth the order for capturing and organizing the trial of those two half-ghosts for this very reason! But as Iluzisto just reminded me, I so easily played into his plan! I am utterly ashamed of myself and do not deserve for you to hear of my counsel again! It has been my own foolishness that has destroyed our kin and has placed all of Existence and Time in peril! I am to blame for this whole tragedy!"

Justeco's eye widened in shock. Iluzisto had been behind this _whole _affair, then? And that only meant that if they _had not_ put the half-ghosts on trial, then they would _not_ be in this predicament! Iluzisto must have known that by bringing the half-ghosts into their realm, he could somehow come to power! He thought about that a moment later and his eye widened in dread. If Iluzisto could get to the hybrids now and absorb all of their power, he would be totally successful! But his brother interrupted his thoughts.

"And thank you for not revealing even more of a fool I am from what disaster could have happened had I still spoken just a few moments ago. I am too ashamed to even mention of what I mean."

But Justeco did know what he meant. His brother had almost corrected him when he was giving Iluzisto false information!

But instead of being angry at his brother, Justeco was upset with himself. He realized all too well at the moment that he, too, was just as guilty as his brother in this matter. His shoulders drooped and his eye dulled with his remorse. He softly replied, "Do not dwell on any of it, Konsilisto. As they say, I do not have stones to throw!"

"You are kinder than I deserve, brother! But I now agree with your own unspoken advice! I will no longer be as blind or as passive to the events that press down upon us!"

The now determined Observant floated over to the cell door for no other reason than to look beyond it. Just as he grabbed onto the bars, Konsilisto leaned against it for support as he lamented, "But what can we do, Justeco? Oh, if only we could be free! If only we could see the future of this all!"

The Observant advisor's eye then dropped into a frown at an odd pressure at his hip.

Justeco's eye widened in surprise at his brother's last remark, but then he looked down and sighed, "I agree, brother! I also wish I could see the future of this, only so that I could see that there was hope in suffering our fate! Even so, I wish that we could help—and could seek help—in this terrible matter!"

Just then, Konsilisto gasped in shock as he floated back to Justeco.

"What is it, brother?" Justeco said, looking over to Konsilisto in sudden alarm.

His eye still widened in surprise, the former advisor merely pulled out a small key that had suddenly poked him in the side. It had been within the inside pocket of his cloak—something that he had never noticed before and could have sworn was never in his possession.

"I-It is a k-key, brother!" Konsilisto stuttered, still incredulous. "I-I do not know how it got there and never have seen it before!"

Suddenly, in his shock, Konsilisto dropped the key and it bounced a few times before it started to slide across the floor, threatening to slide out through the bars and out of their reach!

Both Observants instantly dove for the small piece of metal and successfully retrieved it.

Their hands still trembling even as they were determined to keep a strong grip on the small key, the two brothers looked at each other in confusion at the same thought.

Could it be possible?

"We shall never know unless we _act_ instead of just look, Konsilisto," Justeco soberly said.

His brother nodded slowly and together they both floated to the door as one unit, both of them too afraid to let go of the key; and underneath, both afraid at what they were doing.

Finally they were there, at the lock.

They looked at each other again, each of them unsure of their actions.

Finally, Justeco said in almost a whisper, "Let us do it, brother!"

For some strange reason, both of the Observants could suddenly hear that infernal clock again. And each of its ticks sounded as chiding 'tsk-tsks' at what they were doing.

Still, they pressed on and both put the key into the lock and both of them also turned it.

They both then jolted a bit when there what seemed was a very slow, loud 'click' before the door swung open!

Justeco looked at the door and then to his brother, his eye blinking in disbelief. He finally uttered, "How is that possible? Iluzisto would surely not have been so careless. He only wants to see us destroyed! And no one knows of our peril, or our need and desire to help prevent this dreadful plan of Iluzisto's which will just as surely decimate the future!"

He suddenly jolted at his next thought. The _future_! Could it be...?

But he didn't question it any more! All that mattered was that they were being given a chance to fix things. They had—_a choice_! And he suddenly knew what he had to do.

Justeco furrowed his brow in determination and said, "You know, Konsilisto, Iluzisto was wrong. Revenge is not sweet. No, revenge can be _just_! Come, brother. It is time to take destiny into our own hands!"

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**A/N: truephan here: Well, well, well, everybody. Did you expect this from the O's? I certainly didn't! Heh-heh! But you know they finally **_**did**_** realize they had a choice! *Permission to groan* But hey, speaking of puns, did anyone check out rose13's 'Pun Day' page on deviantart? You should and we would love to join you in a 'Pun' war. It could make you happy and we all could have loads of puns! Ark-ark!**

**Ms Hyde: somebody slap that girl!**

**Truephan:Hey, Ms. Hyde, we're just having a little bit of clean pun! Lighten up! **

**Truephan: YIKES! See y'all and here is the website. Be sure to take out the spaces and the other stuff (astericks*) we have to put in so that FF will accept it! **

**htt p:/13ro sefa nf i** ctio v ian tart. com/ art/ *Pun -d*ay -25 170*38 4 0**

**Pearl: Hmm. I so loved this ending! Truephan's such a clever girl! Yes, a bit of a cliffy, but not so bad! It's exciting! Or, I hope you all think so! In any case, let us know! Ta for now, my dears!**


	28. Chapter 28: A Lesson in Choice

**A/N: truephan here: Hello again, you wonderful readers! And Happy Labor Day, all you hard-working people! Enjoy your day of fresh air off! Heh-heh! But also, I'm so excited when I can imagine your eager eyes flowing right over these words right now in anticipation of this next chapter. Knowing that we've captured your attention this tightly just gives pearl's and mine muses the thrill of power and manipulation…er, I mean, just a thrill. Yeah, the thrill of …._fun_! Ahem! Pearl and I would _never_ want to control you! We just want you to read the chapter. Egads! _Isn't that what control is_? *Gulps* Well, then, heh-heh, hope you'll read it anyways! Enjoy!**

**Pearl: Well, of course we don't want to control them… Our muses do! *evil laugh* Not me! That was Vlad muse! Anyways! Here is another chapter of Sid! I really liked this one! And you guys are lucky to get it 'cause I am so tired. I just got back from the beach! Fun stuff, but tiring! But, of course, I love making you guys smile with Sid! So, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 28: A Lesson in Choice**

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Justeco and Konsilisto carefully floated out of their cell, their lone eyes darting in every direction, scanning for trouble. Though they were still nervous about stepping outside of their comfort zone of just observing, they had to be sure that this chance of fate would not be lost from any further foolishness on their part.

Leading the way but momentarily stopping just outside their cell, Justeco firmly whispered, "Quickly and quietly, brother! We have to find out where our kinfolk are and set them free!"

"But I do not remember which way we came," Konsilisto nervously replied.

"I understand the confusion, Konsilisto. We were both tussled about quite rudely when we were being led into our cell. But I believe we came from that direction," Justeco said, pointing to his brother's right.

Konsilisto looked down that narrow, dark, dank hallway and shivered with fear again, especially when he could see by a distance light that the hall ended in a blind turn. Still, he nodded in silence and followed Justeco as both of the Observants began to float deeper into the cave.

But they had not ventured into the hallway for more than a couple of yards when Justeco noticed that the light at the end of the hallway was oddly flickering and he heard the approaching sounds of…

Guards!

Justeco's eye widen in alarm. But all the same, he immediately turned around and without a word, grabbed his brother's arm just before he pulled the two of them back toward their cell.

Konsilisto had promptly gasped at Justeco's seemingly rash action, but when he saw the distress in his brother's eye, he didn't protest or resist any longer and actually matched his brother's speed as they headed back to their cell.

Once there, they flew back through the open door of their cell. Justeco quickly and quietly shut and locked the door behind them, careful to grasp the small key tightly in his hand just as he motioned for his brother to retreat to the far corner.

And after only a few moments after both of the Observants had settled into that corner, several of Iluzisto's guards approached their cell.

The first guard immediately grabbed the door of the cell and yanked on it. When all the door did was rattle a bit under the force, the guard smiled before he glanced inside the cell. Satisfied at seeing the two prisoners still contained within the cell, the guard smirked and jeered, "Looks like you two can relate to sardines in a can, though I should say that you can relate to _maggots_ in a can! At least, that is what you will look like in no time at all!"

The other guards with him laughed at the poor joke all the same while Justeco and Konsilisto merely narrowed their eyes into what looked like frowns without making any comments about the guard's audacity.

An awkward silence then descended on the group.

Justeco and Konsilisto grew nervous, wondering about what mischief the guards had on their minds; but then they slightly relaxed and were thankful when it became clear from the guards' subsequent conversation among themselves that the guards had never seen them in the hallway. Not only that, but the guards had not done anything more to them!

Finally, saying something about their needing to get on with their rounds, the guards left.

The two brothers looked at each other and sighed before Konsilisto nervously said, "That was too close, Justeco."

Justeco nodded and replied, "I agree, brother. And we were lucky that we had not ventured out too much from our cells so that we could retreat back here before our escape had been discovered prematurely. Come. It is time to go."

But before either had moved, Konsilisto suddenly uttered, "Wait!"

Justeco startled at his brother's rather loud and seemingly random response.

Konsilisto's eye lowered slightly in apology as he continued, "Forgive me for alarming you, brother. But I have just thought of something that we never had the need to use before, but might now give us a slight advantage in the immediate future."

Justeco managed to convey a frown of confusion in his eye as he said, "I do not understand, brother."

Konsilisto actually became more excited as he explained, "We have not had to use them in our realm before, but I speak of our powers to become intangible and invisible in this world. Perhaps, should we come across some more guards, we can still avoid any confrontation."

"Brilliant, brother!" Justeco said with a slightly amused laugh. "I had forgotten; and indeed, that may prove invaluable. And it may be possible to use even more of our powers if need be."

Konsilisto nodded in understanding before Justeco continued in a more staid voice, "Thank you, then, brother, for your good counsel with that!"

Konsilisto lowered his head in slight embarrassment before he nodded.

Justeco's eye glistened a bit before he exclaimed in hope, "Then, now that we are in agreement, I still think it wise for us to be cautious." He reached down and picked up several small stones that had been strewed about their cell before filling his pockets with them. He then jiggled his pockets a bit before saying, "Let us venture to the unknown once more, shall we? But not without a plan."

Konsilisto's eye brightened a bit as he replied, "Yes, let us go, brother."

The two nodded again before they quickly went to the cell door. Justeco hurriedly unlocked it and they both wasted no more time as they turned to their right and went down the hall.

But when they came to the end of the hall, they hesitated at the junction there. There was one hall that led to the right and another to the left. Justeco was sure they needed to turn to the right, but they now wondered where the left led to. Still, Justeco decided for the both of them. He placed one of the stones in a nearby crack in middle of the wall on their left just before he silently pointed to the right hallway.

They hurried as fast as their caution would allow. All the while, Justeco intermittently placed a stone within any crack halfway up the wall to their left as they followed this even longer and darker passageway.

Finally, this hallway met a dead-end as well. Justeco had slowed when he had seen it; but Konsilisto, who was still flying slowly behind his brother, was not prepared when Justeco suddenly stopped and therefore, had bumped right into him.

Justeco was pushed into the dead-end wall of this passageway. But instead of slamming into it, he was so surprised and unprepared for the movement that he phased right through it!

Konsilisto gasped at this unexpected turn-of-events and quietly hissed, "Justeco?"

Justeco immediately phased right back over to the same side where his brother was, his eye full of worry at what he had already concluded.

"I did not see you go intangible just now, brother! Yet, you were able to phase through the wall!" Konsilisto anxiously whispered.

"You are correct, brother, I did not go intangible. The wall is an illusion!" Justeco said in a low, almost foreboding voice as he pushed his arm through it for emphasis.

Konsilisto's eye widened in dread just as Justeco looked at him and confirmed both of their fears, "Indeed, this is very grave. It is all too obvious that Iluzisto is now able to create permanent illusions as before. His powers have truly been fully restored. And that is very ominous news for every creature in all of Existence. He will be able to create illusions to his liking and none will be the wiser…Not only that, this could also mean that it is very possible that he has turned this makeshift prison into a maze similar to the one he had for the prison in our realm. And that means that I am uncertain that the way we mark our past path will be correct…" He paused, trying to contain his panic before he sadly added, "We have failed once more, brother. We cannot hope to rescue our kin in this way...And I believe that we will need to try to retrace our steps and pray that it leads us back to where we started—including to our doom."

Disheartened, the former High Tribune felt a wet pressure in his eye just before a tear fell to the ground and his shoulders drooped.

Konsilisto was now a bit more panicked after hearing his brother; and he could feel the dread rise in him at seeing his brother cry. He had always depended on Justeco to make the right decisions and now that the former High Tribune was lost, the counselor felt that he was about to fall into the pit of despair...Still, Konsilisto managed to say, "Come, brother, let us try to make our way back to find the passage back to our cell. Perhaps there will be another path we can take to…"

But Konsilisto silenced and jolted a bit in surprise when his brother suddenly gasped and the angst he was showing a moment ago was abruptly gone.

"Justeco, what…?" the ex-counselor began, only to be cut off again.

"That's it!" Justeco suddenly cried, finding it hard to keep his voice down after interrupting his brother. "Path! Opening! The portals! Konsilisto, you have done it again!"

Konsilisto blinked, not comprehending what exactly what he had done. But, fortunately, Justeco continued to explain it to him.

"Surely you did not forget about our special Observant powers. As you know, our race of spirits can detect any natural portal to and from our Realm, to and from the Ghost Zone and ….."

"To and from the Real World!" Konsilisto finished for Justeco, finally connecting to his brother's train of thought. "And that means we might be able to detect any portal forming anywhere near this awful place—even the ones not normally detected!"

"Yes, yes, brother!" Justeco replied, his depression fully sloughing off of him. But then, he was aware of a slight drain of strength. Forcing himself to ignore that, he said with more determination, "And now it is indeed fateful that we were kept together…For indeed, it is because we are brothers that we can combine our powers like no other Observant. And that means that not only can we more easily and quickly find a portal to the Ghost Zone, but we can sense the correct _pathway_ to it!...Then there is no more time to lose, Konsilisto! Let us commence in finding that portal while we are still well enough!"

Konsilisto readily nodded, but then his demeanor saddened again as he whispered, "…. But what of our kin…? Are we just going to…?"

Justeco placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and sadly replied, "We must, brother. I, too, wish we could free our kin and save them ourselves, but… we cannot at this moment; so we must find another way. Come."

With heavy central cores, the two Observants floated almost to the opposite end of the hall to get as far away from the illusion of the wall as they could. They didn't want to be taken by surprise by any guard who happened to phase through it and they wanted to have as much time as they could to concentrate on locating a portal.

Both of them reflexively scanned the immediate area once more before they clasped the other's forearms and closed their lone eyes in concentration. Suddenly, their auras brightened with their focused energy before each of their eyes shot violently open, turned a darker shade of green and quickly glazed over as if they were in a trance.

Just moments later, each of them uttered a soft gasp at the same time before their auras dimmed. But the pupils of each of their eyes remained thick with that same dark green color even when they let go of each other's forearms.

Neither Observant really needed to speak, but just the same, Justeco softly uttered, "Thank the heavens that a portal is close to the outside of this cave and the path to it is crystal clear. Let us make as much haste then, brother, before our powers wane with our weakening state."

Konsilisto merely nodded without a word; and both of the Observants carefully but deliberately floated, following the marked path that would be unseen by any other eye….

As the moments ticked by, however, Justeco and Konsilisto did not want to tell the other that they had noticed that the path was already fading; and that was because they were beginning to lose strength from the spell that Iluzisto had cast upon their prison. Nevertheless, neither wanted to discourage the other especially since they both could still see the path.

All along their trail they had met no guards, and so even with their weakening strength and powers, they were becoming more and more encouraged. In fact, they felt some of the weight of their melancholy lift from their central cores when they both realized that the entrance to the cave and the door to their freedom were just around the next corner.

But just before Justeco was about to turn the corner, Konsilisto noticed two shadows against the wall just opposite of the bend.

He grabbed Justeco, pulling him back just as he gagged his own gasp. But he quickly pointed out the shadows when his brother's eye was obviously searching his, questioning why.

Justeco's eye then widened in dread.

More guards!

And just in the nick of time, they both remembered what to do—they quickly turned invisible and intangible.

The pair of guards glided past the two former Observant leaders without even a change in their pace.

Still maintaining their invisibility and intangible modes, Justeco then silently motioned for Konsilisto to follow once more. They moved as if one unit, silently gliding toward what they knew was the entrance of the cave. They slowed only enough when they neared another small bend in the passageway and reflexively pulled themselves into the hewed out corner of that bend as several more guards past them without flinching.

Finally, they saw earthly sunlight sneaking into the cave just ahead. But they dared not hurry in spite of feeling more encouraged that their escape might be possible after all. They floated toward the light as quickly as they felt they could without making any noise.

But as they neared another corner, they slowed to a stop. They were suddenly aware that they had just lost their ability to maintain their invisibility and intangibility! But, if they could call it fortunate, they just knew they were very close to the entrance since the light was brighter, and they could feel the wind as well. However, when Justeco peeked slightly around the corner to survey the area, his central core sank in distress. The entrance was indeed there! But over it was a large door made of thick glowing bars which was being guarded by some of Iluzisto's soldiers!

Justeco quickly turned back and hurriedly told his brother what he saw, before leaning against the small rough crevice that was just behind him. He closed his eye in thought, squelching a sigh. Now what were they going to do? They weren't going to be able to slink past the guards now that they could not maintain their invisibility or intangibility, much less pass through what he was certain was a spirit-proof door! But before he could think about what to do, he felt that familiar tug on his sleeve.

He opened his eye and turned toward Konsilisto.

And just as he did, his brother whispered in fear, "We need to go back, brother! There is nothing more we can do."

But Justeco shook his head. "There must be another way, Konsilisto!" he quietly insisted.

Tensing his ghostly body and keeping the volume of his voice down, Konsilisto countered, "We cannot fight the guards to obtain any keys to the door, Justeco! But at least we tried to escape. We have no shame in that."

And just as he said that, Konsilisto turned toward a retreat.

But this time, Justeco grabbed Konsilisto's sleeve to prevent him from going. However, since he had never done that before and because he didn't want to give up, Justeco hadn't realized with just how much force he had grabbed his brother, and as a result, Konsilisto was accidentally slammed into the wall. And with his impact, several loose stones just above him rained upon him before loudly crashing into the floor. Though Konsilisto wasn't harmed by the small stones, the noise they made echoed down the corridor leading to the entrance of the cave!

Both Observants froze in fear. Now they would be discovered! But a few moments later, it was all too obvious that for some reason, the guards hadn't heard the ruckus because they had not yet come to investigate it!

Now more curious than anything, Justeco braved peeking around the corner. His large green iris immediately scrunched in a puzzled-like pose at what he saw….The guards: they hadn't even _flinched_ from their location! In fact, they looked exactly as he had first seen them. Exactly.

On a hunch, he immediately pulled back from around the corner before stooping down and grabbing a fairly large stone.

"What are you doing?" Konsilisto gasped, barely containing the volume of his voice.

But before he could prevent Justeco's movement, Justeco tossed the stone around the corner. Once more, a significant echo reverberated as the rock struck the floor. And yet again, no guard appeared to investigate it.

This time, Justeco was sure now what all this meant. In the next instant, he boldly grabbed his brother by the arm and floated around the corner with more determination.

Konsilisto gasped loudly this time, now convinced that his brother had lost his mind. But when he saw that the guards hadn't even looked at them when they were headed right toward them, he furrowed his brow with confusion intermixed with fear. And before he could question Justeco, the former High Tribune had pulled them both past the passive guards and right through the barred door!

Once he was outside, Konsilisto then knew what his brother had surmised: Iluzisto indeed had his full powers back! He could now conjure up permanent illusions that did not need him present to maintain—just like he had done to one of their entrances to the Realm Beyond Time. And that meant that the guards and the barred door had been illusions all along—another cruel trick left by Iluzisto since the evil spirit would have expected the Observants to give up if it was even possible for them to get to this point. And Iluzisto had been right! Konsilisto had reflexively wanted to surrender and retreat as soon as he saw that illusion…Once again, the counselor Observant was crushed by his cowardice.

But when he turned to apologize to Justeco, Konsilisto saw the understanding in his brother's eye.

Justeco silently nodded in acknowledgement before quietly uttering, "Iluzisto truly understands the Observant mind. Had we been as we were before this whole affair, we would have been too passive and fearful to go any further than this. But, we have learned, have we not? Let us make haste to find a portal to the Ghost Zone, then, brother!"

Justeco nodded again with a slight twinkle in his eye, and led the way. He knew that the portal should be nearby, even if their powers now could no longer point the way to it.

Konsilisto quickly caught up to his brother and they then flew onward shoulder-to-shoulder, though remaining silent as they searched for the distinct marking of a forming portal—a marking that only Observants could detect.

Finally, Justeco saw the tiniest of a phosphorescent-like swirl.

They were here.

A few moments later, the portal fully formed and the two Observant leaders only slightly hesitated to plunge right into it….

Now in the Ghost Zone, the Observants froze in place this time. Even though the two had never been outside of the Realm Before Time before, they couldn't help but look around in wonder.

"One day, we shall have to see this place on our own time," Justeco found himself uttering before he suddenly realized how weak he felt again. How odd. He should be feeling better now that time had slowed considerably in here.

But then, Justeco startled when Konsilisto pointed at him and gasped, "Justeco! Our auras!"

Justeco frantically inspected the ghostly light entirely bathing his brother before he inspected his own.

Both of the Observants had ignored all along while in the Real World the fact that their auras were no longer white; but were instead, blue in hue. But they just thought it was because they were within the Real World timeline.

But now that they were out of that timeline and in the Ghost Zone…their auras were still _blue_!

Knowing what that meant, Justeco couldn't help but mutter, "Curse that Iluzisto! He cast that spell using Clockwork's Time Staff! So, we have not slipped from the clutches of the ravages of Time! That means we are no better off than our kin in that earthly cave! We must then hasten, brother, in our next task. We must find the secret shortcut into our realm. It is our only hope to avoid any more destruction while we search for a way to help!"

Konsilisto immediately begin to wail at his brother's words, "If only Clockwork had prevented Iluzisto from seizing his staff!"

"Yes, and curse Clockwork for not interfering!" Justeco suddenly snapped, now very upset about the situation. "Though Clockwork is as much a prisoner as we are, I still wish I could give him a piece of my mind for his lack of foresight and for allowing all of this to happen!"

Justeco looked at his still weeping brother and though moved to pity at seeing him, he said with a firm voice, "Konsilisto, enough! We have to use whatever strength we have to return to our realm!"

Konsilisto blinked his tears away and nodded weakly.

Justeco then said more gently, "Come, brother. We must try to find the path to that shortcut."

Once again, the two brothers clasped forearms and concentrated. They noticed that it was a little harder to focus but they persevered nevertheless. And finally, they were able to detect a weak, but definite track. They knew that they would have to hurry to fly to the portal while their strength lasted.

Along the way, Justeco's thoughts drifted to Clockwork again. How everything about the Time Spirit still upset him! In fact, he was now so entrenched in his fury it was as if his thoughts were steeped in his angry brew concerning Clockwork. If he should ever see that Time Spirit again before the end….

But then, Justeco could see that his raging thoughts had actually helped to distract him from the effort he was having in flying. And he hadn't even noticed he also had to help Konsilisto, who had suddenly begun to lag behind him a bit.

Along the way, however, the two brothers were jolted again and again by random ghosts who passed by them. While most ignore them, a few came too close for comfort. And one had tried to eat them!

Konsilisto and Justeco had fled in fear and had managed to escape the evil and hungry ghoul.

"Brother, these _ghosts_ are horrid beings!" Konsilisto gasped out as he hid behind a boulder with his sibling, waiting for the large ghost beast to lose interest and move on.

And seeing the ghoul fly off at last, Justeco sighed and shook his head. Then, he uttered in a strange voice, "Not all, Konsilisto… Not all…"

His brother didn't have time to reply, since Justeco moved away from behind the boulder and continued their flight—albeit much slower now, since their near-escape with the hungry ghost had drained them further.

But sooner than they thought it would be, Justeco and his brother were at the entrance to a secret passageway into the Realm Beyond Time—a shortcut that had never been discovered by any other creature. But even if it had been discovered by any ghost here in the Ghost Zone, they would not have been able to do anything with it since only spirits would be able to pass through it.

"Ready, brother?" Justeco asked, trying to be upbeat as he wrapped his arm around Konsilisto's shoulder to support his now more obviously ailing sibling.

"Yes, brother. Do not worry. I can make it. All will be well once we get back to our home," Konsilisto weakly said, trying his best to be strong and assure his brother.

Justeco nodded and once again, they plunged into the entrance, though this time, Justeco had to aid Konsilisto through it….

* * *

"**What do you mean he escaped?"** Iluzisto screamed at one of his commanding guards as he angrily paced around the prison hallway.

"I-I do not know how it was possible, Head Master Iluzisto," the guard nervously replied, as he shirked away from the enraged spirit, feeling his superior's energy angrily snapping at the air around them.

"Yes," another of his commanding guards dared to intrude. "We only left the Time Master for a moment! We went to get weapons to give him that 'proper welcome' as you instructed us!"

"And when we returned, he was gone!" the first finished.

Iluzisto glared between the two captains before he whirled around; and with a cry of indignation, he threw a purple ray at one of the prison cells, instantly destroying its steel door.

The captains and the minor guards behind them all backed up a bit, clearly scared out of their wits.

"This is what I get for thinking you all can handle things without me! **You are all fools!" **Iluzisto then snarled at them, whirling back around. "Do you realize what this means? ….No, you do not! Even without his staff, that meddling time spirit is too much of a threat to be left free! He is a dangerous variable to my plans and you all have LET HIM ESCAPE!"

The guards just continued to cower in front of their leader.

However, Iluzisto growled and just glared with his reddened eye at the staff in his hand. Curses! This was a serious issue and a threat! Clockwork's being free could severely jeopardize his plans! No, he had to do something. He had to find that meddling spirit and destroy him once and for all!

"_Curses!"_ Iluzisto thought again. _"I should have never left that time fool alone! I should have dealt with him myself!"_

In fact, it was a good thing that Iluzisto had decided to check in with his guards in the prison before heading to Justeco's private quarters to find that private portal he had there. He was here to do more necessary preparations, and if he had not already planned to come here, he would have been oblivious to Clockwork's escape and the trouble it posed.

But how in the Timeless Realm did the Time Master escape? He was powerless!

Iluzisto glared back at his guards, but he was still not really paying attention to them. No, he could not let this delay his plans any longer. In fact, with Clockwork on the loose, he needed to make even more haste. What if Clockwork sought out the crossbreeds and got to them before he did and somehow warned them of his intentions?

No, he needed to move quickly. Clockwork was not going to ruin his victory!

At last focusing on his guards, Iluzisto narrowed his eye and angrily commanded, "I want you all to find Clockwork at once! Without his staff, he is weak and can be easily subdued by you all. Search the Observants' quarters; search Clockwork's Tower; search this **entire realm** if you must! But I want that time spirit found and locked up! I expect it to be so upon my return, or you all will truly know the gravity of my wrath!"

Without waiting for a reply, Iluzisto whirled around and headed out of the prison. Still, he vowed that as soon as Clockwork was found, he would destroy that spirit. Yes, he knew just how to do it, too…

For now, though, he had two crossbreeds to seek out.

"I come for you now, crossbreeds," Iluzisto sneered with dark delight, as he made his way to Justeco's private quarters…

But as he headed there, his thoughts returned to his newer problem and he growled to himself, "I have no more time to waste! And I will have to trust my guards will recapture that infernal Clockwork!" Then releasing an angry sigh, Iluzisto sneered wickedly, "At least my time has been well spent. I have made the necessary preparations in my prison, in case I need to bring my 'pets' back home in order to rip out their cores! Those crossbreeds will rue the day they challenged me; and not only for themselves, but for the human female that is so dear to each of them! It is time to use that portal!"

When he at last made it to Justeco's room, Iluzisto readily floated over to the portal and said with a suspicious gleam in his eye, "This seems too easy. Justeco gave me the directions on how to use this portal too quickly. I would not put it below him to attempt to deceive me and have some hidden trap to protect this portal from being used by others such as me… Unfortunately, I cannot know for sure until I test it… "

Iluzisto tensed and gripped his staff harder in preparation before he cleared his voice and said, "Greetings, portal!"

Having expected some form of treachery, Iluzisto jolted when the portal came to life and began to pulse with green energy. The spirit stared at it for a full minute until he at last realized that… nothing out of the ordinary was happening…

Could it be possible that…?

Iluzisto suddenly laughed, and his eye then melded from red to its normal silvery-blue hue. "Now, I can see that craven Justeco was telling the truth after all! He is more of a coward than I thought! Still, I should be thanking him for his weakness now that it is time that I finish everything!"

Iluzisto's eye glinted in triumph as he then further ordered the portal, now with full confidence. "I am here and I wish to go to Amity Park in the Real World! In fact, take me to the Fenton Portal in Amity Park!"

The portal's green energy began to swirl again and Iluzisto immediately felt the tug of its invitation to enter into the portal, which he immediately did.

But then at the last second, he gasped at the realization, but it was too late! Before he knew it, he was in the mountains of China, being bombarded by snow and wind! He turned quickly around, ready to jump right back into the portal. But it did not allow him entry!

"No! Curse them! NO!" Iluzisto howled in fury.

What he had realized too late was that the portal had briefly flickered with a blue hue right when he had flown into it!

The High Tribune had tricked him into a trap after all!

* * *

Once they were in the Realm Beyond Time, the two brothers reflexively glanced at each other. Though they felt a bit stronger now that they were in this atmosphere, the blue hue of their auras still marked them as being under the spell Iluzisto had put them!

Nevertheless, neither of them made any comment about it and scanned the area, trying to get their bearings.

Then, they spied it….

Clockwork's Tower!

But then both of their eyes narrowed in confusion when they could see light—and movement—in the uppermost part of the Tower!

"It cannot be!" Justeco suddenly blurted out, his wrath rising again even as they still flew nearer to the floating edifice. "He was imprisoned at our fortress! He could not have escaped without his Time Staff! Has he betrayed us even more? And if so, why? He now has to answer to me!"

"Perhaps it is not Clockwork, Justeco," Konsilisto offered, still studying the area that hinted at being inhabited. "It could be invaded by another…" He then gasped, "Perhaps Iluzisto is in there!"

Justeco's eye frowned in doubt as he replied, "I think not, brother. You know that once Iluzisto sets his mind to a task, he will not alter until it is fulfilled. And his mind is obsessed with tracking the half-ghosts. But I think you are wise to counsel that we should be careful…and…"

Suddenly, the former High Tribune stopped and studied the highest window in the Tower. Now there was a lone figure right against the window, and it was looking out _toward_ them…

Though he could not see the figure's face, Justeco would know that silhouette anywhere. It was Clockwork!

Now charged even more with his fury, Justeco firmly said, "It _is_ Clockwork, Konsilisto! How dare he sit there and just…just gloat over having somehow gotten himself free and leaving us to rot to ghostly dust! Come, brother! I will have several words with the former Master of Time!"

Without waiting for his brother to respond, Justeco grabbed Konsilisto under his shoulder and charged toward the tower.

As soon as they reached the drawbridge-like door, however, it opened on its own, as if they had been _expected_.

But that only angered Justeco more and he charged right in, even ignoring the fact that he had left Konsilisto behind and that Konsilisto was lagging behind him.

Since the two Observants had been Clockwork's employers for what seemed like forever to Justeco and Konsilisto now that they had some sense of time, they both knew their way around the Time Master's lair. They flew right up the stairs leading to where they knew Clockwork would be.

As soon as Justeco had entered the main room—more formally known as the Focal Room of Chronology—the former Tribune spied Clockwork in the near distance…and the Time Spirit was still in stasis in his oldest form and his back was to the Observant! Just like the arrogant time spirit! And that just goaded Justeco even more. He would teach his employee a lesson! He immediately soared over to him, with Konsilisto following as best as he could behind him.

All the while that Justeco had been approaching him, Clockwork had kept his back to his employer. But Justeco was almost upon him when the old man form of the Time Spirit suddenly jerked around, his eyes and face lit up in irritation.

"_Just how does he do that, even without his staff?"_ Justeco asked himself, quite peeved when Clockwork suddenly looked at him with even more annoyance mixed with that infernal arrogance! But before he could say anything, the time spirit spoke up.

"Of course…," Clockwork muttered with that same annoyance. "You manage to escape and the first thing you do is… come here."

"Yes, we have escaped and it is no thanks to you!" Konsilisto blurted out, clearly his own indignation getting the best of him.

"And you further come to waste my time," Clockwork replied seriously, though his eyes just slightly narrowed a bit.

Konsilisto looked ready to snap back a reply to the time spirit, but Justeco placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and floated forward a bit, indicating that he wanted to take control of the 'conversation'. However, Justeco had to swallow the temptation to fully give into his anger and so lose control of the situation. He needed to keep his head cool in order to correctly admonish the egotistical spirit.

So with restrained irritation, Justeco scrutinized his employee from head-to-toe before he said with slight bite in his voice, "I see you are well, Clockwork…. I do suppose you are going to tell us just how you managed to escape from the High Observant Prison when we all know it is nearly impossible, and more so with Iluzisto in control of it…"

"You suppose wrong," the time spirit answered, now a hint of a dark smirk on his face. "And really, why does it matter? Unless… it also matters how you two managed to escape…?"

Justeco narrowed his eye a bit. "You have some gall, Clockwork! We owe you no explanation. But you cannot say the same thing! Nevertheless, I hardly care at this point how you escaped—and really, I should not even be surprised. But even with all your arrogance, you **will** now listen to me, Time Master!"

"—And you will listen well to our **every** word!" Konsilisto readily added in all but a snarl.

But Clockwork's eyes suddenly flared, and he unexpectedly took a step towards his employers and right out hissed, "I think not! You have said _more than enough_ words in this matter! And, as usual, you brought me in to do your dirty work against my will. And look what has become of it! Your precious Existence and Time are in grave peril. But what is worse, my Time Staff will still be doing the dirty work in what you have orchestrated!"

Justeco and Konsilisto hesitated, surprised by their employee's sudden fury. They had never seen Clockwork display any emotion so freely.

But suddenly taking the lead, Konsilisto's eye narrowed defensively. How dare Clockwork admonish him when the Time Spirit had his own explaining to do and…just who was working for whom right now? It was _they_ who had a right to be angry, not Clockwork!

"You forget your place, Clockwork!" Konsilisto exclaimed. "And you think the fate of your staff is more important than the threat upon Time and Existence? Now I am _sure_ that having your staff stolen is the _least_ you deserve when you stood there and did nothing!"

"You are both still just as blind," Clockwork said in disgust. "But if you are right, _wise Counselor_, then I would be right to say that you all had this coming!"

"How dare you!" Konsilisto yelled furiously, though he made no advance toward the Time Spirit.

Clockwork just stared coldly back at the Counselor—and if mere looks could obliterate, Konsilisto would have been dust by now.

In fact, Konsilisto suddenly felt… afraid of Clockwork. He had never thought much of the power the time spirit possessed since the Observant Counselor had always seen the other spirit as an employee—someone below him. But now that Konsilisto internally knew that he and the other Observants had lost their control and power, the Counselor felt weak… And even without his staff, Clockwork was a force to be reckoned with…

But sensing his brother's sudden fear and Clockwork's growing fury, Justeco quickly intervened and firmly said, "I will agree that what has happened to your staff is indeed grave and regrettable, Clockwork! But you were summoned to our realm as was your duty. And it was your duty under the law to pursue our interests as you did, and you know it, Clockwork!"

They both knew they were speaking about the trial and the events that followed. Konsilisto merely looked on in silence this time. Although he was still very upset, his angry bout had him now feeling a bit weaker to say any more words. That—and, well, he was still feeling intimidated by Clockwork's last glare at him**…**

But the eldest form of Clockwork frowned in anger and countered, "The law merely states that a non-Observant needs to prosecute. I just happened to be in the wrong place…." He chuckled a little at the irony as he continued, "…at the wrong time!" But he grew angry again and said, "But it does not absolve you or the Council from your actions, Justeco! You very well know that I did not wish to prosecute! And I _most certainly_ didn't wish to prosecute the boy!"

Konsilisto pulled on Justeco's sleeve to confer, but the former Tribune shrugged him off before replying, "You did not make that clear in the beginning, Clockwork, but you are right that you were the only logical—and available—one at the time, so really, you had _no choice_!..." He suddenly paused. There was that word again! Still, he pressed on, "…Still, you can merely say that you were taking orders from us, which is also your duty! And, besides, the evidence you presented was irrefutable!"

"My 'duty'. The 'evidence'!" Clockwork mocked back, his grey whiskers tensing. "To blazes with them! My _foremost_ duty in this trial was to the **boy!** Or, did you also 'forget' that you had charged me with being responsible for him? So, by having made me prosecute him, you broke your own laws! Or did you forget that little detail, too? I should have defended him!"

Justeco and Konsilisto gasped when Clockwork's words hit them straight in their pupils. Clockwork was right! Any word spoken to the Time Spirit as a command was law! And they did charge him with full responsibility of the young half-ghost!

But then, a thought just struck Justeco. He had suspected all along that something was amiss on how the Time Ghost had conducted his prosecuting! At the time, he couldn't put a finger on it. But now, he could! Clockwork had twisted things around several times in the boy's favor, which was _as much transgression as_ what Clockwork was accusing him of! His eye narrowed into something akin to a frown. Still, he should have expected as much from the Master of Time! And he was about to tell him that!

Before the former High Tribune could counter back, however, his thoughts were interrupted by Clockwork. And the Observant frowned when it seemed that his plans to accuse Clockwork of breaking the law by helping the boy all along was already being countered by Clockwork's next words.

"And as far as the 'evidence'! You Observants were—and still are—too haughty to see that any evidence brought against the boy was far outweighed by all the good he did in the end. That is called 'extenuating circumstances'! As for the older half-ghost, if you truly wanted to 'condemn him' for his evil ways, then why did you not seek justice before now? Oh, I know. It is because he made a mockery of your 'impenetrable fortress' and defeated your Observant guards without an ounce of effort, while you all cowed in fear before his power as he easily released Vortex. What the Observants sought out was not justice, Justeco. You all sought out revenge! And that, too, is illegal—as is twisting and conjuring up false evidence against an innocent boy! Or did you Observants in your eagerness to condemn the half-ghosts just because they stepped on a few arrogant toes when it came to Time and Existence just as eagerly blind your one-sighted eyes to those facts?"

"How dare you!" Justeco gasped, now mortified that the Time Master would dare insult them after failing in his duty to them and then mocking Time and Existence in their own right!

As soon as he said that, he felt his brother pulling more insistently on his sleeve. But Justeco was too charged up and just ignored his brother just as Clockwork continued.

"Oh, I certainly dare!" Clockwork hissed back, his eyes flaring even more this time. "So you think the synchronization of Time and Existence is like a parade, which should be watched from the sidelines by passive creatures—_passive creatures_ too powerful for their own good yet who do not understand at all what it is like to exist as part of the timeline? Those kinds of arrogant creatures will never understand the meaning of life, whether it's a real life, an afterlife or something in between. And what is most pitiful is when they think they have a right to judge those that _are_ in it from the sidelines."

Justeco suddenly grew angrier. He was just about to further admonish his employee when Clockwork didn't give him—or even the cowered Konsilisto—a bit of leeway with that option.

"In truth, the synchrony of Time and Existence is indeed like a parade, _but_ it should be viewed from above so that all the twists and turns of life that could happen in its march would be just as exciting! But really, even then, they do not march! Indeed, Time and Existence _dance_, and all living creatures should be allowed to have options, to have choices in that dance so as to direct their own creative destinies!"

Justeco's eye conveyed irritation. If he wasn't so angry, he would have remembered his regret over everything that had happened. As it were, however, he had yet to fully expunge his tendency to being arrogant and gave into his fury…He knew all about destinies and free will and such. Those were actually the problem!

Justeco growled in irritation, "Yes, yes, you do not need to patronize me, Clockwork! I know all about those things! And this is my—and all of the Observants'—point about them! Destinies can be evil and destructive, as you well know about your charge's evil future self!"

"But that reality does not exist for this boy anymore, and you know it!" Clockwork quickly countered. "That is another timeline, another dimension that are no longer connected to him! At least, not in the way you all think! So, do not evade the issue!"

The former Tribune's eye narrowed once more in annoyance. He could not believe he was letting Clockwork get away with this badgering. He charged, "And so are you, Clockwork! But that does not lessen the guilt that destinies can be inherently malevolent—like the two half-ghosts—especially to Time and Existence! And…"

But Clockwork hotly interrupted him once more.

"I will agree that destinies _can_ be evil if it is chosen as such, but that comes with the territory! But those two half-ghosts —and I daresay, humans and ghosts alike—aren't merely subjects in a zoo, waiting to be stared at. They are creatures with sentience and free will; and as such deserve to be treated with respect because of those very qualities, and because each has a unique role in the entire spectrum of Time and Existence! It is precisely their free will and their intellect that can allow them to steer their destinies in either direction. But with hope and commitment of those who care for them, it will be for the good."

"Now look who is evading the issue once more, Clockwork!" Justeco firmly said.

Konsilisto nodded profusely in agreement with his brother as he suddenly added, "Especially when you did not hold back in accusing the boy and proving him guilty of every crime we gave you!"

Both Justeco and Clockwork then turned toward the Observant counselor and frowned, but for different reasons. While Justeco could not believe his brother had not caught on to what Clockwork had done in the courtroom, especially when they had _just_ been discussing it, the Time Master was thinking how dense the counselor truly was…

But the former head Observant just shook his head before he turned back to Clockwork and continued, "It is precisely because of their free will and their sentient behavior that bad things happen!"

But the oldest Clockwork countered back, "And it's precisely because of their free will that **_good_** things happen as well! And, thank the heavens, it is for the good more often than not! If human and ghosts were meant only to be puppets or as passive as you have been, then there would be no purpose, no meaning to their existence. But their choices? Ah, yes. Their choice to do good—and even to yield to misguidance and do evil—do give their existence purpose and meaning!"

The Time Master continued, "And why should I be the one to have to tell you that even then, your extinction would be a pity, especially when all the Observants have also been given a unique role in time and existence, all at the pleasure and wisdom of the true Wielder of Time and Existence, of whom you are well aware? Nevertheless, I am sure that we can all agree that the purpose of us all has to do with an entity more powerful and even more mysterious than Time and Existence. And that is what we understand as 'Love'. It is indeed the wisest of all ideals; and at least I am thankful that we have it!"

In spite of the Time Spirit's arguments, however, Justeco was still not convinced. "But you have missed my point, Clockwork! It is precisely when all of these….things you speak of are allowed that Time and Existence are threatened. We must prevent those evil ones, like the two half-ghosts, who broke the law and who would cause anything that would corrupt…."

"You hypocrite!" Clockwork suddenly shot back and both Justeco and Konsilisto gasped, mortified at the anger and force behind the words.

But Clockwork continued, "All I can say is one word: **_Iluzisto_**! And his name might as well be 'Law-Breaker' or 'Corruptor'! You dare condemn the two half-ghosts to the oblivion for their petty interference with Time and Existence when you have by the fact that _he_ still exists allowed Iluzisto to do even more despicable crimes against your precious Time and Existence in the past and that which will probably happen in the very near future?"

"But you know our laws concerning the condemnation of Observants, Clock—…"

But the Time Spirit interrupted him yet again. "And a very enlightened and proper one!"

Both Justeco and Konsilisto's eyes widened in surprise at Clockwork's remark, though this time they felt compelled to wait for him to continue.

"You just should extend it to all creatures that have a role in Existence and are subjected to their timeline simply out of respect that they _do_ exist and have purpose. Even I would not want to see you as extinct as Iluzisto wants you to be, even though you are such pathetically 'passive' creatures! And why not? Because you were still given intellect and free will to choose this _passive_ destiny nevertheless!"

"But then, why did you not prevent what has happened to us, Clockwork?" Konsilisto interjected. "By _not_ interfering, you have given your approval of our extinction!"

"No, I gravely disagree," Clockwork said with such soberness that it suddenly terrified the two Observants to their central cores. "You know as the Master of Time, I must remain neutral at times in order to guard the Timeline and to not interfere with destiny and free will. I have to allow choice, whether I approve or disapprove of the circumstances. It was my duty then that I not interfere with what was happening to you."

"I think it really was because you were taking revenge for…." Justeco began, only to stop himself. Revenge? Wasn't that what Iluzisto had wanted? Isn't that what, underneath, he now wanted to take upon the hybrids and now upon Clockwork? He suddenly felt blanketed with shame once more, half-listening to Clockwork's heated response.

"I have too often acted against my own conscious when bending to you Observants' wills. And if you choose to use that word as an excuse for not admitting the truth, of denying your hurt egos to erase any pain, then I will say that it is not the first time I have heard it!"

A sudden and tense silence fell upon the three spirits before Justeco finally said, "I will admit that I can be stubborn in these matters, but I think you are the Master of Stubbornness more than of Time, Clockwork!"

"How you see me is of no concern to me," Clockwork said almost flippantly before he added with almost disappointment in his voice, "But now, I do not think you are capable of understanding how important it is for you to extend your respect to all creatures who exist in time and let that guide your decisions about them."

"But that would mean…" Justeco then remarked as what Clockwork was insinuating finally dawning on him.

"Yes. It would!" the Time Spirit interjected once more, having a hunch that Justeco may actually be coming around. He knew what needed to happen: the Observants would need to change their laws and change their attitudes. But he could not say that outright. But he needed to make them understand that they had a choice.

"You Observants have prided yourselves in being passive, orderly and proper. But if you still truly believe that, then _now_ is your chance to prove it. Fate is giving you the choice in this point in your existence to _show_ that you can truly be just."

Justeco's eye blinked as an idea suddenly flashed in his mind. There was that word yet again! Choice! And, suddenly, all of what Clockwork was hammering at finally sunk into his ghostly brain. He fell silent at the realization, as if all the dominoes finally fell and set off the grand fireworks finale, as they properly should have.

And once that last bit of sparkle twinkled out of existence in his mind, Justeco chuckled.

Both Clockwork and Konsilisto frowned in confusion at his response.

Justeco's eye then twinkled with a bit of mischievousness as he explained, "The Council did not make an error at all when we appointed you the prosecutor in this matter! You have still done your duty quite effectively, Master Prosecutor!"

One of the corners of Clockwork's mouth hitched slightly, but he said nothing to that.

The former Tribune then remarked, "And I—and all the Observants like me—are guilty as charged! Though I must say that your….methods were…incredibly, er, creative—as always!"

The Time Master suddenly put on his 'poker face' and remained silent. But underneath, he was smiling in triumph.

Justeco was perplexed why Clockwork was suddenly as his usual self. Still, he pressed on, "And I promise that if we get out of this mess, I will do my best to call all Observants together to discuss and try to understand this kind of…parade you have presented to me. It is worthy of much consideration…"

Though Clockwork caught that hint of promise in the small twinkling in the Tribune's eye at the end of his words, the Time Master did not comment on them. He, too, had said more than enough words in the matter.

However, Konsilisto suddenly spoke up, though his voice sounded now a bit submissive and pleading, "Justeco is right. We have much to consider… However, for once, we need _time_, Clockwork! Iluzisto has placed a time spell on us all, forcing our spirit bodies into the time stream, which is slowly destroying us! Please, there must be something you can do!"

Clockwork regarded the two Observants. And although Justeco didn't look desperate like his brother, the time spirit could tell he, too, was hoping for some kind of help from him.

"… I think you both already know _whose_ help you truly need…" Clockwork at last replied seriously. "However, I will give you both a word of advice: broaden your sight. I can assure you all things are not as they seem."

Konsilisto and Justeco glanced at each other, clearly unsure of what to make of their employee's cryptic words.

"I suppose this is what it feels like to be at a loss… in the timeline," Justeco said mostly to himself with a sigh. But before Justeco could say any more, an alarm sounded, startling the two Observants.

Clockwork flew over to the window and looked out. He frowned at the sight of Iluzisto's guards before firmly saying to the two Observants, "My tower is being invaded, you must go now!"

"B-But if you throw us out, we will be captured as well!" Konsilisto whined.

Justeco then pleaded, "This cannot be the correct choice now, Clockwork! T-Tell us how to fight and we will help!"

But Clockwork ignored them as he floated to one of the walls in the room with the two frightened Observants right behind him. The Time Spirit quickly activated a switch and a glowing purple door that had not been visible before suddenly appeared.

Just then, however, the tower violently shook at the assault on it from the outside and the two Observants gasped in fear.

Clockwork, however, kept calm as he then turned to face his two employers. He insisted, "I can work better on my own. This door will lead you to just outside your fortress. I suggest that you become invisible and intangible shortly after you go through it so that you will not be detected on the other side."

"But…," Justeco began, only to startle once more at another loud assault on the tower. He hadn't yet noticed that the glowing purple door had opened; and before he or Konsilisto could say any more, they were being shoved into the door by Clockwork!

"Turn invisible and intangible now!" Clockwork commanded, still pushing the two Observants through the portal.

Justeco and Konsilisto were too frightened to argue; and just as they were forced over the door's threshold, they did as they were commanded.

An instant later, they were sucked through the rest of the way from some unseen force on the other side….

* * *

Though they were both very upset about the abrupt departure from Clockwork's Tower, the two Observants' minds whirled along with their intangible and invisible ghostly bodies as they were thrust toward their fortress.

Justeco had finally come to terms when it came to Clockwork, though he was still not satisfied since he still had many unanswered questions. Even still, those unanswered questions were not as important as what Clockwork had said. Of course, he wished that he had been the one to scold the Time Spirit instead of taking the brunt of Clockwork's own admonishing! But really, what could he have expected? That was just like Clockwork to twist things to his advantage. Just as well….

And just as well that Clockwork had driven the same point that Iluzisto had said earlier. How could he already forgotten all that since he really did deserve all the punishment he had endured so far? He mentally sighed. Because of his stubbornness! And just because he had realized his flaws before didn't mean he was not still lacking in foresight and still clinging to his haughtiness. Change would indeed be hard and require a kind of dedication to persevere in it.

Nevertheless, all his sins still stung as bitterly as the illusionist had said they would. He had been blinded—or had let his brother blind him—to _true_ justice. He had always thought he was fair in his judgments. And, really, he was. But he had been so caught up with pursuing the unobtainable prize of perfect adherence to and protection of the ideals of Time and Existence that he had forgotten about the 'grey area'—the common sense needed to actually thrive! And…worse than that….he had wanted revenge. How he wished he had come to his senses when things hadn't gotten this badly, when hope was all but lost! He would still be responsible for the destruction of Time and Existence no matter how much he had learned and had resolved to change…

Still, he was saddened that he might never be able to get the chance to change…He had never imagined that the Observants would ever be a defeated race, much less ones that would soon be extinct! Even still, it served them all right for not truly being just in all their dealings with all creatures!

Konsilisto was also feeling just as guilty as Justeco, and really, in many ways, he lamented his errors more. He had always secretly wanted to be a more respected leader and that is why he had been so easily duped by Iluzisto. And now, the reality of it was excruciating. Misguided justice had motivated him when he had insisted in having the Observants bring the half-ghosts to trial. And his meddlesome and prideful nature had insisted upon it.

The former counselor silently groaned in regret and some physical pain. Though being in their realm renewed their energy, he was still weakening and knew that he would not be able to resist succumbing to Iluzisto's spell much longer because he was never a physically strong Observant. He sighed at the irony. He had also never had had a strong backbone when it came to _character_, either.

Still, he would do his best to help Justeco and this terrible situation as best he could for as long as his strength would hold out. He had to…because for once, he had to do justice to justice.

Suddenly, he and Justeco were thrust from their thoughts when the vortex of the portal they were in slowed and then stopped. They were now no more than a few yards from the entrance to the Observant fortress….

Each of them suddenly shivered but for different reasons. For Justeco, it was at the thought of what he knew he had to do. There was only one hope and he would have to _act_ and risk everything….For Konsilisto, it was merely because he was afraid even when he had vowed to be strong because he suddenly realized that he had no idea on what he and his brother could do here!

Nevertheless, Justeco glanced at his counselor and whispered, "We will need to depend on our bond and not words of any kind to get us through this next part, Konsilisto. Any utterance of any kind may very well sabotage any effort on our part to rectify our predicament. I cannot stress the gravity of the situation enough, because of what I must tell you…."

"Yes, Justeco?" Konsilisto asked with a heavy lump in his voice. Even though he was suddenly frightened even more, he knew that he could not fail his brother—or the Observants—anymore.

"I have a plan. And it will mean that we will be using the portal in my chambers!"

"But what if?..." Konsilisto blurted out, but then stifled himself when he realized that he had not controlled himself. "Forgive me. I understand."

"I know what is on your mind, brother. And you are right in that this will be a great risk on our part if Iluzisto is still here. Not to mention that most of his guards are most probably here as well. But, really, I am not all together worried. I am fairly sure that Iluzisto has already had enough time to use the portal, and is on his way to the _wrong_ destination! I am thankful that Fate had not willed you to correct me with my direction to him. After all, we both know that the portal will take you where you want to go….but only if the 'you' is _me_! Any other _voice_ which commands it will automatically be transported to the extreme opposite point of where they had originally desired to go—with no way to return, except through a long, arduous trek. And so, with any more luck, Iluzisto is probably somewhere in the Real World area known as "China" right now….And as far as the guards, we do know all of the secret passages that will lead us to my chambers. We will only be at risk for detection for very brief periods. So, that should give us the time we need to complete our task."

"And what is our task, brother? You have yet explained that to me, though I willingly go with you nevertheless!"

Justeco's eye softened at his brother's concerted effort to remain brave and remarked, "I will explain it to you as soon as I can once we reach our designation. But for now, we cannot tarry any longer."

Konsilisto's eye blinked in slight disappointment but he still said, "As you wish. I just hope that whatever you have planned is the wisest choice, Justeco!"

"Hope is all we have now, brother!" Justeco somberly said, noticing that his brother was beginning to lose his invisibility and intangibility without desiring so. "So, let us both be extra alert in getting to my chambers, especially when we cannot depend on our powers. All of Time and Existence depend on it!"

Justeco quickly flew over to a small darkened indention in the wall about fifty yards from the normal entrance to their fortress. He lifted his hand and concentrated. Suddenly, a previously undetected knob appeared. But then, he gagged his gasp when the knob began to flicker out of sight! He definitely knew that he was beginning to weaken from Iluzisto's spell. Still, he narrowed his eye in determination and concentrated. The knob became more pronounced and now worried how long that would last, Justeco grabbed his brother's wrist, turned the knob and both of the escaped Observants entered the secret passageway….

The two Observants floated as silently and as quickly as possible through this passageway and were relieved and thankful that they had not met any guards while they were between other secret passages. But they knew that their luck could end because they would have to be exposed for several yards in the very near future because there was no secret passage around the hallway that contained all the doors to the other dimensions, which they called the Hall of Dimensions.

They did not have to fly too much longer before they were at the end of the current secret hall that led to the Hall of Dimensions. They still had some ways to go to reach the High Tribune's chambers, and they did not know if—or how many—guards there may be between here and there.

Just as Justeco had said, nevertheless, they needed no words to know what they needed to do. By themselves, they may not have been successful. But because of their unique brotherly bond, they stood a good chance. They reflexively reached for and then grasped one of the other's forearms again before they turned intangible and invisible. They both had a hunch that together, they would be able to maintain their stealth mode until they could reach Justeco's chambers.

Even still, the two spirits kept mute, intangible and invisible in their flight toward Justeco's chambers. They would not risk anything at this point….

Still, their combined powers were put to the test a few times when they had encountered several small clusters of guards as they had feared. But they had passed by without any hint that they had been detected.

Finally, they had reached the entrance to the chambers. Justeco hesitated only a moment to check all around them before he turned the knob. He slowly opened the door, carefully peering around it to make sure all was clear. He silently sighed when there seemed to be no one around.

He and his brother darted inside and Justeco once more quietly closed the door before letting go of his brother's arm. He still had one more task to do and he still did not trust talking with his brother until they were on their way.

He silently motioned to his brother to wait just as they reappeared and rematerialized.

Though confused by his brother's actions, Konsilisto silently nodded his agreement and hovered while Justeco went to another part of the room.

The former High Tribune slowly and carefully opened a small drawer and then reached back and slid the fake back panel to one side before retrieving what he had come here for. He carefully grabbed the object and put it into his robe before closing the drawer once more.

Justeco silently motioned for his brother to head toward where the portal would be and waited until Konsilisto was near enough before he moved.

They were just outside the entrance to the small backroom which housed the portal when Justeco actually began to relax and sped up, anxious to get on with their task. But then, he heard some kind of a noise within the room that contained the portal and stopped abruptly.

His brother, who, of course, hadn't expected Justeco to halt at all, much less so unexpectedly, slammed right into him. He poked his eye upon the impact—and unconsciously groaned _out loud_ because of it!

Justeco had also unwittingly gasped in reaction before he cursed himself under his breath at his stupidity; but the next thing he heard drove a cold dread into his central core!

There were excited voices fast approaching the room, and the knob to the door of his chambers was turning!

_"What was that sound?"_ a faint voice was heard before the room's door was opened and two guards came in. They narrowed their eyes as they inspected the room with suspicious eyes.

But then they found nothing, one of the guards told the other. "Perhaps it was nothing…"

"Perhaps," muttered the other, still sounding unconvinced. But with no proof, the guard rolled his eyes and said tersely, "Let us go."

Justeco and Konsilisto waited a few more moments until they thought the guards were well enough out of earshot. They then phased through the bed under which they had hid even when they were intangible and invisible while the guards had searched the area. This time, they crept as silently and slowly as possible to the entrance to the small backroom, listening intensely with every foot of the way.

When they reached the entrance again, they strained to hear if anything was happening in the little room. At first, they heard nothing and wondered if they had imagined it. But then, they suddenly were seized with terror. What if Justeco was wrong? What if Iluzisto had yet to have used the portal? And if he hadn't, he might be on his way and find them here! The two brothers grew more nervous, suddenly having the same thought: maybe Iluzisto had already found out they escaped and was waiting for _them_ to enter!

Konsilisto whispered anxiously to his brother, "We must make haste with caution, brother. Now I am force to say that we cannot be certain if Iluzisto has used the portal or not after all."

"Be calm, Konsilisto. We must do this regardless the risk. It is our choice," Justeco replied in determination. But… he was also afraid, for the former Head Observant was well aware that what he planned to do would cause enough noise that it would be easy to hear if anyone was close enough to his room. And they could not possibly know whether it would be Iluzisto outside _or inside_ this room who would hear them. But they could not retreat at this point. No matter what they did, they would surely have to be quick—and hope for the best….

Gathering his courage, Justeco entered the portal room. Though slightly relieved that no one else was here, he determinedly walked right up to the portal and cleared his throat. "Uh, greetings, portal!"

The portal immediately began to glow and move, its bright green pinwheel of light swirling counter-clockwise, as if the salutation had turned it on.

Justeco continued, "I am here with my brother, Konsilisto, who also will be coming! We wish to go to…"

He paused and turned to look at his brother just before he added, "I will need to concentrate on this a bit since our weakness causes this to be tricky. Let me connect more directly with the portal."

The formal Head Tribunal then closed his eye in concentration before reaching out and touching part of the swirling portal. He suddenly lit up in a green hue when he connected with the portal, not losing any concentration in silently 'telling' the portal where he wanted to go.

Konsilisto's eye widened in shock as the portal brightened in intensity. He did not know his brother could do this. But before he could object or comment, he heard a loud commotion as someone burst into the main area of Justeco's room!

_"There! The light! I knew I heard someone in here!"_ a guard's voice exclaimed.

_"Who is in here? Come out, or you will be forced out!"_ another guard demanded as they carefully moved closer and closer to the room containing the portal.

"Brother!" Konsilisto whispered urgently and fearfully.

Justeco wasted no time and quietly demanded the portal, "Observe our desired destination!"

The portal all of the sudden grew brighter and Konsilisto could feel the slight pull of the vortex urging him to enter. But just as the guards burst into the room and spotted them, Justeco finished the task for his brother. He grabbed Konsilisto by his arm, and immediately pulled him right into the portal. The advisor yelped in surprise at the unexpectedness of it all, but he could do nothing about it, especially when the portal violently closed behind them right after they had entered it, denying any entrance by any other entity.

Before Konsilisto knew it, he and his brother were standing just outside the Fenton Portal, and within the Fenton's lab in Amity Park!

* * *

**Truephan here: Well, are you glad you chose to get this far down? Gee, does that make you Observants or just regular people? Heh-heh! Sorry, having an extra day off just makes me all giddy and silly! But of course I hope you liked this chapter. I certainly did. I like it when people—uh, I mean spirits—see reason! Now, hopefully we'll get to the hybrids. More to come! Thanks for reading and reviewing again and hope you review even more! Until next time!**

**Pearl: Yes, we hope you are liking this transition that Observants are going through; of course, they need more work, but they are getting there. Ha-ha! And they tried to tell Clockwork off, only to get the tables turn. Man, you would think after all this time they have known CW, they would realize they can't win against him! Lol! But, well, we promise to bring in at least one hybrid in the next chapter, kay? We just had to let them get some rest, poor halfas! Heh-heh!**

**Thanks again for all your support, and please share your thoughts with us; it makes us very happy! Ta for now!**


	29. Chapter 29:Coming to Terms, Part 1

**A/N: truephan here: Uh, are you all right, Ms. Hyde?**

**Ms. Hyde (weakly): Why of course, dearie, why did you ask?**

**Truephan: Uh, heh-heh, because you look worse than you usual bad self.**

**Ms. Hyde: Thanks for the compliment. But, it's just that this time I got caught right in the crossfire of this chapter and its other two or three revisions. Do you know how it feels to get squashed by several pounds of paper all at once?**

**Truephan: Uh, not really. So, that would explain the cuts…**

**Ms. Hyde: **_**Paper**_** cuts, dearie. And you know how much those bite!**

**Truephan: Uh, don't you mean **_**cut**_**… *winces at Ms. Hyde's hairpin eyes* Uh,…*gulps* Hope you feel better soon? In the meantime, dear readers, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Pearl: Oh, it wasn't so bad….**

**Vlad muse: *glares* Girl, you say that again and I'll blast you. Do you know the bruises I got after battling it out with Ms. Hyde over this blasted chapter!**

**Pearl: Oh, a lover's quarrel! How cute!**

**Vlad muse *eye twitches* What did you just say?**

**Pearl: Epp! Um, nothing! I said,… I love squirrels. Yes, that's what I said. *ignores muse's glare* Um, oh, heh. Hello all. Just, you know, another day with Vlad muse. Ahem! Anyways, enjoy this chapter! It was… fun. Yeah. Fun… *runs off***

* * *

**Chapter 29: Coming to Terms, Part One**

* * *

Vlad opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling before breathing slightly in relief. He hadn't been dreaming after all: he was still in his home in Amity Park. Still, when he moved, he was certain that not _all_ of it had been a dream.

He groaned as he pulled himself up and sat up on the side of his bed. But he only felt even dizzier and he groaned a bit more and reached for his forehead. That's when he suddenly startled a bit as he realized that his forehead felt hot. He looked down at his still bandaged chest and lightly touched it. It still hurt. And how odd. It, too, felt unusually _hot_. Was he running a fever?

He looked at the clock. How long had he been sleeping? He hadn't looked at the time when he took his first dose of ghostly medicine…something he would have been sure to have done if he wasn't feeling so badly... He would have to check with Skulker on that one.

He slowly stood up, but wished he hadn't since that only compounded his vertigo. He immediately sat back down and thought of just lying back down as well. Maybe that first dose of the Ives Ghost Plant formula was stronger than he thought…But he didn't think it would cause a fever.

Suddenly, there was a slight rap on the door of his bedroom.

"Come in," he said, his voice sounding hoarser than he thought it should.

He smiled weakly when Skulker emerged into his room.

"How are you feeling, Plasmius?" the Ghost Hunter asked, already suspecting that the answer wouldn't be that positive since the man looked a bit peaked and flushed at the same time.

"I have been better," the man replied, clearing his throat right afterward. "And I'm a bit thirsty and hungry."

"I shall summon Derek for you, then," Skulker began, turning around before Vlad interrupted him.

"Just a moment, Skulker. I would like you to check something for me first."

Skulker turned back and waited in silence.

Vlad cleared his throat again and then swallowing thickly, said, "I, uh, need you to come over here."

One of Skulker's eyebrows shot up in some surprise, but he walked over to his employer and stopped when he was about a foot away from the man.

Vlad nodded before saying, "I believe that your new suit has the ability to monitor temperature."

"Indeed it does. I have been taking the liberty of checking some of its features and, uh, fortifying your home just in case it should have to face some sort of invasion while you were recuperating," Skulker replied, almost sounding like an excited child with a new toy.

"Yes, it is best to be prepared," Vlad agreed, ignoring his still swimming head. "And I would like for you to use that feature right now. Can you tell what my body's temperature is?"

Once more, one of Skulker's eyebrows rose in both surprise and now some concern. That was definitely a very strange request the man just made. Nevertheless, he didn't comment and pushed a button.

A light blue beam immediately shot out and engulfed the man before it quickly dissipated.

Once the results were in, however, the Ghost Hunter hitched in a gasp before he commented, "Your human body's temperature is 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit. I believe that is highly above what humans would call the 'normal temperature'.

"Yes, it is. I thought I was running a fever," Vlad said. "I hope that this is merely the effects of that first dose of the Ives Ghost Plant."

"I hope so, too, Plasmius, because that is not all what my instruments told me," Skulker replied, his metallic face etched in concern.

"Oh?" Vlad replied, trying to sound casual, without complete success.

"Your central core….it is even hotter and its temperature is _rising_."

Vlad swallowed hard. Though he was now worried, he calmly remarked, "Rising did you say? Well, normally, it is just a few degrees higher than my human body temperature when it is dormant. But it doesn't get hotter until after I morph. This is unusual."

"So then, I hope you are not going to say that this may also be caused by that concoction you insisted I give you? I should think you were getting _better_," Skulker said with a frown. "This cannot be welcoming news."

"Well, as we both know, that 'concoction' as you call it might have been a bit stronger than I anticipated," Vlad replied, unconsciously rubbing his forehead a bit. He felt a headache coming on. "So, we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, could you summon Derek? I would like to get something to eat and drink. And then, I think I might have another dose."

"Another dose? You cannot be serious, Plasmius!" Skulker objected. "Should you not wait a bit more to see if at least your central core's temperature comes down?"

"I don't think I have that luxury, Skulker!" Vlad suddenly snapped.

But then, Vlad unexpectedly stopped before he grabbed his head and his chest at the same time. He had been suddenly seized with even more dizziness and a new pain in his chest. It was burning.

He then said with a bit more weakness eking out of his voice, "Maybe you're right, Skulker. I might give it a bit more time…"

"Plasmius?" Skulker immediately gasped, stepping a bit closer and grabbing the man before he could fall off the bed.

"On second thought, I think I'll just skip eating and drinking for the moment and just get a bit more rest," Vlad weakly said, not even aware that Skulker had actually helped him to lie back down.

Though concerned, Skulker dryly remarked, "Glad to see that you are seeing reason this time, Plasmius. I shall make sure that everything remains secured until you feel more recuperated."

But the man could not answer him. He had fallen unconscious again.

Skulker frowned in discontent. He didn't like this one bit. His employer had felt very hot to touch when he had helped him lie down and now the man was perspiring. He was now regretting even more that he had volunteered to give the man that medicine.

But little did Skulker know that in reality, the medicine _had_ been helping Vlad and he would have been a lot better by now had he not been so injured in the first place. But even more, there was another kind of mischief behind Vlad's slow recovery….

In fact, about an hour later, the older hybrid was tossing and turning, yet remained unconscious. There was a cold pack on the man's forehead, which Skulker had brought in when he had returned to check on his employer and found the man's temperature had gone up several more degrees.

The hunter was indeed worried, but unable to do more, he had readily left Plasmius alone. And Skulker had reason to be worried, for Vlad's body temperature was so high that the ice pack had completely melted in a matter of minutes and the man was drenched in sweat.

Even so, Vlad remained unconscious, though he continued to toss-and-turn and moan incoherently.

Then, suddenly, a purple beam came out of nowhere and hit the unsuspecting man, and his body lit up with the odd energy. A small gasp slipped past Vlad's lips, but then he sighed and settled down into a calmer slumber…

* * *

Tucker slightly rapped on his best friend's bedroom door. When there was no answer, he turned to Sam with a shrug and a frown.

She motioned for him to try again.

Still frowning, Tucker obliged her and knocked again before quietly asking, "Dude? Are you awake? It's me and Sam."

"I am now. Come in, guys," Danny groggily said as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

Tucker winced in guilt at having woken his best friend and slowly opened the door and went in with Sam close behind him. As soon as Tucker saw Danny, he apologetically said, "Sorry, dude. Jazz asked us to try to wake you up. She's making breakfast for everyone."

"Breakfast? Have I been out of it that long again?" Danny asked, surprised. "I knew I needed the rest, but that doesn't seem right."

"Well, then, how do you feel?" Sam finally asked, studying him a bit. She had noticed something right away, but hadn't said anything yet since she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Danny thought about it a moment. He still felt tired. And he was definitely hungry and thirsty. But…there was something weird that he couldn't put a finger on…That is, until he suddenly shivered—violently!

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, their eyes wide with concern. They immediately ran up to him and each of them grabbed his blanket. But as Sam and Tucker placed it around their friend, they brushed his arms and both of them gasped.

Danny felt ice cold!

"Dude! You're…," Tucker began, only to be interrupted by Sam.

"Freezing! I knew your skin looked a little bluish, but I didn't think you would be this bad. Something's very wrong!"

But Danny didn't answer them right away because he was concentrating on getting warm.

Just then, Jazz came in with a plate of food for Danny. But when she saw how dusky her brother looked, she almost dropped the plate.

"What's going on?" she blurted out as she rushed over to her brother and quickly put the plate down on his bedside table.

"We don't know, Jazz," Tucker hurriedly replied. "Danny seemed to be all right until just now. He feels and almost looks like a human popsicle!"

"Shut it, Tucker!" Sam demanded as she went to get another blanket out of Danny's closet and hurried to wrap it around her friend, who was still shivering.

"Maybe we should give him something hot to drink?" Tucker still offered.

"Or something hot to _eat_," Jazz countered, reaching for the plate again.

"W-Will y-you s-stop fussing over me?" Danny stuttered, more irritated that he was still shaking from the cold than with his friends. Plus, he was still tired and sore. "M-Maybe my central core is finally recuperating and is just overdoing it a bit with the cold stuff."

But Danny really wasn't positive about that since his central core was actually hurting _more._

His sister and friends, however, weren't convinced about Danny's explanation because they could see the pain written all over his face. They were about to say more when…

The Fenton alarm went off!

All of the teens' eyes widened, instantly thinking what they had dreaded. The Observants had finally caught up with Danny!

Jazz, Sam and Tucker reflexively went over to where the Observant weapons still were and grabbed them.

Danny, meanwhile, now charged with adrenaline, concentrated in digging into his inner strength. He ignored how it actually hurt to do that just as he cried, "I'm going ghost!" He immediately felt a rush of cold energy surround him as he burst into his alter ego, Danny Phantom.

But at the instant he did, he gasped and dropped to his knees as he shivered even more violently while he gripped at his painful core. He didn't understand it. He was freezing!

"Danny!" his friends and sister exclaimed and rushed to his side.

However, Danny readily swallowed his pain and forced himself to his feet as he stuttered out, "I-I'm fine."

"Danny," Sam began, only to be interrupted by her friend's determined face.

But then seeing his friend's worried look, Danny said more gently, "I'm taking the shortcut. Meet me there as soon as you can, okay?"

And before they could reply, they watched Danny charge up energy around his fisted hands, turn intangible, and phase through the floor.

* * *

"Are we here, brother? And _why_ did we come here?" Konsilisto asked, suddenly very frightened when the portal closed and he gazed around the empty Fenton lab.

Since the ex-counselor—and for that matter, Justeco—had never been in the Real World until their imprisonment in that cave, he was still very skittish about being in such a strange and hostile place. Not to mention that he had already noticed that this place was much different than the one they had escaped. For one thing, it was _much_ warmer. But more than that, he was intimidated by all the wicked-looking devices along the wall or strewed upon some of the tables. And those machines' lights blinking at him unnerved him even more. He was even more painfully aware, then, that this was so outside of their nature to even be here. They had done more than _not_ being passive by coming here. They were actively involved in these events in which they found themselves! And that just sent shivers of dread up his ghostly spine.

But before Justeco could answer him, an alarm blared!

"**Ecto-level nine ghosts detected. Containment program commencing!" **a mechanical male voice announced over a loud speaker above the alarm.

Soon after, large mechanical arms jutted out the ceiling and the walls, and charged right at them!

The two Observants immediately froze, stunned as if they were deer caught in headlights. Before they knew it, their arms were pinned and bound at their sides with thick green ectoplasmic metal cables. And an instant later, those same glowing bindings sent an ectoplasmic charge through them. Each of the Observants yelled in pain before their lone eyes glazed over, now seeing only stars float in front of them. Finally, another mechanical arm then connected itself to their bindings, securing them where they floated and thus preventing them from fleeing even when only their arms were bound. But since they were still dazed from that hard ectoplasmic zap, fleeing hadn't even crossed their minds.

The alarm then stopped, as the mechanical voice reported, **"Intruder ghosts secured!"**

Justeco was the first to recover and just as he was coming back to his senses he looked up at nothing specifically. But at the very next moment he saw two bright green balls of light coming out of the ceiling! And then, he spied…._Danny Phantom_ attached to those energy orbs and phasing into the lab through the ceiling!

The young hybrid had already poised himself to throw two fully-charged and powerful green ectoplasmic energy orbs at whatever ghost he spied just as he had rematerialized. But as soon as he saw who the invaders were, he halted in mid-flight, just as stunned as the two Observants had been when they had first heard the alarm.

And just as the Ghost Boy, his hands still surrounded by his bright ectoplasmic energy orbs, floated down so that he was at eye-level to the two intruders, Justeco turned his head to the nearby stairs. He could hear a lot of noise coming from it! But Danny didn't even flinch at it.

A moment later, Team Phantom had bounded down the stairs—armed and ready to help Danny. However, once Danny's sister and Sam caught sight of Danny and the bound spirits, however, they, too, halted at the foot of the stairs, too astounded at the scene.

But Tucker hadn't seen the sight at first. He had been programming his PDA as he ran. Angry at and speaking to himself, he chided, "Darn it! I didn't think about the portal when I enhanced the ghost shield around Danny's house so that he could recover without having to worry about any ghosts—or spirits for that matter! Still,.." He suddenly clammed right up when he finally saw what was happening, as stunned as everyone else.

At first, no one spoke. They didn't know what to make of it.

But then, Danny snapped out of it because he could feel the pain in his central core worsening. And that —along with seeing the two spirits most instrumental in causing his injuries—made him angry. No, it made him **furious!**

"No, don't tell me!" he hotly sneered. "Your creepy minions were all tied up so you felt you had to come here to give my execution a more personal touch?"

Before Justeco could answer, Danny pressed on, "Oh, wait a minute! Looks like you're also definitely _**too tied up**_ to do that at the moment. Then I suggest you scratch that and _leave—__**permanently**_**!"**

Justeco could only stare back at the young hybrid in utter fear as the energy in the boy's glowing green hand turned darker. And the… hate in his eye was just as frightening. It was almost as if Justeco was looking into the eyes of that other 'future' Danny Phantom…

Just then, Konsilisto groaned when he finally began to come to his senses. And when that Observant finally opened his eye, he gasped in fear when he saw a very angry Danny Phantom looking at him, orbs charged and ready to fire upon him!

"P-Please! D-Do not hurt us!" he blurted out in fear.

"Don't _hurt_ you?" Danny then gasped in indignation, just as he dispelled his energy orbs. That made him feel a bit better, but he was still aching as he practically growled, "Why _shouldn't_ I hurt you, now that I have you in _my_ world and on _my_ terms? After all, isn't that exactly what you did to me—and Plasmius—when we were first 'welcomed' by _your_ world?"

"Yeah, Danny, you tell them!" Tucker excitedly said, encouraging his friend. But then, Sam jabbed him in the ribs. He groaned, but took the big hint of shutting up for now.

But all three human teens still kept their weapons ready—just in case.

"We admonished Iluzisto for his violent capture of you. He was not supposed to do that!" Justeco then offered.

"Oh, I see! So then he was only _supposed_ to torture me _after _he already got me there, right?" Danny sarcastically replied. "Sorry, I don't see the difference!"

"We were tricked and did not know that he tortured you until he told us himself just before…," Konsilisto sadly began. But he could not say anymore since he was still so sorry for he had done.

"He is correct," Justeco insisted, confirming what Konsilisto had said.

"Oh, c'mon, you don't think I'm going to fall for that?" Danny said, still clearly irritated and sarcastic. "And, oh! I just _bet_ that now you would also want me to think that you _didn't_ put me on some lame trial bent on condemning me, then, huh?"

The two Observants didn't answer him at first.

But then, Justeco quietly but firmly said, "Yes, we knew that you had to be forcefully, uhm, prepared for the trial. But as Konsilisto said, we did not know of the torture until just recently!"

"Oh, yeah right! What did you think 'being prepared for the trial' meant? Wearing a tuxedo?" But the young hybrid didn't react to Justeco's lost look. Instead, the teen, still livid, continued, "First you tortured me—which, by the way, I told you about and you **didn't** believe me! Then you condemned me to the oblivion—which was all a set-up from the very beginning anyhow! But that was child's play compared to sending Iluzisto to _kill my family and friends!_ I'd say you had three strikes, jerks!"

"We ordered no such thing!" Konsilisto finally had the guts to say.

The boy's glare was as potent as if he had thrust daggers right at the advisor Observant instead; and the spirit immediately cowered.

Danny was still steamed, but that was also compounded by the fact that now that he was beginning to pant from the mounting pain in his core. "**Don't try to lie about that!** Maybe I should just push that 'replay' button on how all that came about on that_ stupid time viewer_, like you were _so good_ at having that traitor Clockwork do at my trial!" the boy spat back, definitely not believing them and now even angrier at the two spirits. "And don't think for one second that I believe you! And don't _**dare**_ try and tell me that you never noticed how awful Vlad and I must have looked after you had Iluzisto torment us before we were finally able to get out of your putrid world!"

The two Observants looked at each other, instantly remembering what Iluzisto had told them. They now knew beyond any doubt that the illusionist spirit did trick them into believing something totally different than what the half-ghosts had been pleading for them to see. And Iluzisto had been right yet again. They also knew now that Iluzisto had been able to not only physically scar the young half-ghost, but he had succeeded in scarring the boy mentally! But what hit them even more squarely now was the dishonor which had all of the sudden gripped their central cores. Both of the brothers then just as suddenly lowered their gaze in shame.

Danny gasped in indignation when he had mistaken their silence for concession, "You _didn't even care to _notice! Ugh! You're even worse than all those jerks at high school!

Justeco and Konsilisto blinked in confusion at his very last remark.

"Never mind!" the young hybrid impatiently growled back before floating over to the controls on the Fenton portal. "You're just as bad as Iluzisto! But consider yourselves lucky I'm not as putrid as you, who go about wasting others, just because you think they're less than you. Still, I don't feel like looking at your ugly eyeballs any longer. So, in case you don't notice—again—I'm going to send your ugly _non-_faces back to…"

"But you cannot do that!" Justeco desperately interrupted him.

This time Danny looked at him in surprise, but then thought he knew what the spirit meant. After all, Team Phantom had been able for the most part to talk to him about all that had happened to them before these two jerks came. And part of that conversation was about the remoteness and the elusiveness of the Realm Beyond Time's entrance.

Danny firmly replied, "I might not be able to send you back to your creepy realm, but I'm going to send you to the furthest end of the Ghost Zone that I can reach! And I hope you _never_ find your way back!**"**

But the boy really had misinterpreted to what Justeco was alluding.

"Please, you cannot do that!" Justeco repeated.

**"Oh, yes, I can—_and will!"_** the teen spat back just before programming the command pad.

"But you _must not_, Danny Phantom —"

"That's _Prisoner Four-Eighty-Five_ to you!" the boy firmly interrupted him, still angrily punching on the keys. But he was not aware that he had suddenly grasped at his hurting chest and was beginning to feel light-headed. He knew his adrenaline kick would not last much longer.

The portal then opened up, and its green glowing mass seemed to swirl in sync with the young hybrid's anger.

Konsilisto's eye widened in fear but he was still too terrified of the Ghost Boy to speak.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker, meanwhile, had been looking on in silence. They knew that Danny had a right to be angry at these two and felt that it was his call on how he wanted to handle them.

But then, Sam had a sudden thought. Just _why _were _just_ _these two_ here? And they came from their hard-to-reach world just to be _here_? And there was something…else. They weren't _armed _and had _no guards_ with them. And they looked…different than any other Observant she had seen, but she couldn't put a finger on it. Not only that, they…they seemed so…so _desperate_.

She finally said, "Uh, Danny, not that you don't have a right to be livid over this whole thing, but don't you wanna know why they're here?"

"I don't care why they're here, Sam! I just want them gone—_**way gone!"**_

But then, Jazz piped in, as she approached her brother. "Sorry, Danny, but Sam has a point. Why _would_ they come here when they knew they probably wouldn't be welcomed by _any_ of us?"

"Yeah, why didn't they just send Clockwork to you like they usually did?" Tucker added. But then he cringed when he got those lethal looks from both Sam _and_ Jazz.

And now he completely understood why they had given him those looks. He had just riled Danny right back up!

The Ghost Boy's green eyes unconsciously flared in even more anger this time. "You're right, Tuck! Why _didn't_ they send Clockwork? Don't answer that! They forgot to take him _off of his leash_ before they came here, that's why! So, just where is your lap dog, egghead? Uh, scratch that again! I don't care what kennel you put him in!"

This time, the still bound Justeco narrowed his eye in irritation before he firmly replied, "You should not speak of your mentor in that manner, young half-ghost!"

"Mentor?" Danny scoffed, stopping momentarily in his task. "Whatever gave you the lame idea that he was any kind of _mentor_ to me? Seems the way you pulled his chains during my trial that he was more _mental _than being any mentor!"

"He did not prosecute you…." the former High Tribune began, only to be forcefully cut off by the Ghost Boy.

"Oh, so are you saying that he was really playing innocent 'word games' during all that time he was trying to get me **condemned**? Or didn't you notice that I saw right through your crud right away, thanks to my sister?"

Jazz smiled a moment before resuming her frown at the scene. Her brother had already been able to tell her soon after they had gotten together again that it was from her special report that he realized that he was being framed all along.

The annoyed teen continued, "Oh, hold on! You _did_ notice _that_—just to let Iluzisto torture me even more when I pointed out just how unfair you all were during the trial! Heaven knows that idiot Spektanto certainly _didn't even _try to defend me—or even Plasmius! So, then, the next time you see Clockwork, tell him to stick to playing video games—or better yet, to tinkering with watches. They are way more indifferent than what he was playing at my trial!"

"You have it all wrong, young half-ghost," Justeco said with both chagrin and irritation.

"Oh, do I now?" Danny seethed back, trying to keep his head together since his pain and wooziness were worsening. "You know, I'd hate to admit that you're right! I _do_ have it all wrong! I'm still _talking to you_ instead of sending you back to wherever!"

Danny resumed programming the portal right after that.

Finally, in desperation, the former High Tribune blurted out, "All right! Send us to 'wherever'! But can you live with your conscience knowing that you have condemned all of the Observants and Clockwork to extinction once you have sent their desperate emissaries to a place where they will have no hope of finding or getting any help?"

Jazz, Sam and Tucker gasped at the news, but Danny was still too angry to even want to give them any kind of break. He heatedly answered, "As if that was true, since I really don't believe anything you're saying!"

"But it is the truth!" Justeco insisted.

Danny huffed, not in the least bit convinced and not at all aware that his next breath was frosty. And his next words were just as deathly cold, "You know, if that's true then, I don't _care _how _that_ happened, but since it did: **_good_, then!** Serves you all right, as far as I'm concerned! You're just trying to get out of what you deserve! So, it's about time that you arrogant, close-minded spirits got a taste of something that'll really bite—permanently! Have a nice existence—or, what remains of it!"

This time, all the other teens quickly put their Observant weapons aside and ran up to Danny's side. They could understand Danny's being very angry—even bitter—about what had happened. After all, they were still pretty riled up about everything they had endured. And Danny had been very hurt and the damage done to his central core was worse than they had expected, especially when they could see that Danny was getting worse by the second. But if what these two spirits were saying was true, this was too much for even them to believe about their brother and friend!

"Danny! You can't mean that!" his sister gasped.

"Yeah, dude, I mean, don't you know what you mean by that?" Tucker said, and then cringed that he didn't mean to give Danny any more ideas.

Then Sam placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and turning him so that she could look right into his eyes and ignoring how _very cold_ he felt, quietly but firmly said, "Danny, look. _Every one of us _is still very upset about what happened. And you're right that maybe they deserve what's coming to them, especially after what they put you through, and especially when it looks like it has really affected you more than any of us thought. But, darn it, Danny, _listen_ to yourself!"

"I am, Sam!" Danny exclaimed, though mostly still from his anger. "You cannot _imagine_ what _these jerks_ did to me and—"

"No, I probably can't," Sam interrupted him quickly. "But I can see by how upset you are that it was horrible for you; but, look!" His female friend then let him go, and pointed to Justeco and Konsilisto before continuing, "_Look_ at them and _listen_ to what you're saying. From what you already told us about what happened to you, you're beginning to _sound_ just as _evil _as _they _when they were on the judgment end of the table when they weren't listening to _you_! And if I didn't know you better, I'd say that it's like you don't _want_ to listen to their own kind of defense… and that's not like you at all!"

Danny gasped, jolting to more mental clarity at her words. And then, suddenly, he remembered—of all spirits—Clockwork's words! The ones the Time Spirit had said to him on the first day of his actual trial when Clockwork seemed to be accusing him of being evil after reviewing the evidence about his putrid alternate timeline grown-up self:

"_Danny Phantom, by the earlier evidence presented against you, would it be just to say that you learned nothing from these future events? From this mistake?" Clockwork asked, pointing at the viewing glass as an image of the boy's evil self returned on it. _

_Danny stared at his evil self for a moment before looking back at Clockwork, "You know I learned a lot from that! You know that I'm not evil! I use my powers for good!" he defended himself fiercely._

"_Are you sure about that?" the time spirit asked calmly. "How do you know? __**How can you prove you are not evil? That you are different than your alternate future self? You need solid evidence in a trial, Danny. Show this council evidence of what you claim with so much assurance."**_

Suddenly, Danny sighed and lowered his eyes. He finally understood what Clockwork was trying to tell him. His anger quickly sloughed right off his drooping shoulders even as he was just as suddenly aware how drained he felt. But, oddly, he also felt the pain ease within his central core. He quietly said, "You're right, Sam! I do sound as evil as…." But he didn't say what was truly on his mind. He hadn't sounded as evil as the Observants…he had sounded as _evil_ as that _vile future self_ he so wanted to avoid becoming.

Once more Danny sighed as he morphed back to his human form. And he noticed that doing that had also made him feel better. Nevertheless, he had to stifle a groan. He tried to swallow his pain and shame down before looking back up to his sister and friends and saying, "I-I'm sorry, guys! I let my anger get the best of me! I didn't mean what I said. It's just that…that I did go through so much there that just seeing _any_ reminder of it just freaked me out. I should have known better."

He then raised his head squarely; and looking at the Observants, he said with conviction, "But I'm **not** evil!"

"I knew you meant that!" Tucker said, and then cringed again. "I mean, uh, you know what I mean!"

Danny smiled weakly at his friend. He did know what he meant.

He then looked at Sam and she merely nodded a little, though a hint of an encouraging smile did peek out from one of the corners of her mouth.

"You _do_ know better and did the right thing in the end, as you always do!" Jazz said, trying to make him feel better. Then she smiled mischievously and added, "And now you sound like my little brother!"

Danny smiled a slight bit at her as well before walking over to the control box on the Fenton Portal.

At first, the Observants' eyes widened in dread, thinking that the boy hadn't changed his mind about sending them to their doom. But in the next instant, their bonds disappeared and they inadvertently fell to the floor.

The other teens instinctively rushed to help them up, but each of the Observants lifted their hands to stay them off and floated back up on their own.

Suddenly embarrassed and uncomfortable by their gesture, Justeco then said, "U-Uh, t-thank you. We are unharmed."

In the next moment, however, Danny unexpectedly groaned just as a swirl of cold smoke drifted past his lips, turning them blue. A heartbeat later, he suddenly cried out in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his chest and shivering violently.

The Observants and the three other teens gasped in alarm just as Danny then fell prostrate and senseless before ice began to form around him!

Jazz, Sam and Tucker immediately ran up to Danny's side frantically calling his name.

But before they could get to him, they gasped once more and stepped back when Danny's entire body was suddenly engulfed by a purple energy beam!

When the three teens twisted back around to see where the beam had originated, their eyes widened and they gasped again.

They couldn't believe it! The Observants were shooting at Danny!

"What are you doing to him?" Sam immediately cried, reflexively raising her Fenton wrist ray gun at the Observants while her two friends were running to get their Observant weapons. Her heart had constricted with the memory that Danny had told her when she had seen what the Observants were doing….the one of which Okulo had branded her friend with some kind of energy orb!

"No, please, wait!" Justeco desperately gasped out even as he was suddenly losing power. "I swear we are helping him! Konsilisto, I need your help!"

Though Sam still wanted to attack them, she hesitated. She had an odd, sudden gut feeling that they were telling the truth. And her friend definitely needed a lot of help now that even more ice was forming around him!

The raven-hair girl was quickly joined by her friends and the three teens desperately watched on, torn between waiting as asked and wanting to interfere...

Konsilisto hadn't hesitated a moment as he went to his brother, knowing exactly what to do. He placed his hands on his brother's forearms, making sure not to interrupt the violet beam that was emanating from the small crystal orb that Justeco had earlier retrieved from the secret compartment in his chambers.

In fact, now that the two Observants had combined their powers, the lone beam split, becoming two beams as each of the beams intensified… One of the beams was still encasing the Ghost Boy and the other shot upward and through the ceiling…

And even as the two Observants' arms shook with trying to control the beams with all the strength they had been able to muster, the three conscious teens could hear Justeco's desperately calling out some kind of incantation. Only Sam and Tucker, however, knew it was spoken in Esperanto:

"_De __ĉiuj __Potencoj __asignis __min __de __ĉiuj __Sentempa __Magio __en __nia __Sfero __kiel __Alta __Tribune, __mi __komandi __ke la __Malbeno __de __la __Forgeso __esti __tuj __forigita __de la __Kaptitoj __En la okazo se Nombro 789! __Majo Danny Fantomo kaj Vlad Plasmius est plene kompensita dnove kaj iu kloera forto est de nun slovita!" __**(1)**_

Several anxious seconds passed and it seemed as if nothing was happening.

Justeco's eye bulged in apprehension, silently praying that he and his brother hadn't been too late! Nevertheless, he and his brother didn't expel the beams.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker, meanwhile, were beginning to get a creepy feeling crawl up their spines as even more ice formed around Danny.

Even more intense seconds later for all the alert parties, the ice surrounding Danny finally began to melt before it all together disappeared!

And after just a few more moments, Danny began to stir.

Finally, Justeco cut off the energy beams and both of the Observants lost some of their balance under the strain. They were obviously drained after using more of their powers than they could afford to do. But, really, they both had felt that they had had no choice but to act rather than explain what they had needed to do. They knew that the curse they had placed upon the boy was well on its way to taking a firm root in him. Had they waited any longer, the curse would have been completely unstoppable.

Once the beams dissipated, the teens reflexively responded and flew to Danny's side, but not before Sam had thrown a suspicious but queried look at the two obviously weakened Observants.

Danny had already opened his eyes and his vision was clearing by the time his sister and friends had gotten to him and were already helping him up.

Though feeling weak, Danny frowned in confusion. One moment he was in excruciating pain and was sure his central core was freezing him to death and the next, he was feeling...so much better. In fact, he felt _almost_ normal—but he also felt that he wasn't completely healed yet.

"What happened?" Danny asked, searching his sister and friends' eyes.

"W-We don't know," Jazz shakily said, still upset at what had just happened.

Tucker also frowned and nervously added, "They shot you with some kind of weird beam…Are you all right, dude?"

Though confused by his friend's remark, Danny slightly nodded and replied with a slight sigh of relief, "I think so. I feel a _lot _better as a matter of fact—though I still have some pain in my central core."

Finally satisfied that Danny was looking and sounding better—especially when he no longer felt _cold_ to the touch—Sam turned back to the Observants and frowned before she half-asked and half-demanded, "Why did you do that?"

Before either of the Observants could answer, however, Konsilisto all of the sudden plummeted to the floor and his pupil rolled upward until all that was left was the white of his single eye before it closed.

"Brother!" Justeco cried in alarm as he rushed to the Observant's side. He tried to squelch his panic when he saw an oozing crater open up on the upper part of his brother's closed eye!

The humans and half-ghost looked at them and then at each other, stunned. These two were _brothers_? And what just happened to the Observant that had just fallen?

"What's wrong with him?" Jazz then asked, and the Justeco could tell that the concern in her voice was real.

"He is being ravished by Time! And really, at this very moment, all we Observants are! We were imprisoned in the Real World by Iluzisto and since we have never experienced Time before, now that it is being very rapidly thrust upon us, its effects on us are rapidly and effectively destroying us," the spirit sadly responded. "But not only that, we are also trapped no matter where we are. And that is because we are under a time spell, as you can see by the fact that our auras are no longer white, but blue. Iluzisto casted it on us! And worse, he made it so that time is affecting us _twice_ as fast!"

Sam hitched in a gasp. She knew there was something different about these two when she had first seen them but couldn't put a finger on it. And now, she could! Their auras _were not_ right. And the two did not look well, if that was possible for a spirit. Nevertheless, she and the other three teens were stunned to silence at what the Observant had just said.

Just then, however, Justeco panted under the strain of activating his energy orb once more. With the help of the orb, he successfully lifted his senseless brother's ghostly body and deposited him on one of the nearby examining tables.

Once Justeco was satisfied that his brother was comfortable and he had done all that he could do for Konsilisto, he turned to the teens. But suddenly, he was frightened once more. He really couldn't bring himself to ask for any more help after all of this...intrusion he had thrust upon these young innocents. He felt himself totally helpless within the grip of his utter shame.

But before the High Tribune could say any more, Danny slowly walked right up to him. Nervously grabbing and then rubbing the back of his neck, the teen said, "I am, uhm, I'm sorry that I threatened to hurt you; though, really, I couldn't help but be angry with you for what happened."

"You might find this hard to believe, young half-ghost, but I…I understand," Justeco sadly began. "And in many ways, you were right in saying that we deserve everything that has—and is—coming to us." He paused a moment at the significance of his next thought, but he said it anyway. "And in the end, you did not harm us, which is really the most important outcome in the existence of things… But even that does not right our wrongs here."

Danny's eyes widened a bit, still haunted by similar words spoken by Justeco during his trial. When the Observant accused him, he had dismissed anything right he had done against his perceived wrongs…But the way the Observant said it just _now_, it was different….Somehow, Danny felt that Justeco was apologizing in his own way.

Danny paused a bit before slowly replying "I sorta understand that as well. And though I don't know why, I kinda know that you did something to help me yourself a few minutes ago and I feel a lot better because of it. I…I have to admit, though. I'm still upset and even a little angry. I know I'll get over it eventually, but…" The teen trailed off as he looked at some random spot on the ground before shaking his head. He looked back up at the Observant judge and said soberly, "I might be upset, but that doesn't mean I have the right to wish or do anything bad against you—and it certainly doesn't mean I should stand by and let Iluzisto destroy the entire Observant race."

Danny sighed sharply before adding, "Even with everything, I can't deny that Clockwork was right about one thing: Everyone deserves a second chance…" But smiling a bit, he further added, "And I'm pretty sure, 'everyone' includes Observant spirits, right? So, let's let bygones be bygones and not waste anymore time. Didn't you say that the Observants are in trouble? We should get going, then."

Justeco's eye blinked in disbelief. Not only _had_ the young half-ghost been actually _listening to_ what he had desperately blurted out about his endangered race, but now he had already made the decision to _help_ him? He didn't understand that at all. If he were Danny Phantom, he would still be demanding more of an explanation about coming here or what he did to him with the orb; or even _still_ have him groveling at his feet for having them intrude upon his…time and…existence…

Justeco halted in thought. How ironical was _that_? He jolted once more with his very next thought. He _wasn't_ Danny Phantom! Even though the young half-ghost had every right to demean him and demand an explanation for all the wrongs done to him, he hadn't. And the young half-ghost even had every right to reject his plea after everything he and all the other Observants had done to him. But instead, Danny Phantom was going to help him…because…. _simply_ because it was the right thing to do!

...Obviously, this boy _was_ something special, just as Clockwork so poignantly and annoyingly pointed out to him time and time again! Suddenly, the Head Observant felt driven to speak once more. But he still didn't feel he had a right to be too forward with the young half-ghost.

Now recalling how the boy wanted to be addressed, Justeco hesitantly replied, "I see I misjudged you all along, uh, Prisoner Four-Eighty—"

"Danny," the boy gently corrected him.

Justeco's eye glistened a bit before he continued, "I have been…a fool, young Danny." He then lowered his gaze slightly and added, "And all of us Observants are as…as evil as everything you rightly accused us about. We could not see past our blind lone eyes that other beings…ghosts, humans, and….half-ghosts have their purpose in Time and Existence, no matter how unconventional a role that may be. I am, uh, _we_ are sorry for what we did to you…and to the other half-ghost. But,.. I am not sorry for trying to ensure that good things will happen more than bad ones."

"No argument there," Danny said with a slight chuckle.

The former High Tribune looked back up at the teen and then added, "I am now certain of your goodness, Danny Phantom; so I am not surprised that you would not argue that point, especially when I now see that Clockwork was right about you."

Justeco's eye widened in surprise when Danny's head and eyes lowered and that the boy had suddenly frowned in sadness when he heard the Time Spirit's name. He then guessed at what the boy might be thinking. "I still suppose that you think Clockwork is no longer your friend?"

Danny nodded slightly but didn't look up at the Observant.

The former Tribune continued, "I can understand that perception. And you were rightfully too angry to listen when I tried to tell you the truth about him."

This time, Danny lifted his head and looked at the spirit, wondering what he meant by that. But he was still too upset about what Clockwork had done to bring himself to ask.

But seeing that the boy didn't object to his remark, Justeco said, "As I told you, Clockwork did not prosecute you…But what I wanted to add was that he did not prosecute you _with a consenting will to do so_. And I am now ashamed to say that we _made _him prosecute you."

"_Made_ him?" Danny finally uttered, his voice sounding more hopeful.

The other teens, who had been listening with great interest at Danny and Justeco's conversation, were even more 'all ears' about this.

"Yes. You, of course, were not there, and therefore could not know that after we appointed him the Prosecutor during your first hearing, he objected to our appointment of him in this matter. But we insisted back and he relented, though now I understand he did not fully admit with how much duress that he had relented—or I must shamefully admit now that it was more likely that we did not listen to him. In fact, I think the only reason he actually relented was because he… knew—as unorthodox as this may sound—that the _only_ way he could help you was by being your prosecutor…So you must understand, young half-ghost, that how Clockwork conducted himself at your first hearing when he accepted being the Master Prosecutor was a pretext. We had also insisted that he had to use his wonderful air of neutrality in accepting any appointed task that the Council had willed at the beginning..."

Danny's eyebrows creased in confusion. That made no sense. How was Clockwork _helping_ him by prosecuting him?

And seeing the uncertainty in the boy's eyes, Justeco paused a moment before adding, "There is much about Clockwork that you may not know. He is mysterious, yes, but he is also head-strong about certain ideals. That makes him very qualified to work for us. But, sometimes, that same quality puts us at odds with each other when our interpretation of certain ideals…clash. And when they do, he is very clever about manipulating things to suit his way of interpreting those things…Uh, in other words, he cheats!"

Danny's eyebrows shot up a bit, though he really wasn't surprised. Clockwork did manipulate time for his sake on more than one occasion.

Justeco then continued, "And I now realize that you were too upset to see that when I first tried to tell you."

Suddenly, Justeco chuckled slightly and all of the teens' eyes widened in surprise. None of the teens had imagined anything but one emotion that the Observants were capable of expressing, and 'amusement' definitely was not on that radar.

And then Justeco said, "But since Clockwork was very upset at having to be made to prosecute you, the old rascal was able to manipulate his presentation. He made it vague enough that, for the most part of the trial, it was slanted in your _favor_! As I look back now, I realize he twisted all our accusations and instead of prosecuting you, he defended you! He… He even went as far as blaming _himself_ for some of your crimes against time, by saying he was responsible and pointing out you changed everything back to its correct order! Indeed he defended you the entire time, young half-ghost. But…." Justeco sighed, "it did not matter….We…we had already decided your fate even when we saw what Clockwork was doing."

This time, Danny hitched in a surprised gasp. He didn't see that _at all_!

Justeco continued, "But that is not all. As I told you, we made him prosecute you. And our intent was _not_ noble. We were in many ways getting back at _him_ for all those times he did cheat—especially when it came to that evil alternate timeline ghost that I now know is **not** you. And we also really wanted to use him…to do our 'dirty work' once again. But, again, he performed his charge against his will. After all, as he so poignantly pointed out to me again not too long ago during our continuing exile of doom, he should have been your defender, because we also made him responsible for you after your alternate evil-self affair! And to that charge, I assure you, he embraced it with his entire central-core!"

Danny suddenly felt a large lump in his throat, speechless at the spirit's words. And then he remembered Clockwork's own words: '_I do what I must, Danny.'_ He should have known better and trusted Clockwork! And as the teen quickly flipped through those times during the trial in his mind, he could also see that Clockwork really had kept throwing him hints to aid him out of this mess.

But Danny felt even worse at what he hadn't realized until now. Not only had Clockwork helped him all through his time in the Realm Beyond Time, but he now realized why Clockwork had sent Iluzisto after his friends… If Iluzisto had not gone after them, his friends, sister, and Skulker would have never found out where he was and they would have not been able to rescue him! Why hadn't he seen that before? Clockwork _must have known_ all along that his friends would have escaped being killed by Iluzisto, so Clockwork had _never_ tried to hurt his loved ones. Instead, he was trying to show them how to find him so they could rescue him!

But before Danny could even sort through all his mixed emotions over all of this, Justeco sadly added, "We broke our own laws then, but that was not the first time. We still broke them for another shameless reason…." This time, the former Tribune could not go on. He lowered his gaze once more, suddenly overwhelmed with his guilt.

"W-What do you mean?" Danny blurted out, now wanting to know as much as he could before they needed to go—and before he started to feel badly again.

Justeco looked back up at the young half-ghost and knew that since he brought it up, he had to answer the boy. He finally, yet sadly, replied, "I will try to be brief, as we are still at odds with time."

But with the comment, Danny remembered how every second was counting for the Observants and he hesitantly objected, "Um… maybe we should continue to talk later. I mean, if the Observants are being harmed by being within time, then…"

But Justeco suddenly sighed deeply, cutting the boy off.

"Yes, young Danny. Every second is a second closer to extinction for my kin, but… I have to sadly admit that we will have to wait for my brother to stir. You see… I cannot return to where the other Observants are being held without my brother's aid. My power is now too weak and I need his help to make it strong enough to re-trace our steps, so to speak… So, then, allow me to spend this time we are forced to remain here on speaking the truth to you."

Danny frowned, now even more worried for the Observants. But… it seemed they had no choice right now but to stay put until the other Observant woke up. Besides… Danny himself was feeling more than a little exhausted. And although he really did feel a whole lot better, his dormant core was still hurting…

"Maybe we should sit down while we wait," Sam suddenly suggested gently to Danny.

And seeing her, Tucker, and Jazz staring almost pleadingly at him, Danny sighed, but relented. He knew they could tell he was not fully recovered.

"Alright," Danny finally said as he and his friends and sister took a seat on the floor. "Tell me everything."

"Yes, I will tell you everything —," Justeco agreed. "for it is time for you to learn of the Observants'… shamed and dark… history…."

Just as Danny, Jazz, Sam and Tucker sat down and the three latter teens put their weapons down on the floor beside them to listen to the former High Tribune, Justeco began, "Once again, I am ashamed to admit we broke our own laws. But we did something more sinister than that. We broke our own laws concerning another Observant, and then we tried to bury the facts so no one would know!"

All of the teens' eyes widened at the news, enthralled by the Observant's admission; yet, they kept silent.

"You probably do not know that we Observants have existed since before the beginning of your time. We were all formed at once. But each did not emerge at the same time. That is why there are some younglings among us —though they are few. However each of us emerged from his own unique energy sphere, with similar, yet unique personalities. Also, some of our spheres split in two—one larger and one smaller —before we evolved from them, therefore creating twins. My brother, Konsilisto, and I are such beings. It was a very rare occurrence, but when it did occur, the two are both opposites in temperament and yet, inseparable. In a way, we are privileged to share such a bond…"

He glanced briefly at his still unconscious twin, but then turned back to the teens and continued, "And since the Observants were created before Time, the Realm where we dwelled was outside Time and its ravages. But also, since we were outside of Time —and Existence for the most part —we were charged with protecting both of them—as are a few other kinds of spirits."

He paused at his next thought, but pressed on nevertheless, "I wish I could tell you that all of us had noble personalities, for we did not. But, for the most part, those who had less than desirable personalities were able to be molded when we created our laws. All save one…."

"And it seemed that this one was especially stubborn in his ways. And evil…He did not like our laws and felt that we were too superior a kind of creatures to need them. In a way, I have to say in shame that I had agreed with him. I, too, had believed that we were superior to all creatures until….until I was just recently 'molded' by you, young Danny Phantom, and, of course, Clockwork…."

Danny smiled slightly in embarrassment, but didn't say anything.

Suddenly, however, Justeco, groaned and the brightness in his eye dulled. And then suddenly, a small crater opened up on the upper part of the spirit's eye.

The teens gasped.

"What's wrong?" Jazz anxiously asked, and she, along with the other teens, tensed with worry.

"I am sorry. But as I told you, I have a twin. And he was of the lesser sphere, which is why he is succumbing to Time more rapidly than I. But now that he is getting weaker, I share his pain. What is more, however, I feel compelled to share my strength with him as long as I can. I cannot resist it."

"Then maybe we should get…" Danny began, but Justeco gently interrupted him.

"No, Danny Phantom, this will not take any more time than what is needed for you to understand. Please, let me continue."

Danny looked to his sister and friends. Seeing their silent nods voting for a 'yes', he replied, "Okay."

"Thank you," Justeco replied before continuing, "As I was saying, this Observant not only did not agree with our laws, he wanted more. He wanted something that we Observants had sworn an oath against: Power. But not the kind of power we have shown to maintain the protection of Time and Existence. But the kind of power that subjugates and destroys for its own sake. It is a lust for total control of every creature and every dimension that exists in Time." Justeco paused a moment before continuing in a hush laden with shame, "In other words, this lone Observant wanted to become the supreme being…a… god unto himself."

"But this Observant was very clever about his plans. He did not dare challenge us as a body. He would have been easily defeated. But he would start his revolution with, forgive me, the weakest of species: Humans. Once he controlled them, he would have an enormous army that stood a good chance in tipping the scales of victory over us in his favor. But only if he could control all humans in the Real World."

The former Tribune stopped once more and groaned. But he then pressed on, "And once he defeated us, defeating all other ghosts and spirits in the Ghost Zone would be inconsequential to him. And how could he accomplish all of this? Through two talents he alone possessed. And one of those was the ability to create illusions!"

"**Iluzisto!"** every one of the teens suddenly blurted out loud in unison.

Justeco nodded before replying, "Obviously, not all humans can be fooled. But, yes, it was Iluzisto. And he plans were so clever that he did not attempt to control all humans all at once at first. He wanted to see how he could do that without too much effort before conquering all of humanity. And he did not want to be too obvious. However, he also knew that his illusionist powers are not as potent against humans as they are against ghosts and spirits. So, he used another of his powerful gifts: his illustrious and clever mind."

"You see, Iluzisto chose foolish evil men who also lusted for power, and who, without his aid, would have been easily snuffed out of history, not even worthy of a footnote. But these men were not contemporaries. They were spewed about different centuries and different places in the Real World, so that Iluzisto could use yet another form of deception in order to hide his tracks and deceive these men."

"Iluzisto used his illusionist talent to make the armies of his chosen vile pawns seem larger, or made the opposing forces confused over their own strength, or over the position of any effective defense. If only the humans of good intention had realized that those illusions were fake; and that as such, said illusions would have no effect on them in the least, those good men would have not cowered nor surrendered to those evil forces."

"I knew it!" Jazz suddenly yelled, only to blush in embarrassment. "Sorry, guys! You remember our own experiences with Iluzisto and how we figured that his illusions wouldn't hurt us!"

Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Yeah, I got that when I was in prison," Danny said, speaking to his sister and friends.

Justeco's eye fell in remorse again, but pressed on, "One of these humans was Xerxes the Persian who lived in the Spartan times in your Real World history. And that history told us that Xerxes defeated the Spartans under the leadership of Leonidas because he had more show of force. But Iluzisto made Leonidas _think_ that Xerxes had twice the amount of men with his illusions, even when it was quite the opposite."

Jazz, whose brow was furled in thought as the spirit spoke, suddenly brightened again, "The tapestry! In Iluzisto's room!"

The others startled at her outburst.

She blushed in embarrassment again and said, "Uhm, sorry! But there was this tapestry…of a one-eyed ghost, surrounded by four human battles. And their names were stitched on the bottom of each of the battles. One of them I'm sure was Xerxes the Persian!"

"You're right, Jazz!" Sam piped in. And now that you mention, I remember seeing that one of those leaders was Attila the Hun! And Vlad the Impaler! And…"

"Ivan the Terrible!" Tucker added.

Danny just blinked in confusion. But, of course, he hadn't ever been in Iluzisto's quarters.

"You are all correct, young humans," Justeco confirmed. And as you can also see, each of these were ruthless rulers who were not only terrifying warriors, but altered history and destroyed civilizations with their despicable tyrannies."

"And each of them was from a different century and from different times in history as you said," Tucker pointed out.

"Once again, it looks like you know your history, young one," Justeco replied. "And Iluzisto helped all four of them rise to their terrible power using his illusions effectively during their decisive battles. No doubt that the tapestry you saw in Iluzisto's quarters depicted those very same crucial battles."

"No doubt," Sam grumbled, frowning at the memory of the picture on the tapestry.

"And Iluzisto could very well have gotten away with his plans except for two errors," Justeco continued.

The four teens were glued to his words.

"One concerned the last two leaders, Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler. Though they were helped in two different places, their victories were too similar and occurred too near each other **in time**. As you well know, they existed in less than a century of the other. Whereas, the first two leaders were several centuries apart, as was the second from the third leader."

The teens nodded in understanding.

Justeco then said, "But because there was an error in timing…."

"Clockwork! Clockwork caught him!" Danny suddenly uttered, making everyone else in the room jump a little at his outburst—except for Konsilisto, who was still unconscious.

"Yes, young half-ghost," Justeco confirmed, squelching another groan. "Not only did Clockwork notice the oddity, he was able to actually see Iluzisto in action. It had been difficult, considering that Iluzisto was an Observant and, like us, has certain amount of power to 'influence' time, if desired. But Iluzisto also is a spirit, which made him invisible to ours and even Clockwork's eyes—that is, until he made those mistakes and Clockwork was able to catch his meddling in person. In fact, Clockwork was instrumental in getting Iluzisto convicted in his crimes against Time and Existence."

Danny suddenly gasped. Why was Iluzisto _not _condemned to the oblivion as he was going to be?

Justeco noticed the Ghost Boy's reaction and anticipated his thoughts. He slowly replied, "I understand your reaction to this part, Danny Phantom. Iluzisto was not condemned for his actions because he was an Observant. And our laws prevented us from executing our own. But now I see that our laws were flawed, because they did not make any exception to other races for the same crimes."

All four teens frowned with chagrin.

Justeco sighed and continued, "So, you see, young ones, you have every right to be upset with us and wish us ill-will. We have been very hypocritical and even dastardly in our eagerness to condemn others when we ourselves not only shared the greater guilt of the crimes against Time and Existence because we were their protectors, but yet, also conspired to keep our crime a secret."

Justeco suddenly lost his ability to hover a little and groaned again. But then, he waved away the two males who immediately came to his aid. "I am almost finished. But as you can also see, we did not leave Iluzisto to go unpunished. We no longer claimed him as one of our own and relegated him to Prison Head, to perform the most disdainful duties for his crimes. He was also bound by a device that prevented him from using his powers of illusions among others...and bound him to Time so that Clockwork could monitor his actions—unlike before."

"However, we erred in judgment yet again. And I do not think it is an excuse anymore for us to say that he had fooled us from the beginning to want to punish you, Danny Phantom, and the other half-ghost. We had been just as guilty as Iluzisto to lust after…revenge. And in our blind haste to capture you and the other half-ghost, we allowed him more power. Rightly so, then, he fooled us into thinking that the power we gave him was weakened enough that he could not be effective with it any more than what needed to be."

"I can tell you all about that!" Danny suddenly remarked. "He used Plasmius and me to gain more power by sucking our ectoplasmic energy from us. And he almost wasted both of us several times in the process…"

Justeco gasped. "We knew he could acquire power from siphoning energy from other ghosts. That was his _other_ unique talent. But, those ghosts usually never survived the attack. However, plainly, you have survived the ordeal. That is most fortunate."

Danny answered with a slight gulp, "Well, he did say Plasmius and me were the only ghosts that seemed to have lots of energy."

Justeco thought a moment before saying, "That must have had to do with your unique half-ghost central energy cores. But that is another little evil secret about Iluzisto. He had actually eliminated a few spirits who had discovered his plans to conquer the humans before those same spirits could warn us. He did that by totally absorbing their very central cores and energies, and then creating illusions that they were lost or had succumbed to freakish accidents. We did not find out about this until we had already condemned him to his punishment. Not that the spirits he obliterated were not important, it is just that the law of not executing him still applied. But after that, most Observants could not make themselves treat him with the remoteness of deference."

He paused a moment before continuing, "And I hate to reveal this to you, but I will no longer hide anything from you, Danny Phantom…."

Danny looked right at him before the former Tribune continued, "But it was from the error of judgment of my brother that you and Plasmius were finally put on trial. Iluzisto had tricked my brother into thinking he was Clockwork and told him that if we did not put you and Plasmius on trial for your offenses, then we would become extinct—that you both would rise against us and destroy us and all Existence. And because my brother is my advisor, he urged me to pursue the matter…which, of course, shamefully I did…And as you can see the irony of it all, for it was _because_ we put you on trial, we are condemned…So, we not only sealed our own fate, but literally gave Iluzisto the two keys to his escape and evil plans: you and the other half-ghost."

"That would explain things…." Danny muttered.

"Yes, it would," Justeco agreed. "And it would also explain how Iluzisto was able to bring that about and to acquire enough power to subdue us and place us in exile—and ultimate extinction. He is now free to pursue his plans for ultimate power once more—of your world, our realm and countless other dimensions! And finally, that would be even easier for him because he was able to steal Clockwork's Time Staff from him and place him in the same peril! In fact, we had to flee from Clockwork's Tower while in the midst of its being attacked by Iluzisto's forces!"

"**WHAT?**" all four teens said again in unison.

"Clockwork's is in danger?" Danny gasped.

"And how did he get his Time Staff taken from him? I didn't think that was possible," Sam added.

"It doesn't matter!" Danny firmly said, now worried about Clockwork. "And even though we're glad you told us all this stuff,…uh, Justeco, uh, sir…"

"I understand. Please just call me 'Justeco'_," _the Observant pointing to the unconscious other Observant, he continued, "And my brother's name is Konsilisto."

"Right. Thanks," Danny replied, his face suddenly looking more determined. "Anyhow, even though we understand everything now, we can't waste any more time. We have to help the Observants and Clockwork."

"And defeat Iluzisto!" Tucker chimed in.

Justeco replied, "I agree! But thank you for letting me explain everything. I needed to because you deserved to know, especially since you shamed us more when you tried to tell us during the trial and we did not listen. I felt we owed you at least an explantion, even if does not justify our wrongdoings. And yet you still have offered to help us subdue Iluzisto and save us from our peril simply because it is the right thing to do. And because of that, we offer you more…."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, frowning in confusion.

"Even if you cannot rescue us from our fate and defeat Iluzisto, Danny Phantom, all of the Observants would wish to extend our uncompromising pardon to you….and to the other half-ghost… on all your just and unjust crimes against Time and Existence, relatively speaking, of course. In other words, consider yourself and the other half-ghost free of all our accusations."

"Oh, uh… thanks," Danny said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "I mean, I'm glad to know I'm not going to be executed… Heh. I kinda prefer to stick around for a few more decades."

"Yes, well, there is more… I will have to sadly admit, Danny, that we were fooled yet again by Iluzisto," Justeco said with a sigh, deciding to just come out with it. "You do remember your execution ceremony was scheduled two days back, yes?"

"Yeah…," Danny replied slowly. "But we escaped the day before our execution day—er, I think it was the day before anyways."

"Yes, well, that is when Iluzisto attacked and captured us," Justeco explained. "All the Observants had gathered to see through yours and the older half-ghost's execution. However, he used… Okulo. You see, Okulo was—"

"—helping Iluzisto with his plans," Danny finished for him, crossing his arms and frowning at the thought of that other Observant.

"You knew?" Justeco replied. But he sighed in shame before the boy could answer and said mostly to himself. "Of course you knew. You were not blinded by arrogance as we were…"

Danny's eyebrows creased in sympathy, but Justeco finally focused back on him and continued, "Okulo tricked us into beginning the execution ceremony without you or the other half-ghost present. We… casted our timeless spell to send you and Vlad Plasmius to the Oblivion. It was possible to do when you and the other half-ghost bear our…marks."

Danny reflexively placed a hand against his forehead, knowing the spirit referred to the brand on him.

"With our spell over you, even when you had escaped," Justeco further explained, though he lowered his gaze, "our final sentence against you both was destined to be carried out. We sentenced you to execution, and the spell would assure that fate."

Danny's eyes widened as he finally understood what Justeco was saying. "You mean, there's some spell on me that's going to waste me? But I thought you just said you were going to pardon me!" he exclaimed, more alarmed. "And how can that happen now? Plasmius and I aren't anywhere near your realm right now, so how could we be in any danger of getting zapped out of existence by any of your hocus pocus? Uh, ahem, sorry. No offense."

"None taken," Justeco replied with a slight nod of his head. "But you do not understand, young half-ghost. Once a sentence had been laid down in our realm, it could not be undone by anything those condemned do. The Timeless Magic that reverberates throughout our realm would not rest, even if it meant crossing into other dimensions, until it had carried out that sentence. Timeless Magic is very powerful and its effects should have been instantaneous. In fact, though I was both thankful and relieved, I am still slightly confused why you seemed relatively well when I first saw you…." He paused before he loudly mused to himself, "Perhaps, thank the heavens, that…"

"Oh my gosh! Is that way Danny hadn't been getting better?" Jazz suddenly blurted out, while Sam and Tucker gasped in dread at the sudden realization. No wonder Danny hadn't been getting better before the Observants had used that orb on him! But then… what did that mean now?

"Be calm, young ones," Justeco said, this time with a pained voice. He was feeling weaker and weaker. "Yes, the spell was meant to carry out our sentence against you and Vlad Plasmius. And now I believe that it is only because of your human half that it has been slowed down enough to grant me the time to get here in time and at least rectify that mistake."

"I'm sorry. I still don't understand how you took that spell off of me," Danny said with a troubled frown, though he sounded calmer. After all, he had been unconscious when Justeco had taken the curse off of him.

Justeco's eye lowered a bit in embarrassment before he looked at the boy again and now more flustered, continued, "Forgive me. I had forgotten that you were indisposed at the time the curse was dispelled... I speak of the orb that I had drawn out and used on you, Danny Phantom." He turned slightly to Sam and added, "I wish to extend my thanks to you, young human. Though I had deserved any form of attack in defense you must have had in mind and desired to do, I and my brother had to…to act quickly or else it would have been too late."

He turned back to Danny and continued, "So, you see, the purpose of the orb I had drawn out and used not only extended your pardon, but by doing so, it cured you of the fate our sentencing curse had issued. Fear not, with my orb and our pardon, the timeless spell was lifted. Ant that is because we Observants are connected to that Timeless Magic. And each of us has his own unique abilities in manipulating Timeless Magic. But only the High Tribune can undo the Timeless Magic surrounding a verdict of condemnation...Forgive me for not explaining this in the beginning—or being too forward to you— because time was of essence at the moment. You were nearly within the death grip of the spell when I and my brother had intervened."

Danny and the other teens gulped at the Ghost Boy's narrow brush with fate.

Now totally relieved, Danny suddenly found himself uttering, "T-Thank you."

"No, young half-ghost," Justeco replied, gently chiding the boy. "It is we Observants who should be thanking you….for making me see what an arrogant fool I and my kin have been."

Danny blushed a bit, and the crimson brand momentarily flared with his embarrassment. But then he said more seriously, "Thanks again, Justeco, but I want to make it clear. Even if you hadn't done that for me, I would still help you because _it is_ the right thing."

Justeco nodded slightly in agreement, not at all surprised by the young half-ghost's answer. "I do assume you feel much better, correct?"

Danny smiled this time. "Yeah, since you zapped me with your orb, I don't feel all cold and weak anymore… But there's this… pain in my core…"

"How odd…," Justeco muttered. "Now that the spell has been lifted, you should be completely well. But that is good that you do not have any more feelings of coldness, Danny; so I am sure the spell has been dispelled."

"What do you mean that it is good that he doesn't feel cold anymore?" Sam piped in.

Justeco replied, "You see, young ones, all ghosts—and spirits for that matter—have different kinds of central cores. Some are of the cold nature—such as yours, Danny Phantom; and some are of the hot nature—such as the one Vlad Plasmius has. And, of course, some are somewhere in between, depending on the kind of ectoplasm of which they are made. But the curse destroys a core using its own makeup and depending on what its makeup is. And since your core is naturally cold, young half-ghost, its temperature would have continued to have dropped until your extinction."

"So Vlad was going to burn up from his core overheating unless you had stopped the spell with your orb? Wait. Did you remove the spell off Vlad, too?" Danny asked in dread.

"Yes," Justeco simply answered. Then addressing Jazz, Sam and Tucker, he added, "That second beam that you saw emanate from the orb was for the other half-ghost. He, too, should be recovered." He paused a moment and added, "But I still do not understand why you have any more pain, young Danny."

Danny shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I'm sure it's some lingering pain from Iluzisto's jabbing his weapon in my core or something. I'll be fine."

Justeco felt another wave of guilt, but this time, admiration as well. It was amazing how optimistic and strong this young boy was…

"Um, what about that brand on Danny's forehead?" Tucker suddenly blurted out.

Danny glanced annoyingly at his male friend, and Tucker shrugged sheepishly, saying, "What? I'm sure we're all thinking it…. right?"

The other kids just rolled their eyes, but Justeco's eye curved a bit higher in mild amusement. However, it was quickly gone as he said, "I am afraid that I cannot do much about the brand. You see, it was placed on your friend and the other half-ghost by Okulo. And as long as his orb exists, the brand will remain on them. Unfortunately, after Okulo outlasted his usefulness, Iluzisto… destroyed him and stole his orb."

"What?" Danny exclaimed.

"Yes, Danny. Okulo is gone and now his powerful timeless orb is also in the hands of Iluzisto!" Justeco said with great trepidation.

"This is really bad," Jazz muttered, while Sam and Tucker silently agreed, now even more frightened by all this.

Danny, however, looked away and said nothing. He was also troubled with hearing that Iluzisto also had Okulo's orb, but… to hear Iluzisto destroyed Okulo? Danny honestly didn't know how to react to that. He didn't even think it was possible to destroy a _spirit_… But… Iluzisto somehow did it and… Danny was sure he didn't like it. Sure, Okulo was a big evil jerk, but in the end, he was just another of Iluzisto's puppets.

Danny finally said, "Well, apparently the least of our worries was getting this stupid brand off. But you're sure Vlad is okay? I mean, just because we don't get along, doesn't mean I would want him to explode from his core heating up. And maybe it's a good thing you weren't anywhere near him to take the curse off of him. And that's because—though I hate to admit this—I think I kinda know him. And I can guess that he wouldn't have wanted you anywhere near him even if you were there to help him. And I know he doesn't want to have anything more to do with any of you, much less care what Iluzisto is doing to you all."

Justeco groaned in chagrin this time. "That is most unfortunate, Danny Phantom."

"Why?" Sam suddenly piped in.

"It is very important that the older hybrid not only survive, but also comply with the events happening here," The Observant quickly continued when he saw the confused look on all of the teens' faces. "With all due respect, young Danny Phantom, there is no possible way you can defeat Iluzisto on your own, even with your friends' help. Iluzisto's power at this point is such that he would surely and easily destroy you—all of you."

The four teens frowned in worry.

"But," Justeco continued, "If you combine your powers with Vlad Plasmius' powers, especially since you each can restore your energy loss at a much faster rate than Iluzisto can his, then your chance at victory is indeed a more viable option. We knew all along that together, you and Plasmius could be virtually undefeatable, which is another reason why we kept you separated and put neck restraints on you while you were in our realm. You see, there is something about both your energies that when _combined_ are both compatible and opposite. And, somehow, that simultaneous connection and repelling of your energies creates a stronger level of energy when combined.… I know this for a fact because… well, that future evil version of yourself is solid proof of the results of your joining forces with the other half-ghost. And, I must now admit, why we feared you and stacked the trial so heavily against you. Not only that, but I need now point out that you both proved me right with that fact when you _both_ were able to escape from within Iluzisto's very clutches probably for that same reason."

Danny should have been flattered by that remark. But all he could do was groan in annoyance. If what Justeco said was true, then that would mean that he would have to somehow _convince_ Vlad to come _help_ him….something he definitely hadn't been expecting—or wanting. Especially after just being able to get a breather from him!

The teen finally said, "Okay I'll try to get him. But I can't guarantee he'll agree at all. But even if he doesn't, I'm going to help the best I can."

"I somehow knew you were going to say that, Danny Phantom," the Observant replied.

Danny smiled weakly at the comment but then suddenly, everyone heard a weak groan. They turned to see that Konsilisto was finally stirring!

Justeco's eye glistened with relief, even when he had to stifle his own groan from his efforts to help his brother. He was relieved to see his brother was regaining consciousness at last!

The four teens sighed a bit in relief before Danny continued,

"Okay, let me go and talk to Vlad . Sam. Tucker. Jazz. Do you think you can help take Konsilisto back to his home so that when we get Clockwork's staff back to him, he'll be able to recover and help Justeco find the Observants again? And then even if I can't convince Vlad to come, can we meet up in about an hour and go with Justeco to wherever the Observants are and free them? We can get the Fenton phones so we can keep tabs on where we all are."

The Observant hurriedly remarked as he helped his still dazed brother sit up, "Though I appreciate what you are willing to do, I have to warn you young humans that there is more peril in my realm. There are many confederates of Iluzisto still there."

"That's okay," Tucker said smugly, lifting his weapon up and cocking it. "We're experienced with this sorta stuff!"

The girls rolled their eyes and then Sam said, "Don't worry. We've made sure that our weapons are powerful enough to put up a good fight if necessary."

Justeco then said, "You are indeed very worthy humans, and Danny Phantom is lucky to have such loyal friends."

All the teens blushed before Danny suddenly commanded, "Okay, everyone! Now it is **definitely** time to go!"

* * *

**(1)** **Translation of Esperanto:**

"By all the Powers granted to me from all of the Timeless Magic in our Realm as High Tribune, I command that the Curse of the Oblivion be immediately removed from the Prisoners in Case Number 789! May Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius be made whole again and any angry force be henceforth dissolved!"

**A/N: truephan here: Well, everyone, did this play out as you had envisioned it? I really don't blame Danny for getting all steamed up at first and even being on the verge of doing something wicked to the O's. But, we know how much of a hero he is, especially when he has such a terrific sister and friends to help him over the 'weak' times. This is definitely one of my fav chapters. And I'm looking forward to all of your wonderful thoughts. Just push that little blue button and it'll all be all over! Until next time, dear readers! **

**Pearl: Yeah, you know you gotta do something very bad to Danny to get him to resent you as much as he resented the Observants here. Not that I blame him. But as always, our hero does the right thing and forgives. Heh. Let's see what **_**Vlad**_** says about that…. I don't know about you all, but I'm ready for some more Vlad and Danny scenes! Ha-ha! Sorry, that's my Vlad muse talking. Anyways, thanks for the support everyone and we are slowly getting close to the final climax! Fun, eh? Well, let us know your thoughts please! Until next time!**


	30. Chapter 30: Coming to Terms, Part 2

**A/N: truephan here! Hello, everyone and thanks for tuning in! And thanks for all your wonderful support and reviews. We just eat them up, and believe me, coming from a gal who loves chocolate, that says a lot! But let's get right to it, OK? Hope you enjoy!**

**Pearl: Alright! Time for some more Danny and Vlad interaction and banter! I hope you guys like it! And thanks for all your reviews from last chapter! They rocked! Also, remember to sign in and enable you PM, so we can reply to you. Still, we want to thank you all, so a public thanks to **Lostcause331, Amazing, and Desiree Phantom!

**Well! See ya at the bottom!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom**

* * *

**Chapter 30: Coming to Terms, Part Two**

* * *

Danny frowned in apprehension and reflexively slowed his flying speed as soon as he saw Vlad's mansion finally come into view. It had been two days since they had been able to escape from the Observant's realm, and he hadn't seen or heard from the man since.

Danny was uncertain on how to feel. Part of him vividly remembered how well Vlad and him had managed to pull together and make it through that ordeal. But another part of him reminded him that that hadn't really changed a lot of things between them. They had come together out of necessity—out of survival. It had been nothing more… right?

And yet, Danny now was unsure of how to act towards Vlad after that—or how the guy was going to act towards him. Should he just pretend like those past days at the Realm Beyond Time never happened?

Danny sighed and muttered to himself, "I guess I'll find out soon enough…"

Still, as he soared onward, Danny rattled his brain for some kind of idea on just what he was going to say to the man. Scene after scene and conversation after conversation possibilities whirled in his head. But he couldn't decide on just how to begin.

Of course, when Danny last saw Plasmius, the man's condition wasn't exactly the most flattering for anyone, much less for so arrogant a man as Vlad. Still, it might be helpful if the older hybrid would be at least _coherent_ if the boy had already come this far to talk to him.

The teen then muttered to himself, "He _has _to have recovered by now. He has all those crazy ghost plants, some of which I don't even want to imagine what they do; and Skulker must have been able to get him patched up. And, of course, that creepy curse has been lifted, so he shouldn't feel or look like he just got off a barbeque spit…I'm sure I'll find him a receptive mood…" But then thinking about how their 'typical' conversations usually went when the man was well, he added with a groan, "…or not."

Finally, seeing that no reporters were snooping around, Danny landed at the front door of Vlad's mansion. But then suddenly, he hesitated. He now _really_ wasn't sure about this. Not only that, he didn't feel…right…He noticed that when he turned ghost this last time, his central core throbbed in pain even more. And as he continued to remain in his ghost form, it was hurting a bit more. What was wrong with him? But then, his mind shifted gears back to why he was here. He sighed in resignation mixed with determination. Too much was at stake; so he had to gather the guts to ring the doorbell all the same.

However, before he could even touch the doorbell, a red robotic eyeball stuck on the end of a long slender metal cable jutted out from nowhere and shoved itself right to his eye level, just stopping short of hitting him.

Danny stifled a gasp even as he recoiled a bit from the mechanical one-eyed snake's near collision. That thing had certainly not been here the last time he had been here! Nevertheless, he nervously waited.

The robotic orb's red, almost flaming, glare looked the boy up and down, snaking all around him as if it were inspecting him, which, really, it was. Without moving a muscle, Danny's eyes glanced anxiously downward as the probe continued in its task, making sure that it wasn't going to do something like….

But all of the sudden, the mechanical eye flared once more and yanked itself violently away from the young hybrid before returning to who-knows-where. This time, Danny jolted and gasped at the probe's actions and because he was still apprehensive about even being here, his mind went blank. He groaned as he desperately tried to retrieve that opening line upon which he had decided before he would go into full-blown panic as his mind suddenly reminded him he was _willingly_ at his _arch-enemy's_ house!

Just then, the door lock clicked and the door silently swung ajar on its hinges.

**Now **he was doomed!

The young hybrid gulped as he stared at the open door. But then, he growled, irritated with himself for being so worried. _"C'mon, Fenton!"_ he mentally chided himself. "_I mean, this is Vlad, not Iluzisto! This can't be that hard! The fruit loop isn't going to just start blasting me right now, especially when it's only two days after all that stuff we went through. I'm sure he would at least wait awhile before going back the way he was…" _

"Uh, at least I hope so..." he then mumbled out loud.

He pushed open the door with more grit and entered the foyer. He quickly scanned the area before transforming back into his human form. He suddenly noticed that his central core felt better when he did that. Still, he continued walking forward a little ways, before he called out, "Vlad?"

There was no answer and now a little annoyed about that, he walked further into the mansion and yelled, "Hey! I know you know it's me! Your lame new bug-eyed snake of a probe has probably given you way too much information about me that I especially don't want to know!"

Still, there was no answer.

"_Darn it, Vlad, this is __**not**__ funny!"_ he thought as he continued to scan up and down and all around while continuing to walk even further into the mansion. Then he stopped, and frowned. _Of course_, he didn't know where the heck he was going!

Now he was getting steamed. The man must know he was here; otherwise, why did he open the door? He yelled out to the empty space once more, "Okay, cheesehead, forget it! I can take the hint that you don't want to talk, even though I don't know why you even let me in, then! And really, I don't have time to play any of your stupid games!"

He turned around and started to walk back to the entrance before yelling out to the ceiling again, "Okay, I'm going now!"

Danny marched his way back to the entrance, now deeply irritated. Seriously? After everything the guy couldn't even take _a moment_ to talk to him, especially after he had let him in? What a jerk! He didn't get it…What had he been thinking? It was definitely _way_ too soon since they were last in each other's company. And now he was beginning to wish that he had gone to help the others free the Observants first. Heck, even facing Iluzisto now somehow felt more appealing than facing the fruitloop again… Danny growled. Then again, one hybrid fruitloop here or one illusionist fruitloop there was just the same as the other…except that he _had thought_ the older hybrid might have been marginally better to deal with since Vlad hadn't mastered all the visual tricks yet. Well, now that he thought about it, apparently not, since the fruit loop had mastered the art of being a heartless jerk!

But just as soon as he thought that, an icy puff of blue mist escaped from his mouth. Instantly knowing that it wasn't Plasmius who triggered his ghost sense, he reflexively morphed into Phantom. A sudden streak of pain jolted his central core when he did, but he had no time to deal with it. Concentrating even harder, he charged up two energy orbs from his hands in the same instant.

But not even a moment later, Danny was encased in a red ectoplasmic net that had shot out of nowhere. A red energy beam instantly pulsed through it, sending jolts of ectoplasmic energy into the young hybrid. He screamed in pain as his entire body quivered under the force. His head spinning and his body smoking from the assault, the boy sat momentarily helpless in his makeshift cage.

And just then, he heard a smug—and familiar—laugh as Skulker rematerialized in front of him. "My employer did not invite you in, whelp. I did!"

"Skulker! _**Are you for real?"**_ Danny hissed, now that his anger at seeing the Ghost Hunter had cleared his head; and yet, the teen felt another throb of pain in his core and his body weaken a bit afterwards. Still, the teen was now fuming. _Of course_ the hunter couldn't give him a break even after he helped his friends and sister rescue him! It seemed that, like Vlad, Skulker didn't care in the least what happened and was just going to pretend like it never did. Well, fine! He could do that, too!

"Do not tell me you thought anything changed because of your little adventure with my employer and my own with your helpers?" Skulker asked before chuckling.

Danny's eyes narrowed to hide the hurt he felt inside and instead demanded, "What are you doing here?"

"Did Iluzisto beat you so hard that you do not remember anything anymore, whelp? Well, let me remind you I am here for several reasons, Ghost Child," he smugly quipped back. "For one, _if you care to remember,_ I brought my employer back here to recover. Secondly, he needed me to secure his home here while he was recovering and to keep the pesky humans from harassing him as 'mayor' while at the same time guarding him from unwanted ghosts, such as you!"

Danny glared at the ghost but said nothing.

Skulker smirked in triumph as he added, "Thirdly, because of my role in rescuing him, he has given me temporary—and nearly full—rein of his mansion. And that included being able to add some features to it, such as that probe you first encountered. Do you like it?"

"It's as lame as you are, jerk!" Danny growled as he charged up his green energy, which quickly encased his entire body before he violently willed it outward. The huge sphere instantly evaporated the net. He soared upward, his fisted hands now afire with green energy and ready to fire upon the hunter ghost.

But all of a sudden, several snake-like wires pulled themselves out of the ceiling just above the Ghost Boy and immediately wrapped themselves around him, forcefully pinning his arms and legs against him.

"You did not let me finish, whelp!" Skulker said, feeling slightly insulted that the boy didn't want to hear all of his reasons why he was here. "This is the best reason of all as to why I am here..."

He pushed a button on his suit and the snake-like cables, still holding the young hybrid tight, slowly stretched downward until they presented Danny right in front of Skulker.

Skulker then brazenly pushed his face closer to Danny's and gleefully sneered, "Now that I am no longer on neutral territory, nor need to restrain myself, I get to test this new suit on the one creature that has managed to evade my efforts to mount his head on my mantle for far too long!"

"You don't mean me, do you?" Danny innocently asked before shooting a double dose of his ice rays from his eyes right into Skulker's annoyingly-too-close-for-comfort eyes.

The Ghost Hunter immediately screamed in pain and anger at being blinded by the boy's attack. He grabbed his face, trying to break the thick layer of ice which now surrounded it.

But that distraction was enough for Danny to charge up a powerful blue ice field around his body, which completely froze his bonds. He then forced more of his green ectoplasmic energy outward from his body and the metal wires instantly shattered and spewed their remnants on the Ghost Hunter, who yelled as the sharp mini-missiles dug several mini-trenches into his suit as if they were sharp fingernails raking down a chalkboard.

But that didn't come without consequence. Danny hissed when another round of stabbing pain came from his central core, followed by another draining bout of energy right after that.

Trying to ignore the sting within, Danny quickly followed that up with a resounding roundabout kick into the ghost's robotic abdomen, spraying loose metal parts and renting electrical wires under the blow. Then right away, and using the continued momentum of his kick, Danny anchored his other leg against the ground, and forcibly propelled himself upward. Not a moment later and he was upper cutting the part of hunter's jaw that was showing between Skulker's still raised and busy arms, twisting the jaw askew with the impact; then counter-pounding him with a fast hook of his other fist, twisting the jaw even more.

Panting a bit when that drained him more, the teen still didn't stop at that. He pummeled the blinded ghost with several blows and counter-blows, leaving deep dents into the armor as he did. Electrical sparks fizzled from more severed wires.

Danny easily avoided Skulker's weak offense, as the still blinded Ghost Hunter's aimlessly flailing arms did little to impede Danny's strong strikes.

Skulker continued to grunt under the force of the Ghost Boy's ire before he was finally able to break the ice around his mechanical eyes. Once he did, he righted his jaw and quickly retaliated. He pushed a button on his arm band and several missiles popped out of his suit. They fired almost instantaneously.

Danny gasped, upset that he hadn't been able to move fast enough now that he was more aware that he was rapidly losing strength. Nevertheless, he managed to avoid being hit that time. Ignoring the loud crash the impact of the missiles made as they slammed into the wall that had been behind him just a heartbeat ago, Danny then turned intangible and phased through the adjourning wall. He reappeared from the floor right beneath the Ghost Hunter, using the momentum of his body to slam his fist right into Skulker's jaw again.

This time the lower metallic jaw fell off the Ghost Hunter.

Now incensed that his brand new suit was severely damaged by—of all ghosts—the Ghost Boy, Skulker charged at his foe while pushing another button. This time, four green, glowing _bolas_ shot out, swirling as madly at Danny as rapidly revolving propellers.

The young hybrid didn't expect that, since Skulker was usually only able to propel one of those at a time with his old suit. In the next instant, then, two of the _bolas_ had firmly wrapped around the boy's ankles and knees, thrusting him into the nearby wall; the third around his mid-torso, effectively pinning his arms to his sides just before he hit the wall; and the last around his upper torso, with the hard rock-like ends finally hitting both sides of his head just as the rest of his body slammed into the hard surface behind him. He slid down the wall to the ground, knocked senseless by the blows from the wall and to his head. He immediately reverted back into his human side once he hit the ground.

Pulling away from the microphone to his mechanical voice now that his lower jaw was gone, Skulker's squeaky small real voice loudly shouted out in gloat, "And now, Ghost Child, it is time for you to give up the ghost, er, your pelt! My mantle awaits you!"

No sooner had he squeakily said that when his armor produced a very wicked-looking gun. In fact, it was the same gun he had used in his fight with Iluzisto on his island. He activated the gun and it began to purr as it charged in as much triumph as Skulker felt now that he finally had the whelp.

He brought the gun up to his eye; set his sites; put his finger on the trigger; started to squeeze the trigger….

**"Skulker!"** a very irritated voice rang out, startling the Ghost Hunter.

Instantly recognizing it, Skulker lowered his weapon and turned toward the voice. "Plzmayeos!" he barely said when he reflexively spoke into the microphone that activated his mechanical voice.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

Skulker helplessly pointed to his missing jaw and then frowning, pressed another button. Half of his robotic face suddenly lifted away and upward from the rest of the head and the real Skulker, sitting at a tiny control panel, continued in his very non-threatening voice, "I did not know you had finally recovered, Plasmius!"

Looking over to the still-senseless teen, Vlad dryly said, "Obviously not! But even if I hadn't, all this ruckus would have waken the dead! What is Daniel doing here? And how did he get in, anyway? You were supposed to keep all ghosts out!"

"I, uh, invited him in," the diminutive ghost replied with chagrin. But then he offered with a sheepish smile, "But I do not know why he came in the first place!"

"You _invited _him in? For what, for heaven's sake?" Plasmius said, before adding with more irritation, "Never mind! I think I can guess. But when I gave you free reign here while I recovered, Skulker, that did _not_ include being able to use your suit for any games. That suit was designed to be used for specific assignments, and not for childish target practice on ghosts that unceasingly get your goat."

The man then walked up to the ghost and inspected the damage to the suit. He chuckled slightly, "Though it seems that Daniel made that exact point just now."

Skulker's half-face frowned as best as his mechanical half-face could show.

Just then, however, Vlad gasped when he saw the intensity level on Skulker's gun. "And did you know that this was set for a level _nine_ ghost?"

"Uh, no," the Ghost Hunter mumbled, clearly embarrassed that he had not remembered to reset the gun. He then offered his excuse, "I was just too excited to finally get the Ghost Child's pelt, and…"

But Vlad firmly interrupted him, "What would have been _left_ of it, _if _anything was left of it! You could've vaporized him, Skulker!"

Suddenly, Danny groaned and began to stir.

Vlad then scrunched his brow, annoyed once more. He then grabbed his face and pulled downward on it before pulling his hand away and saying, "Release the boy, Skulker. And I think you should go fix your suit now and await further word from me before I let him completely decimate the suit—with _you_ in it!"

The tiny green ghost's eyes widened a bit, before he narrowed them in indignation. He huffed in that tiny voice, "Very well, Plasmius. Though I will tell you that I immensely enjoyed and did not regret the target practice I did manage to get in!"

Without any further word from either the man or himself, Skulker activated the button on his arm band and the _bolas_ disappeared, along with the Ghost Hunter.

Danny's body shifted at the sudden release; and groaning once more, he began to pull himself up to a sitting position. He immediately brought up his left hand to his still-pounding head as he tried to open his eyes. Even that was painful, but just as he managed to open them, he gasped when they first saw Vlad towering over him.

Danny immediately transformed back to his ghost form, only to stifle a groan at the huge stabbing pain that shot through his core when he had changed. Nevertheless, he shot upward and away from the man, his eyes narrowing in anger. Vlad must have put Skulker up to that 'welcome' after all!

The teen quickly hissed, "I thought you said you were more hospitable to those who were _invited_ into your home—like _I was just now_!"

Coming right to the point, Vlad said, "That was Skulker's idea, not mine, Daniel!"

"He just beat you to it, that's all!" Danny spat back, still suspicious and hovering above the man, not at all aware that he was clutching at his painful chest.

"Oh, yes, Daniel, you're right!" Vlad sarcastically replied even as he noticed what the boy was doing. "That's me all over! Beating you is one of my favorite sports. Though I must say that now that you brought it up, beating some sense into you again doesn't sound like a bad idea after all!"

Danny growled and charged up his energy orbs, ready to throw a real, rather than verbal, barb back at the man. But then, his face inadvertently scrunched up in pain when he continued to maintain his energy, and he felt a little dizzy. He shook his head and grunted a bit when that helped. Once he refocused on the man, however, Danny noticed that for all of the man's threatening words, the man hadn't changed into Plasmius yet. And he noticed something else. The older hybrid's complexion…He was _very_ pale. He _hadn't_ recovered yet! But the curse should be gone….It had to be, or else the man would have been fried—literally. But then, that might mean that he hadn't recovered from his last encounter with Iluzisto. And now that he was thinking about it, he could feel his own core protesting at all the energy he had used in that fight with Skulker—and at all that he was expending right now…

Danny extinguished his energy orbs and floated down until he was right next to the man. Though that lessened the agony, his face was still etched in pain.

"What is wrong, Daniel?" Vlad still jeered, though he had noticed that the boy did look like he was in pain…plus, he was now aware of something…_else_. "Afraid to admit that it _wasn't _my idea to attack you when you first came in?"

"Get off it!" Danny sneered back. "I'm still tempted to think that you sicked Skulker on me after all; but then again, I know you'd rather take all the pleasure of kicking my butt yourself if you could right now."

The man didn't want to give the boy the satisfaction of letting him know that he was right that he hadn't recovered fully. Nor was he going to let on yet that he noticed that Daniel also seemed to be in a bit of central core health trouble himself. Instead, the man tersely replied, "And what makes you think that I didn't just send Skulker after you just to 'butter you up' so that I could really have all the fun of beating you to a pulp without breaking out in a sweat this time? After all, I just got this suit I'm wearing pressed, you know." The man then narrowed his eyes and added more darkly, "Then again, like you said, I would rather have the pleasure of doing that _without_ Skulker—and, of course, without having to sweat _either way_!"

Danny, though very annoyed, saw through the man's ruse. Folding his arms to his chest, and reflexively wincing when he did, he finally sighed, "Okay, Plasmius, I get it. But I also get the fact that you haven't recovered from Iluzisto's last attack on you yet."

Vlad frowned and sarcastically said, "Oh, so is that it? You came all the way over here just to tell me what I already know? Couldn't you have just skipped messing up my house and sent a "Get Well" card instead?"

"That's not what I meant. I didn't come here to cause any trouble…"

But Vlad interrupted him, "You really can't help it, Daniel. 'Trouble' is your middle name!"

Now Danny had enough. It was obvious that the man was up to his usual standards of being unbearably obnoxious in spite of still not having fully recuperated. There was nothing more he could do about it. He then growled, "You're right, Plasmius! 'Trouble' is all I've gotten since I stood at your front door. And I could even let you have the pleasure of seeing me kick myself for even coming here in the first place! It certainly was a big waste of time that I don't have! So, I'm just going to go now!"

But just then, Vlad lost his balance, but broke his fall by grabbing onto the large statue he had been standing next to.

Danny reflexively shot forward to help, but then jolted back when Vlad waved him off.

The man righted himself again. But then, he leaned on the statue before rubbing his temples and saying, "All right, Daniel. So I'm not at full strength yet and that has made me…inhospitable. But clearly, your temper is on a shorter fuse than usual. And I know you are not fully recovered, either. So, drop the act, alright?"

Danny frowned this time. His core hurt, but… he could handle it. Still, maybe the man was right. It was getting harder and harder to hold his ghost form… Maybe he _should_ change back...just in case.

But still angry, the teen quickly forced down the urge to turn human and defiantly said, "I'm fine! And how do you expect me to act when I get attacked the second I step into your house?"

Vlad sighed tiredly and replied, "Well, since you don't make it a habit to visit unless you're forced to, I wasn't expecting you any time soon; otherwise, I would have told Skulker not to attack you. In any case, you obviously had _something_ in mind when you came here. And Skulker certainly soured any attempt at a calmer approach at bringing that _something_ to my attention. So, can we just go sit down a moment and get on with it?"

Danny hesitated before tersely replying, "All right." Suddenly realizing that he couldn't stand much more pain, he finally gave in and changed back to his human side. And when he did change, he frowned when he noticed that the pain had significantly lessoned when his core went dormant.

He waited for the man to lead the way, and pretended not to notice how off-balance the man's gait was. They finally entered the nearby parlor room and Danny sat down just after Vlad did.

They sat without a word between them for several moments before Vlad suddenly pushed a button on his chair.

"Yes, sir?" the voice asked.

"Two teas, George."

"Right away, sir," George confirmed.

Once again, silence blanketed the two ghost hybrids.

Finally, Vlad sighed and said, "All right, Daniel, why did you come here?"

After everything that happened, Danny's mind went blank again on how to bring up the subject. But then, he decided just to come out with it. "Iluzisto has defeated the Observants and sent them all somewhere here in the Real World so that they will be destroyed by time."

Vlad's eyes widened at the news. Did he hear it right? He suddenly chuckled, "You're joshing, aren't you, Daniel? That's the best news I've heard for a while!"

"Well, that's what I thought, too, at first. But there's more to it, Vlad. Iluzisto won't stop at that. He wants to conquer not only the Observants' Realm but our world and the Ghost Zone, too."

"My, I knew he was arrogant, but such aspirations! I just might want to strike up a deal with him!" the man quipped back.

"What?" Danny gasped, mortified and now tensing in his chair. "Now **you're** kidding, right?"

Vlad grew more serious. "Of course I am, Daniel. Do you truly think I want anything to do with that horrid creature? If I ever see him again, it will be too soon! My only regret is that thanks to those Observant fools, he's probably too powerful to defeat now. I doubt at this point he even has weaknesses."

"Of course he does! And you already know what they are! His illusions won't work on humans! And he needs to replenish his powers often!" Danny protested before adding, "But that's not the point! We can't let him take over everything!"

"_We_? Since when have you and I become a 'we' again, Daniel?" the man snapped back.

"Yeah, okay! Lame choice of words! But look, Vlad, you can't tell me that you don't think that Iluzisto is a real threat to even things you find important?"

"Maybe, but I don't see why I need to get all riled up about that right now. And I don't see why you came to tell me this. Besides, you're always so keen on showing off all that 'teen hero stuff'. Why don't you just go after him yourself?"

Danny gritted his teeth in irritation but didn't say anything at first. This conversation was going nowhere—as usual! But then, he thought about his mission. And he knew that it was more important than trying to keep blocking all the man's verbal barbs.

He bit his lower lip before quietly admitting, "Because…I can't do it alone, Vlad. I... I need your help. You know he's very powerful. He's an Observant and they're level nine ghosts—no, _spirits_, which you know have unique abilities which make them a bigger threat! But Iluzisto is probably at a higher level than that right now. And Justeco said…"

"Justeco? What does that idiot have to do with this?" Vlad interrupted him.

"He and his counselor—who turned out to be his _brother_, too—somehow escaped from the prison Iluzisto sent them and found me. They told me what happened and all about Iluzisto and some other stuff that I don't have time to explain about right now. But the important thing is what he told me about…_us_… Justeco told me that the reason why we were kept separated in their world was because…"

The boy suddenly paused again, wondering whether he really should be telling Plasmius this next part. But the urgency of the situation helped him to decide. "Because he said that if we combined our powers, we would be…_almost…_invincible, and so stood a good chance at taking Iluzisto down."

Vlad paused in thought. That had been the _very_ reason why they had gotten into this whole mess with the Observants in the first place! Vlad had wanted Daniel to join him at his side way back then, but the boy had refused. And now, the boy was not only doing it willingly, but was _insisting_ that they had to join forces for this cause?

He smiled, feeling a sense of triumph in this after all. He replied, "I see... So, have you finally come around to seeing things my way and decided to be at my side?"

Danny then growled in frustration before deadpanning, "You know I much rather show off all my 'teen hero stuff.'" But then leaning forward in his chair, he said with exasperation, "C'mon, Plasmius, you know I wouldn't do it for that reason. I'm doing it because it's right! And you should, too!"

Vlad frowned, irritated with the boy's lecture to _him _of all people! But he calmly said, "Again, I don't see how this concerns me, Daniel. I will not involve myself with those Observant baboons any longer—any of them."

Danny rolled his eyes before remarking, "You're just mad because they brought you to your knees more easily than you will ever admit and you're eating your insides out that they did!"

Vlad glared at him and hissed, "Have you ever been told that 'rubbing it in' isn't the best approach to convincing people to help you? And if I recall correctly, they were well on their way to breaking you, too."

"Ugh!" Danny growled. "Look, Plasmius, I know very well how it feels to have my nose rubbed in my own dirty past, but that doesn't mean I'm going to keep re-living it!"

Still not convinced, Vlad folded his arms and tersely replied, "And your point?"

Danny rolled his eyes again, even more irritated. "And you tell _me_ to think! Haven't you thought that if we don't stop Iluzisto now, he'll probably become so powerful that _no one_ will be able to stop him later? Don't you think, then, that since **_we_** stand the best chance of stopping him, we should do it for the sake of everyone?"

Vlad suddenly growled, "Now it's you who must be kidding this time, Daniel! Since when do I care about things that don't benefit me in the end? Just how tight is your head screwed on, boy?"

Danny sarcastically replied, "I don't know. But by the way you're acting, I must have a _hole_ in it instead with this lame idea that you would even remotely show anyone that you had some kind of conscience."

"And you should know by now that I wouldn't even know what to do with one if I had one!"

"Fine!" Danny growled. But then he sighed in partial resign and said, "Why do you have to make things so difficult, Vlad? For once, why can't you do it just because it's important?"

Vlad jolted at the first part of what Daniel had said and didn't even hear the second half. He had asked the boy about making things so difficult, too! But that was when they had been imprisoned. Did the boy really hear him when he was trying to help the boy recover his strength that one time in the jail? He thought Daniel was totally incoherent then. But he didn't want to ask.

Instead he growled with suspicion, "So, you think you're really clever, don't you, Daniel? But not clever enough, I see. In fact, you are pathetically naïve! Haven't you figured out by now that all this appeal to 'higher ideals' won't work on me? I don't care one way or another about any of that. But let me see….oh, yes, here's the question you should have first proposed: 'Just what's in it for me?'"

Danny frowned in confusion at Vlad's first remark, but the last question pressed more upon him. His jaw tensed in disappointment, and he glanced down at his watch. Not much time! Darn it! And he _still_ hated it when the cheesehead was right! He had the nagging feeling all along that he wouldn't have been able to convince the man to help because it was the right thing to do. Why had he even tried, especially when it was more than obvious now that it hadn't worked?

"What do you mean?" Danny sincerely asked. He really couldn't think at the moment how else to convince the man, especially when he had been quite blunt about everything so far.

"You think that just because we worked together to get out of those imbecilic Observants' prison that everything is just fine between us? Do you really think that what boils down to two days as allies—since we certainly didn't get along during the first three—that that could erase all the other times when we couldn't see eye-to-eye?"

Danny frowned in irritation just as Vlad continued.

"Really, boy, you should realize that I only got along with you all that time just enough to get out of there. And believe me, if I could have done it without your help, I would have!"

Danny growled a bit at that remark before Vlad smirked and said in slight triumph. "So I ask you once again, Daniel, what's in it for me?"

The teen lowered his gaze, trying to hide his further disappointment; but getting to the matter at hand, he looked back at Vlad and told him seriously, "Vlad, you can't think after all that we went through that Iluzisto is going to leave us alone? We have to stop him or who's to say that he won't eventually come after us?"

Vlad hid that he was a little worried at what Daniel had said. It wouldn't surprise the man if that evil spirit came after them again, but he secretly still hoped that Iluzisto would leave them alone. Still, Vlad refused to go after the spirit when he was clearly too powerful to defeat. He would rather take his chances at hiding out and protecting himself by his own means.

Finally shrugging, he replied, "I can take care of myself, Daniel. Try again."

But Danny didn't respond this time. He knew that this had been a waste of time, but he had hoped….But now, he realized that he would have to go at Iluzisto on his own. He mentally shivered at the thought. Still, he was determined to do that…

He sighed in both resignation and fear at the thought.

But suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind as he glanced up and saw the 'brand' on Vlad's head and recalled his own... He bit the inside of his lower lip when he thought of what Justeco said about that pardon the Observant had given them. _That_ might do it….no, it wouldn't! The pardon had _already_ been given to the _both_ of them…. But how about if he….

Vlad thought he had given Daniel enough time to respond, but since the boy hadn't, Vlad figured that the answer was obvious. The man finally said, "Well, Daniel, it looks like you've wasted your time after all."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in, Derek," Vlad suddenly said.

His butler ghost came in with a tray with two cups of tea on it. He immediately placed it down on the small table in between where Danny and Vlad had been sitting.

"Thank you, Derek. You may go," he then replied.

"Yes, sir," the ghost butler said before leaving.

Just as Derek had left, Vlad picked up his cup and calmly said, "Still, it was a nice gesture on your part to see how I was doing, Daniel. And I need to thank you for helping me make up my mind on all of this. I think after I finally get strong enough from a few more doses of medicine, I'll be able to take precautions to insure Iluzisto cannot come anywhere near me."

"I doubt you'll have the _time_ to try," Danny said, the tone of his voice suddenly sounding dark, cold and dangerous.

One of Vlad's eyebrows hitched in surprise. But he immediately placed his cup down a little too firmly before furrowing his brow in irritation. He then sneered, "Is that a threat, boy?"

"In a way, yes!" Danny said, a smug smile beginning to curl around his lips at his idea. In fact, it was a very good idea—for once, it would be he who would manipulate Plasmius to play into his hand…

"But it's not a threat by _me_," the teen continued causally. "But, you know, you're right, Plasmius. I _have_ come around to your way of thinking. Why should I care one way or another about what's in it for you? You'll find out soon enough about exactly what you're going to be getting…"

He then stood up and started to walk out of the room. But just as he neared the door, he turned his head back to the man and keeping his tone dark and his eyes narrowed, he dryly added, "Can't say this has been a pleasant visit, but there's a certain pleasure of knowing that it probably is going to be our _last_ one…"

However, just as Danny turned back toward the door, Vlad sneered, "Just what are you up to, you little rat?"

Still not facing the man, Danny grinned mischievously as he thought, _"Hook, line and sinker, fruit loop…!"_

"Nothing," Danny quipped innocently, turning back to the man, but still standing in front of the exit. "I told Justeco you wouldn't agree! So, I give up! And you were _right_, you know! I _did _have some screws loose to have tried to convince you to help just because it was the right thing to do." The teen shrugged and added in fake disappointment, "It's a shame. You should have come around to it. I did, of course. But I wanted to give you the same break. But, it might be too late now! Still, I'll tell Justeco that I tried anyhow!"

The teen paused a moment before flippantly uttering his next sudden idea, "And don't worry about us. We do have a decent back-up plan on how to defeat Iluzisto, so that really wasn't a problem. But you know me and that 'teen hero' thing. The least I could do was try to get you to help just because it was the right thing to do. But now, since my efforts didn't work and you refuse to agree to help…" Danny shook his head and with a shrug said instead, "Eh, it doesn't matter. You don't care anyways. Well, I _have _been wasting my time. I have to get going! Sorry it didn't work out. Still, it would've sorta been fun having you help us kick Iluzisto's butt…"

"All right, Daniel," Vlad interjected through gritted teeth. "Just come out with it, boy! I don't buy this little act of yours…"

Suddenly turning dead serious, Danny frowned and forcefully said, "I don't care one way or the other if you do! But you want me to come out with it? Fine! Here it is: You're going to be **_executed_** by some kind of condemning curse from the Observants' realm that was created by something called 'Timeless Magic'! Justeco told me that if you didn't agree to help, he would not be giving you that pardon you needed so you wouldn't be killed! It would've happened to me, too, because the Observants had already handed down our sentence just before we escaped from their stupid realm. You do _remember_ that, right? Well, apparently that automatically sends out that weird execution thing to do, well, its thing. And that pulsing mark on your forehead is the proof of that and is the homing beacon for it!"

Vlad opened his mouth to literally point out the obvious, but Danny quickly cut him off. "And if you're wondering about my brand, it's going to eventually go away…" Danny paused before thinking to himself, _"Once we destroy Okulo's orb that is,"_ But he then added, "The point is that since I already agreed before Justeco told me about that danger, I'm scott free. But you? I don't know now! If you'd just listened to me…."

This time Vlad interrupted him and his voice was not as arrogant, "You should have thought of telling me that in the first place! You know I don't do all that worthless 'ideals' stuff!"

"But you know that I _do_," Danny fired back before quickly adding, "I've _still_ wasted too much time, Vlad. I'm sorry. I gotta go!"

Danny then turned to leave again.

"Wait, Daniel!" Vlad said, forcing himself to a stand.

Danny turned right around and sighed in irritation, "What do you want, Plasmius?"

"I want to make a deal with…with Justeco. If you can help me convince him to give me that pardon—to undo the Observants' curse—then I will….help you try to defeat Iluzisto." Vlad smiled sweetly as he nicely added, "Will you do that, for that old 'teen hero's' sake, hmm?"

"What? You want me to _lie_?" Danny said, feigning being shocked—though inside he was laughing at the irony. After all, he had just _twisted_ the truth and tricked the man!

"Well, let's call it negotiating a truce, hmm? I wouldn't dream of asking you to lie," the man replied with a bit of wryness.

"_If you only knew…"_ Danny immediately thought with another mental laugh, but still frowning in feigned seriousness, he replied, "I can't guarantee a thing, you know. Still, you drive a hard bargain, Plasmius…." He paused a moment for the effect. "I will tell Justeco that it was easy to convince you. After all, I really didn't want to break a sweat kicking Iluzisto's butt. And I think with your help, that definitely won't happen!"

"Well, even after I have that curse removed, I might need a day more to recover, which is why I had to resort to this kind of desperate measure," Vlad added, still not wanting to make the boy believe that he had given in so easily.

"Yeah, I know, Vlad. Just as well. After I tell Justeco that you've agreed and gotten your pardon, I still have to go help him free all the Observants. Then we can get on with the business of stopping Iluzisto. So, see you tomorrow?"

"Only if you get me that pardon, Daniel," the man quipped back.

Danny rolled his eyes but then nodded. "Bye," he tersely said, before turning to leave. But just as soon as Danny was facing totally away from the man, a triumphant smile suddenly erupted on his face. Vlad had actually fallen for his trick! Oh, this was just too good!

However, his feeling of triumph didn't last very long…

"Daniel, just a moment," Vlad suddenly called to the boy before he could leave. The man had just gotten an… idea.

The teen slowly turned back around and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"On second thought, I think I will go with you."

Danny frowned suspiciously. "You're going to help me free the Observants? But after I get your curse removed, I thought you said you needed another day of rest? "

Vlad smirked. "Well, true. But still, I have to show my willingness to Justeco, somehow, right?"

The teen studied the man for a moment, still wary of his sudden eagerness. And then he suddenly could tell that Vlad was somehow looking a little better since he had first come. He bit the inside of his lower lip when he focused back to Vlad's question; and saw that the man was still looking at him in anticipation. He knew that look. The older hybrid would do what he wanted, anyways. And that meant that the boy would have to get a message to Justeco somehow not to tell Vlad that the curse had been lifted already… He hesitated again…Maybe he could get to Justeco first. But he couldn't let Vlad know that he was worried about that.

He finally shrugged and said, "Fine. But we are heading back to my house."

"Of course," Vlad said pleasantly before suddenly morphing. However, he then unexpectedly moved forward and grabbed one of the teen's wrists.

"Hey! What are you—?" Danny began, only to gasp when a flash of pink momentarily blinded him and his lungs suddenly constricted. But before he could panic, the feeling vanished and he suddenly found himself in Vlad's lab.

Ignoring his feeling weaker for doing that, Plasmius let go of the disoriented teen and went over to Skulker who had just finished fixing his broken jaw.

"Skulker, I have one last thing to ask of you," the man said, capturing his ally's attention.

The hunter raised an expectant eyebrow.

But before Vlad could explain, Danny suddenly demanded, "What are you doing, Plasmius? I said we were heading to my house! And—And don't _ever_ do that to me again!" he added, shuddering with the horrible feeling of teleportation.

Vlad rolled his eyes. "Yes, Daniel. I know you want to go home. But, first, we need to take certain precautions. Or, hasn't it occurred to you that, perhaps, we need a _plan_?"

"I have a plan!" Danny quickly defended himself.

"Oh, really?" Vlad said disbelievingly. "And, it is?"

Danny flushed in embarrassment, but then quickly glared. "Okay, fine. So, I don't have the plans written down! But since it involves everyone, I hadn't expected to discuss it without everyone being here! But I have a plan; so don't look at me like I'm stupid!"

Vlad sighed dramatically. He knew the boy all too well. He was almost certain Daniel didn't have a real plan—after all, the teen wasn't known for his foresight. But he was hardly going to argue over the point.

Instead, Vlad looked over at the hunter and seriously said, "Skulker, I need you to head to the Fenton Portal. When you get there, call me and I will give you further instructions."

The hunter briefly glanced at Danny for some reason, but then he looked back at his employer and nodded. "Very well."

Skulker quickly pressed a few buttons on his new suit and then his jets activated. Without further word, he flew through Vlad's portal and left.

"Okay, what was that about?" Danny quickly asked, suspicious. "I thought you were still not feeling all that good."

"I'm not; and I will tell you later," Vlad calmly answered as he went over to his lab's mainframe and typed something in. Although his ghost shield was already up around his house, he then commanded, "Lock down ghost lab and activate ghost security."

In an instant, the ghost portal sealed shut and a red barrier glowed around it. And then, suddenly…several weapons surrounded Danny.

The teen gasped in fear as the ghost guns began to hum with their power.

"Oh," Vlad muttered and quickly commanded the room, "Disregard 'Phantom Signature."

The weapons immediately retracted and Danny let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. But then he quickly glared over at Vlad.

But the man just smirked and said, "My mistake. My house is use to regarding you as an enemy and intruder."

"Right," Danny said dryly before adding in annoyance, "Are you going to explain to me why you dragged me down here? Or, is that also for _later_?"

"I 'dragged you down here' because if we hope to defeat Iluzisto _we_ need to be at full strength, Daniel," Vlad said seriously.

"I'm fine," Danny said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

"Dear boy, I know the feel of your ghost side as well as my own. You are far from fine. And you are far from being fully recovered," Vlad replied in a matter-of-factly voice.

The teen frowned, though he knew he couldn't contradict the man even if he tried. "I…It doesn't matter. The Observants don't have a lot of time left. And I still have to save Clockwork! I don't know what Iluzisto could be doing to him! He already took his time staff!"

Vlad tensed in surprise. And it was he who now quickly questioned the boy, "Iluzisto has the Time Master's staff? _His power source?"_

Danny nodded grimly. "And now that we're on this topic, Iluzisto also wasted Okulo and has his 'orb thing."

"And you were going to tell me these important details _when_?" Vlad asked, now annoyed.

"I'm telling you now…," Danny replied with a meek smile.

Vlad rolled his eyes, but readily frowned in worry. Iluzisto having the Time Staff and Okulo's Timeless Magic Orb certainly complicated things. But then remembering something else the boy just said, he raised an eyebrow and seriously asked, "And why are you so eager to 'save' our _prosecutor_, hmm?"

Danny looked away, feeling his guilt return at the thought of Clockwork. He shouldn't have doubted him…

"The Observants forced him to be our prosecutor…," Danny quietly replied. "He…was never against us."

"Hmm," Vlad merely said before turning from the teen and moving over to a metal drawer to search for a few things.

Danny frowned, noticing the man's lack of response. "You don't sound surprised by that."

Vlad shrugged and answered, "That's because I am not, Daniel. I had already suspected the Time Master's intentions were not what he let on. So, you merely confirmed my suspicions of him."

"Well, thanks for telling me sooner, Plasmius," Danny snapped, now ticked off with the man.

But Vlad just shrugged uncaringly. He had thought of telling him of the boy of his suspicions, but, honestly, the opportunity had never presented itself with all the terrible stuff that kept happening to the both of them during all that time in the Realm Beyond Time. Still, the older hybrid was not interested in explaining himself to his young rival. Then again… he didn't want to give Daniel any more reason to distrust him—at least, for as long as their 'temporary truce' lasted…

"Daniel," Vlad said calmly. "If we are going to combine forces to defeat Iluzisto, you are going to have to trust me for the time being. That means, you will have to drop your suspicions of me and your childish arrogance."

"Sure, as long as you drop your egotism and can stop being a jerk for the duration," Danny retorted with a smirk.

Vlad just sighed loudly. Honestly, did the Observants really believe he and the boy were going to save all existence? The billionaire honestly didn't see how they were going to do that when they clearly didn't trust each other, let alone, did they have the focus to combine their powers to defeat Iluzisto.

How could they, when they were so caught up with fighting _each other_?

But the moment he thought that, a wave of memories from their time together in Iluzisto's prison flooded Vlad's mind… They had worked together before… So, why were they being so hostile towards each other again? Especially when they needed more than ever to drop their differences and trust each other? If not for all existence, then, at least, for their own sakes. And that, really, was all Vlad mostly cared about…

"I… just want this nightmare to be over, Danny," Vlad suddenly said, pausing in what he was doing to face the boy.

Danny's eyebrows creased at the seriousness and… sincerity in the older hybrid's voice…

The teen sighed himself, remembering the horrors they had gone through together that had ended just two days ago. Maybe trusting Vlad enough for them to work together wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be… After all, he had come here to get Vlad's _help_. So, if he had done it before he could do it again… At least until they got out of this mess…

"That's all I want, too," Danny replied, now as serious.

Vlad nodded before turning away and continuing with what he was doing.

The boy didn't say anything at first, even when he noticed the long silence between them. But unable to keep his curiosity at bay, Danny approached Vlad and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Iluzisto completely depleted our energy supply and damaged our cores, Daniel. I'm sure of it," The older hybrid said with a mixture of worry and anger as he continued to prepare something the teen didn't see.

"And although at any other time our cores would regenerate that lost energy without trouble, this time, our cores are too weak to do so properly. That creature has seriously damaged our cores from his constantly jabbing that blasted weapon into us, especially the last time he did it. So, I worked mostly all of yesterday on a stronger healing serum in hopes of fixing said damage and getting mine, but now, your core as well, back to its usual strength, which, in turn, will allow us to recuperate our lost energy at a much faster rate."

Danny frowned and had reflexively grabbed at his chest when he remembered the last time Iluzisto had…stabbed him. Still, he needed to know more. "Okay… I suppose you would know if your core is damaged. But how do you know _mine_ is, too?"

"I already told you, Daniel. I can feel your signature, your energy and power. You are not well," Vlad replied seriously before turning around with a needle filled with a glowing clear liquid in it.

Danny instantly tensed. "I know you are not planning on sticking me with that stuff, right?"

Vlad sighed tiredly. "We really do not have time for this, Daniel. If you want to help anyone, you have to regain all your power. Otherwise, you will not stand a chance."

Danny swallowed hard as he stared at the needle in Vlad's hand. He knew the man was right in that he wasn't well. Although he could morph, Danny felt it had been… difficult to do so. In fact, just his small brawl with Skulker had left him feeling… very weak. But…he didn't want to be injected with some weird serum, let alone, have Vlad do it. What if it wasn't what he was saying and the man was lying? But then… how would Vlad benefit from hurting him at the moment?

Still….

"Fine. But you take a shot, first," Danny finally answered, looking seriously at Vlad.

But much to his surprise, the older hybrid suddenly glared, "You listen to me, Daniel. I am not going anywhere near Iluzisto without a proper plan or without both of us being at full strength! You might get a kick out of your suicidal approaches to fights, but I do not! I am not risking my neck because of your stubborn pride. Now, you either take the shot or the deal is off and you can do this on your own!"

Danny quickly glared. "Hey! Don't forget that if you don't do this—"

"What?" Vlad cut him off. "I'm going to be killed by the Observants' wrath? Well, if you go out there in your weak condition, I'll be killed, anyways! We both will! So, stop wasting my time, Daniel, and make up your mind!"

Danny felt his heartbeat pick up; but knowing Vlad was right, the teen swallowed his fear and took a few steps closer to Vlad.

"Just make it quick," the teen muttered, looking away.

Vlad's anger melded into a frown. But then he sighed to himself and approached the teen. "The serum will only work on your ghost half, so you need to morph."

But the teen said nothing at first. He just tensed, but willed his transformation rings forward again all the same. He frowned when that hurt even more this time. He had to agree. His core was damaged. He stepped closer to the man and braced himself as Vlad grabbed his arm and prepped his upper arm.

"It's going to feel a bit cold," Vlad warned before quickly injecting the teen.

Danny gasped as his ghost hue suddenly turned bright green. It felt like his veins were freezing over as the serum quickly spread through his body. But then, the liquid finally reached his core. And he suddenly couldn't breathe.

"W-What?" Danny choked out as he unexpectedly stumbled back. But Vlad quickly grabbed his arm before he could fall. The teen's breaths suddenly turned into short pants and somewhere in the back of his mind he was mentally smacking himself for letting Vlad inject him with some weird stuff—especially when it _glowed_! But the thought vanished when he felt his head spin… Oh, no. Vlad was trying to kill him!

Seeing the panicked look on the boy's face, Vlad spoke up. "Calm yourself. It will be over soon."

But just as he said this, Danny suddenly lost his ghost form. And with another small gasp, the teen just as quickly… fainted.

Of course, Vlad grabbed the boy before he dropped to the ground. But then he muttered, "And 'by over', I meant you would lose consciousness."

He knew, however, that the boy would be fine. In fact, he would probably wake up in an hour or so. The serum was strong; so the teen's passing out was expected, since it was his first time with it. The next time, it would still be uncomfortable, but Vlad was sure the teen would handle it better.

Still, Daniel's strong and relatively immediate reaction only proved to the man how damaged the boy's core was. The serum's reaction, after all, was proportional to the damage in a ghost's body.

But, then, Vlad knew his core was even worse. But, luckily, since the older hybrid had used this type of healing concoction before, he did not react as the boy had now. That, however, didn't mean it hadn't been unpleasant.

The truth was that the best solution for his and the boy's damaged core was to take an even stronger dose of this ghostly healing serum and inject it _directly_ into their _cores_. It would probably heal them instantly… That is, if it didn't kill them, first.

And not about to take such a risk on either of their behalf, Vlad had no other choice but to apply the serum in three small doses and intravenously. That meant, he and Daniel would be taking another shot tonight and then one again tomorrow morning...

All Vlad could hope was that it would be enough to heal their damaged cores. Otherwise… they really were doomed... They—and all existence.

Vlad sighed deeply as he looked down at the unconscious boy in his arms.

"I would say that you are more trouble than you're worth. But then… I would just be lying to myself," he told the teen. In spite of what he told the boy, the man knew the real reason why he had come together with the teen and why he done what he had while they were in prison. Iluzisto knew why, too. But Vlad had let his care for the boy emotionally weaken him too much already. And especially now, he couldn't afford to let that continue to happen now that they had escaped. He needed his head in the game—and his emotions very far away. Otherwise, Vlad was sure he wouldn't survive, especially with Iluzisto still on the loose.

Vlad studied Danny for another moment. But he then suddenly shook his head before walking out of the lab to put the boy down. With any luck, the teen would stay unconscious longer than an hour. Heaven knew Daniel was beyond exhausted, even if he was trying to pretend otherwise.

But even if it were just an hour, that would be more than fine with him. And that was because he was dying to get back into bed himself. In spite of the fact that in the end he was also trying to pretend otherwise, he was far from being well. He needed rest.

But, for now, Vlad would have to settle for relaxing on his favorite couch. His mind drifted and he smiled at his next thought. He must be feeling better than he had first guessed, then…Hopefully, he would be at full strength soon and he could think about all this more clearly…

Still, he _was_ thinking right now. After all, he needed to get some sort of plan together. He knew Danny's sister and friends were going to come barging into his home when they realized the boy was not coming back as he had probably told them.

But that's what Vlad wanted.

In fact, although he had not let it on, he had another reason why he had stopped Daniel from leaving: that sudden idea he had gotten.

Sure, he knew it was necessary to heal both his and the boy's cores before going after Iluzisto; but more importantly, Vlad realized he needed to personally make sure that Danny kept his end of the bargain. After all, what good would it do him to heal his core and then end up being destroyed by some curse? Not only that, he was really annoyed that he would be on the hook like this over doing something that would never have been his idea in the first place. Still, he had to admit that Daniel was right about one thing: Iluzisto would probably be after them in the end. Not that he was really surprised since he knew that the blasted spirit would definitely detest that blow to his ego all due to their escaping from his clutches…and want their blood…

Nevertheless, there was still the issue of that just as blasted curse. No, he needed to deal with that himself. And since Danny had mentioned that Justeco had come to see him, then Vlad suspected the Observant was still with the boy's friends and sister… And now that he thought about it, just how much time did he have before that curse would come into effect after all? Daniel hadn't specified that…But then again, the boy didn't seem to act or imply that time was of the essence when it came to the curse, either… That would make sense, too; otherwise, Daniel wouldn't have even offered having the curse removed if it was going to happen to him right away… All the same, he wanted that curse removed. And that meant that he would have to make _more_ than certain that Daniel kept his promise to have the curse dispelled…He would also have to get that arrogant Justeco here, at his home, to 'hand-deliver' that guaranteed… undoing

And what better way to get them to willingly come than to have the young hybrid in his hands? The boy's friends, sister, and most importantly, Justeco would certainly be here _very_ soon…

Vlad chuckled smugly, but then his eyes further narrowed at his next thought…

He knew Danny's sister and friends were going to _try_ to help. But the billionaire was sure all they would do was worry the boy over their safety; and, in turn, split Daniel's focus away from what needed to be done. So that made Jasmine and the boy's little friends an obstacle that Vlad needed to deal with. And he could _also_ deal with them if they were at his house.

Not to mention, the billionaire had the suspicion that the Fenton house was not the safest place for them to be right now, anyways. Vlad knew the ghost shield was up around Amity Park—since he had ordered Skulker to put it up himself.

But that meant if Iluzisto was really after him and Daniel, he would either be coming through the Fenton portal or his portal. But since Vlad knew his portal was both hidden in the Ghost Zone and sealed from his side, the most likely place was the Fenton portal.

Yes… they needed to plan things out carefully… especially if he was going to _gain_ something out of all this besides just getting rid of the Observants' curse over him.

Vlad smirked at the thought.

But right then, a beeping sound came from the watch-like device on his arm. The billionaire looked down; and with a bit of difficulty since he was still holding the senseless Danny, he pressed a button to activate the communicator.

"_Plasmius,"_ came Skulker's voice. _"I'm standing in front of the closed Fenton portal on the Ghost Zone's side. Now, care to tell me why I am here?" _

Vlad glanced at Danny; but then sure he was completely out, he began walking out of the lab as he replied, "Yes, you are there in regards to Iluzisto. I need you to listen closely to me, Skulker. And I need you to do exactly what I say…"

The hunter hesitated a bit, but then replied, "Very well. What do you have in mind?"

Vlad smirked as he told his ally his plan…

* * *

**A/N: truephan here: Well, well, well, dearies. Did we surprise you again? Of course, we absolutely hope we did. After all, messing with your minds is our greatest ambition! And feeling all those emotions we get from you as you fall right into our trap just gives fuel to our madness! AWW! So yummy!...**

**Truephan **_**really**_** here: HOLD IT there, Ms. Hyde! Who told you that you could get on the computer?**

***Oh, is that what you call this thing, dearie? I thought it was just a magical box that connected directly into your readers' minds!***

***Pause* **

**Uh, well, really, you're sorta right about that, Ms. Hyde. But that is STILL no reason to abuse it! The readers know that pearl and I would never resort to such trickery!**

***Ms Hyde looks disbelievingly at truephan* You can't be serious, dearie? Just by the fact that you're speaking to me is quite the trick and, so you know, just messes with everyone's mind!**

**Truephan's face falls in shock: Uh, good…uh, point? Heh-heh….Well, dear readers, before I get into it too much deeper, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And you know what to do…and that is no trick! Just push that little blue button! Until next time, then!**

***Ms Hyde: Yes, dearies, until the next time when we can trick and mess with your minds! *cackles hysterically***

**Vlad muse: Actually, I inserted a bomb on that 'review' button… so, there is a bit of a trick.**

**Pearl: What? Why would you do that?**

**Vlad muse: Oh, calm down. It only detonates if your readers do not add in their review a compliment on my behalf. Or, agree to 'join me'. Either one will do.**

**Pearl: Man, you are crazy. Anyways, don't listen to him. I'm sure he's, er, kidding… Yeah. But, you know, review just in case and then run a good distance from your computer. Heh-heh…**

**Seriously, though, thanks for your support! Until next time and hopefully it will be for CM! Yay! Ta!**


	31. Chapter 31: Trying to Get it Together

**Pearl: Hello all! Welcome back! And sorry for the lack of updates; that's my fault. My schedule in the past weeks has been all over the place. Anyhow, I hope this one makes up for that! We are starting to get into the fun part! The final Climax! Yay! Well, Enjoy! See you all at the end!**

**A/N: truephan here: Well, hellow, everyone. Miss us? We sure did miss y'all. Sorry about the late update…You know how the best laid plans of mice and men are…well, that happened to us. But, fortunately, we had cheese and football to take care of those…complications. *permission to slap Ms. Hyde NOT truephan.* But in any case, all kidding aside, guys, we're glad we got this going and got you to tune in. See ya downstairs. Hope you like. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

**Chapter 31: Trying to Get it Together**

* * *

It was pretty convenient how much easier and faster it was to get to the Realm Beyond Time when you were flying at top speed in the Specter Speeder and had an Observant navigating. In a matter of under an hour, Team Phantom had reached the entrance to the spirit terrain and were now on their way to the Observants' territory.

"Don't you think this is the _last_ place we should be taking your brother?" Tucker spoke as he steered the speeder right at the landmark Justeco had just pointed at.

"I would prefer it be somewhere else," the High Tribune agreed with a weary sigh. "But do not fear, young human. I do not intend to hide him anywhere near our abode. It will be in a place he will be well guarded and it will be highly unlikely for Iluzisto to intrude upon any time soon."

"Okay, so why are we heading towards your place, then?" Tucker further questioned, now confused.

"Because this place I wish to take my brother is _within_ the Realm Beyond Time—only it is a much greater distance deeper, so it would take too long to get there, even with this flying contraption. Luckily, we Observants have a door within our fortress that takes us directly to this location. As I said, it is still within the Timeless Realm. And this is where my brother needs to be, being that the lack of time here can ease the discomfort of the time spell Iluzisto has put upon us."

"What about you?" Jazz questioned worriedly. "You do not look all that well, either."

Justeco somehow conveyed a smile with his eye as he replied to the girl. "I appreciate your kind concern. But I shall be well." He pulled out his Timeless Orb and showed it to the humans as he further said, "My orb is helping me withstand the ravaging effects of time. It cannot lift the curse, but it will help me for as long as it can…"

"And how long is that…?" Sam asked uncertainly. "And why can't it help your brother and the other Observants, too?"

Justeco glanced back at his barely conscious brother who was lying back in a reclining seat just behind the front cabin before sullenly answering, "The orb only protects and helps me, unfortunately. But as I said, it cannot keep the curse from its intended purpose. It only alleviates the weakness and discomfort I feel, but I fear it will not be for too long—just as being in the Timeless Realm will not aid my brother forever. I predict we have over a day of the human world time before we succumb to the Oblivion…"

"Don't worry, Justeco. None of us are going to let that happen," Jazz assured him, placing a hand on the spirit's arm, while the others nodded in agreement.

Justeco just stared at the humans, still unable to understand or believe their kindness.

But it wasn't the High Tribune who voiced their gratitude…

"T-Thank y-you," Konsilisto raggedly whispered from behind the cabin seats where he lay.

Apparently, the spirit was awake enough to hear the entire conversation.

Justeco quickly gasped and flew from his seat to his brother's side. "Konsilisto! You are conscious!"

His brother nodded weakly before whispering out, "We-We were so wrong about them, brother… So… So wrong."

Justeco nodded and placed a hand against his brother's head. "Yes, we were. But we will make things right again, Konsilisto. Somehow, we will. You have my word."

"The-The half-ghosts… You must… saved them from… Iluzisto… He wants… He said…"

Justeco's eyes widened in dread when he quickly remembered what his brother was talking about…

_"But as I said, I plan to deliver their final verdict myself… You see," Iluzisto continued sneakily, "I was paying attention through the entire trial against the crossbreeds. And thanks to you all, I know all about that dark creature hidden in Clockwork's Tower…"_

_"No! You cannot free him!" Justeco suddenly cried out._

_"Free him?" Iluzisto asked, amused. "Oh, please. Why would I want to do that? No, I have no interest in that creature. But, you see, I did learn one thing. And that is that that creature had become the most powerful and evil ghost in all existence. But **I** know why…."_

_Iluzisto grinned with his eye again. "He is made up of both crossbreeds. That creature has both of their **cores** fused inside himself! Do you realize the importance of that? Whoever can obtain that sort of power, whoever can obtain their cores, would be invincible! And guess who will be obtaining them? ME!" he said with a victorious laugh. "It will be all too easy. All I have to do is reach right into them while they are in their ghost forms and rip out their cores, and fuse them both with my own!"_

With all that was happening at the time, he had forgotten to warn the young halfa!

"You must… warn him, brother!" Konsilisto gasped out.

But before Justeco could say anything to his brother, Sam and Jazz, who had left their chairs to see for themselves how Konsilisto was doing, interrupted their seemingly cryptic conversation.

"Warn who about what?" Jazz asked.

Justeco stared sadly at his brother before glancing at the human girls. "I am afraid much more is at stake than what I have shared with you all…"

"Is everything okay back there? I can't hear you guys!" Tucker suddenly called out.

And knowing this was important, Justeco raised his voice loud enough so that the human boy would also hear before he quickly told the two girls Iluzisto's plan for the half-ghosts.

"So… Iluzisto is after my brother again?" Jazz asked in alarm when the Observant leader finished.

"Yes. That is why time is of the essence," Justeco answered. "Not just for us Observants, but also for both half-ghosts. It is only a matter of time before Iluzisto tracks down both of them. And if they are not ready to face him, then…"

"Danny will be ready!" Sam said firmly. "And we are going to be right there to back him up and keep that sick spirit from hurting him."

"As I said, Iluzisto has grown powerful," Justeco said. "Danny Phantom will also need Vlad Plasmius' help. I can only hope the boy will convince him, at least for their sakes."

"Man, that is so gross!" Tucker said from the front of the speeder. "I mean, he wants to _rip out their cores?_ That's like heart surgery without the anesthesia!"

"Okay, Tucker! We get the point!" Sam snapped, though she was just mostly stricken with that mental image.

"I surely share your repulsion of such an act," Justeco answered. "But I am afraid Iluzisto is as merciless as he is ruthless. He feeds off of inflicting pain and angst to others as he feeds of off of their ghost energy."

"T-The half-ghosts will stop him," Konsilisto rasped out.

"They will. My brother will make sure of it," Jazz assured the weak spirit, taking one of his limp hands and squeezing it.

But Jazz was only able to hold it for a second before the Observant's hand suddenly wisped and her hand went through him. Not a moment later, more open sores then broke out on his large eye.

Justeco gasped at what he saw and he quickly moved closer to his brother again. "Konsilisto?"

"I am fading fast, brother. I am not strong enough to withstand this," Konsilisto moaned as his body flickered in and out of solidity.

"But you are!" Justeco replied firmly. "You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for, brother! It is you who has stood by my side throughout our entire existence—you have been my rock, Konsilisto! And it was you now who dared to hope beyond hope that we have a chance to make it through this now! It is you who first gave me faith that Danny Phantom can save us! You cannot retract from that now, brother! I need you more than ever!"

"Yeah, dude!" Tucker suddenly spoke up, faintly hearing what was going on. "We are all rooting for you!"

"Danny would be devastated if something happened to you, Konsilisto. You can make it!" Jazz added.

"And think about Iluzisto," Sam then said. "You want to give him the satisfaction of him getting away with hurting you and all the other Observants? You must fight back!"

Konsilisto stared between all the beings around him, having heard each and every one of their encouraging words.

Somehow, it indeed gave the counselor the strength to fight back.

Closing his eye, Konsilisto focused on his body and forced it to not relent. Suddenly, he solidified again and with a loud groan, the counselor pushed himself to a sitting position.

Justeco was so astounded by his brother's sudden strength and determination that all he could do was stare back.

"You are all right. It is time to stop being weak," Konsilisto said with difficulty, but his determination was set in his eye as he opened it. "I might not be strong enough to physically fight against Iluzisto, but I will do so now by not giving into this curse for as long as I can!"

"That's the spirit!" Jazz beamed, only to cringe at her unintended pun.

But Justeco suddenly laughed. "You human creatures are so full of surprises. Again, thank you!"

"No problem, man," Tucker interrupted. "But it would be nice if you came back up here, because we're at your place."

Justeco shared a look with his brother before the High Tribune floated back towards the front with Sam following. Jazz, however, decided to stay with Konsilisto.

Justeco quickly looked out the front window and stared at the outside surroundings. He could indeed see the Observant fortress approaching. But knowing from his previous time that Iluzisto's guards could be anywhere, the High Tribune searched for a place to hide the large aircraft.

He soon spotted a large crevice in a nearby floating boulder.

"There," Justeco said, pointing a sharp claw at the rock some yards away. "You all must remain hidden while I take my brother to a place he will be safe."

"What?" Sam quickly objected. "You expect us to hide in some rock while you go sneak inside through evil-ghost-infested halls and risk getting captured or worse? I don't think so!"

"Please, young human!" Justeco replied with distress. "I appreciate your wanting to help, but you must let me do this on my own! My brother and I know our home and terrain better than any of Iluzisto's guards. And furthermore, I can manage to turn my brother and I invisible should the need arise; but I fear I do not have the energy for anymore. So, the best way you can help us is by remaining hidden until I return. Please."

Sam glanced at Tucker with an unconvinced frown, but then the boy sighed and told Justeco seriously, "Okay, dude. But if you are not back in ten minutes, we are coming in after you."

Justeco blinked in confusion. He knew that the young human was talking about the passage of time, but he didn't really completely comprehend what that meant. He then asked, "'Ten minutes'? Is that what you would call a 'long period of time'?"

"Well, not really," Tucker admitted. "But we don't want you to be late."

"All right, then. Twenty. Give me twenty minutes," Justeco compromised.

"Fifteen," Jazz suddenly said as she and Konsilisto moved into the front cabin, both having heard everything.

"Brother!" Justeco gasped out, seeing him floating on his own for the most part.

Konsilisto nodded. "I agree with the humans. If they believe fifteen minutes of their time is adequate, then I, too, believe you will make it."

"It is you for whom I am worried," Justeco answered seriously.

"I will manage. Now, let us go before we are discovered," Konsilisto answered.

"Here. Use my watch," Jazz suddenly said, quickly taking it off her wrist. She turned on the timer before giving it to the Observant leader.

Justeco took the watch and glanced at it in puzzlement before looking at the humans and then at his brother.

"It's all right," Jazz began, understanding that lost look. "It will keep track of the time for you. Once it beeps, you will know that you're out of time and you have to get back."

Reluctantly, the High Tribune sighed in defeat and finally nodded.

Without a word, Sam opened the side door to let the Observants out. "Good luck," she told them seriously, though she looked highly worried.

Justeco paused and looked at the young girl just as he was about to float out. His eye curved into a small smile before he said, "I understand now why the young half-ghost is so taken by you…"

Sam's mouth slightly opened in a mixture of disbelief and the urge to protest; but before she could think of anything to say to that, the two Observants flew out. Not aware that she was still slightly blushing, she watched after the spirits until they used their invisibility powers and vanished from sight.

"Sam!" Tucker called at her, snapping the girl out of it. "Come on! Close the door! We need to hide!"

"Uh, right!" she muttered and did just that.

As Tucker flew the Specter Speeder to the indicated hiding spot, Justeco and Konsilisto flew closer and closer to their destination. They both sensed a sudden, odd stirring within that they did not need to express to each other. And that was that, somehow, nearing their home felt very different this time. They had felt lost and afraid not too long before when they had snuck in to use Justeco's portal to try to find some sort of help.

Now, they had a new hope. And it fueled them with determination and courage.

Although they were careful, especially when they had to fly past guards even when they were still able to maintain their invisibility, they moved quickier than before and with little hesitation. Konsilisto was lagging a bit behind, but he continued forward all the same.

Eventually, they made it to their destination: the hallway with the Realm Doors. They were, of course, the doors within the Hall of Dimensions, the same hallway that Kvargvid and the other escapees had used to flee into their own realms.

"D-Do you think they will help us, brother?" Konsilisto whispered when he saw what door his brother was intending to activate. "You know they do not interfere unless necessary."

"I know," Justeco agreed, all the while continuing to scan both ends of the hallway to make sure they were still alone. "But we are not asking for their help. Just their refuge—at least for you. I know the… Ancients will grant it to you, even if it is for the time being. Just… tell them we will fix our mistake."

Justeco glanced at the Realm Door which he knew would open into the Ancients' terrain. Being that the mysterious spirits lived deep within the Realm Beyond Time, this door was the quickest means for an Observant to get to their 'realm'…

Konsilisto, too, glanced at the door with uncertainty. It wasn't that he feared the Ancients. They were a fair and docile group of spirits for the most part… It was just that they were also like bees. If stirred… It would mean trouble for more than just them.

But his brother was right; they would not deny an ally sanctuary, and the Observants were considered allies—for the most part at least.

"You will need my help to find our kin again, Justeco," Konsilisto reminded his brother, clearly reluctant to go.

"You are right…" Justeco answered. "But I just need our connection…"

"Then, you know what to do," Konsilisto replied seriously.

Justeco froze when he and his brother saw a guard enter the hallway. They waited for the ghost to move on before replying to his brother, "But it will weaken you, Konsilisto. No, I can find another way. Perhaps I can recall from memory…"

"Brother," Konsilisto interrupted him. "It was both our first time in the Human World and we were very disconcerted. I highly doubt you will be able to return from memory. I will be fine, and let us not forget that this will weaken you, too, since you will have to use your powers."

Justeco remained quiet, and seeing he was convincing him, Konsilisto further added, "We must save our kin, brother, and if this is how I can help, then you must let me!"

The High Tribune finally nodded and reluctantly pulled out his orb and wrapped his hand around it. "I will try my best not to use too much energy so as not to drain you, alright?"

Konsilisto nodded before he extended his hand and placed it over his brother's hand so that both of their hands were now cupping the orb. They had done this before and knew what to do. But they also both knew that in their condition, what they were about to do was risky and could be the means of their destruction.

Justeco hesitated again; but then with a sigh, he squeezed the orb and activated it. Its energy quickly encased them both and in another instant, the orb connected their cores. This would now allow Justeco to use the combined power to track their kin, much like they had used it previously to track a portal back to the Ghost Zone. Their energy was now linked, so it was as if they were one. It meant they could give each other strength and power; but… it also meant that if one of them got hurt or weakened, the other would also suffer, or it also could lead to their demise.

It was a double-edged sword, but it was the best they had right now.

When the orb finished the process, Konsilisto stumbled back until his back was against a wall, while Justeco gasped as he lost the ability to keep them both invisible. Using his energy to activate the orb and further bind their cores had weakened him.

"Go now, Brother!" Justeco whispered urgently to his brother as he floated over to him and helped him float towards the intended door.

"You must turn invisible before someone sees you, Justeco!" Konsilisto uttered weakly.

"I will. As soon as you are through the door," Justeco insisted before he turned his attention back to the door and said to it,_"Observi Antikvan Loĝejon!"_ **(1)**

The door quickly glowed and swung open.

Konsilisto glanced back at his brother as his eye swelled with tears at the thought of this being the last time he could possibly see him again. The counselor couldn't take it, and he suddenly wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him for all he was worth. "I-I love you, brother! I do! Forgive me for all of this! Forgive me!"

"There is nothing to forgive, and you know I also love you deeply, Konsilisto," Justeco quietly voiced, fearing he would also cry if he said it any louder. "Do not worry. This is not good-bye. We will see each other again soon—when this nightmare is over. I promise."

Konsilisto nodded and sniffed a bit more before he finally forced himself to let go. "Until then, Justeco," he said sadly before he turned from his brother and vanished through the open door.

The door instantly shut and Justeco took a shuddering ghostly breath as he pressed his hands against the closed door.

"_I will see you again, brother,"_ Justeco thought as he closed his eyes and a single tear escaped it.

But suddenly hearing the sound of chattering, the High Tribune quickly pushed back his sorrow and forced his tired body to become invisible.

And he did so just in time, since a group of Iluzisto's guards quickly appeared from the opposite end of the hallway.

Like before, Justeco stealthy made his way back out of the Observants' domain. But… his fortune didn't last very long after that.

Just as he had turned the last hall towards the exit, Justeco felt a strong wave of weakness and he quickly lost invisibility.

—Right in front of a guard posted in front of the door.

The guard blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Observant; but seeing who it was and sure his leader had captured him, the guard jolted and stumbled with his weapon as he asked, "H-How did you…?"

However, the guard wasn't able to finish…

Justeco instinctively raised his orb and fired a shot from it at the guard, knocking him unconscious…

But the guard's loud cry of pain caught the attention of some other of Iluzisto's cronies and Justeco panicked.

He quickly pushed the senseless guard out of his way and flew through the door. He zoomed as fast as his weak body could through the green atmosphere towards where he knew the young humans were.

However, now that he was in full view, the guards that had been patrolling the outer perimeters as well as the others that had already been alerted from inside the Observants' place easily spotted him and sounded the alarm.

Trupo, one of the Iluzisto's officers, was there and he quickly ordered his guards to capture the Observant.

Justeco cried in fear as several energy-blasts flew past him, while he was forced to dodge the rest. But the exertion was taking a toll on him and all too soon, one of the blasts hit him from behind and quickly electrocuted his entire body.

Justeco cried out in pain as the jolt forced him to a stop. He looked further ahead, seeing the boulder he needed to reach. But he was too weak to propel himself forward anymore and the guards had taken advantage of that fact to catch up to him.

However, just as the guards were close enough to surround Justeco, several sudden blasts rained down from nowhere and blasted them away.

Justeco gasped in relief as the speeder suddenly moved up alongside him and the door opened for him to get in.

The Observant floated in and quickly collapsed on the floor.

"How did you all….?" he began to pant out.

"We told you, dude, fifteen minutes. It's been _sixteen_," Tucker replied with a smirk.

Justeco pulled out the watch from his cloak and saw it was indeed past the fifteen minute mark. His eye curved into a small smile as he then said, "Oh, now I understand about what that small irritating beep was. I thought that guard's reaction sounded odd! So, I had completely forgotten to check the watch; but thank goodness you are all better at calculating time, especially when the concept is still so new and foreign to me…"

"We get a lot of practice with Danny," Jazz replied with a grin; but then she looked at Sam and Tucker and said more seriously, "I think it's time we high-tail it out of here, you two."

"Way ahead of you," Tucker said, already having activated the thrusters.

"But, first, let's give these creeps a good-bye present," Sam said with a dark smirk as she activated the Specter Speeder's shield before making it expand outwards, throwing all the attacking guards painfully away. "Okay, now we can go!" she said happily.

"I worry about you sometimes," Tucker dryly told the goth girl before he pressed down the accelerator and took off at top speed away from the Observants' terrain.

Jazz helped Justeco off the floor and towards his seat after the initial take-off. "You better rest for a bit, Justeco. You look even worse, if that's possible."

Justeco nodded. "Yes, but it was worth it. My brother will be safe, and I have enough power to locate our kin."

"Good. Danny should be back by now. Let's just hope he convinced Vlad," Tucker replied.

"_Hope_ is the key word there, Tucker," Sam reminded her friend.

Jazz and Tucker just remained quiet, knowing how right their friend was.

* * *

"I cannot thank you all enough for your kindness, young humans," Justeco said as he and Team Phantom returned from the Ghost Zone, and stepped out of the speeder once it had landed in the Fenton lab.

"Indeed that Danny Phantom is fortunate to have such merciful and loyal companions and sibling."

"You're welcome, dude," Tucker answered with a benign shrug. But then he further smiled as he added, "And, really, you know it works both ways. We're lucky to have Danny, too."

"Yes, my little brother is a real hero," Jazz added with a small smile.

Sam nodded and smiled in agreement, before changing the subject, "So… are you sure your brother will be okay with these… Ancient spirits?"

Though Justeco had briefly explained to them about the Observants' allies on their return trip, Team Phantom still wasn't so sure about them.

Justeco sighed with slight worry. "I can only hope, young human. The Ancients are very adamant about being left alone, but they will not turn down an ally in need. I am fairly certain he will be safe with them. Iluzisto will first be sure to gain more power and minions before daring to challenge other spirits, especially the Ancients."

"Maybe after you show us where Iluzisto is keeping the other Observants, you can join your brother," Jazz suggested, seeing how troubled the Observant was. "You will probably feel better and be safer there, too."

But Justeco shook his head. "I cannot just remain hidden in the relative safety and comfort of the Ancients' abode while my kind is quickly being consumed by time within a cave that has sped up the process of their demise. I have for too long watched and done nothing, only ordering others to do my 'dirty work' as Clockwork would say. But that ends now. I am responsible for the Observants. And I will do whatever I must to save my kin. Either that, or I will perish here with them," he said with conviction.

The teenage trio just looked at each other. They could see that the Observant judge was getting weaker and weaker as the clock continued to tick away. And they had also noticed how it had helped Justeco a bit to have returned to his realm for the time it had taken them to get Konsilisto there. But now that they had returned and after all his previous exertions, the judge was slowly beginning to weaken once again…

"Well, then, I guess that means we don't have any time to spare," Tucker said, smiling encouragingly in hopes of lightening the foreboding air around them. But not really managing it, he added more seriously, "Just how are we going to find Iluzisto, anyways? He could be anywhere!"

"It is true," Justeco agreed. "But considering he still has unfinished plans for Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius, he will have to find his way to them, eventually. So, even though that poses a threat to both half-ghosts, it might also give them an upper hand. After all, Iluzisto had not planned my and my sibling's escaping and our warning Danny Phantom of his intentions, which I intend to do as soon as I see him again."

The Observant paused in thought before adding, "Of course, it is a drawback that I was discovered by Iluzisto's guards… But it was only a matter of time that Iluzisto would have learned of it all the same. All the more reason to move quickly."

"The only problem is that we don't know if Iluzisto will show up in Amity Park _in time_ to save your people, Justeco," Jazz reminded him.

"Yeah, and even if he did, it's gonna be a bit hard for him to get to Danny and Vlad with the ghost shield up around Amity Park," Tucker reminded them. "And we can't exactly bring it down, or we would risk Iluzisto coming into the town with his goons and causing who knows what sort of trouble. We can't risk everyone like that!"

Justeco had never heard of a 'ghost shield', but he could guess what it did by what the boy had said. Still, he added, "Do not be so certain that that shield can stop Iluzisto, young human. He is more powerful than any of us know; especially now that he wills Clockwork's staff."

"I still can't believe he managed to take it from Clockwork to begin with!" Sam exclaimed, still shocked about that.

"Indeed…," Justeco mumbled thoughtfully to himself.

"Maybe we should have tried to find Clockwork while we were at the Realm Beyond Time," Jazz suddenly said. "I mean, he knows his staff better than anyone. Perhaps he could help us defeat Iluzisto."

"Maybe, Jazz," Tucker replied. "But how are we going to find him? We don't have his ecto-signature on any of the ghost devices. Then again, I don't even think they work on 'ghosts that exist outside of time'.

"The proper name for us is 'spirits', young human," Justeco reminded them. But remembering the urgency of the situation, he finally shook his head and said, "Never mind. However, I regret to say that I fear Clockwork has been captured or… worse. When we last saw him, his abode was being overpowered by Iluzisto's guards and he had no way out and no real power to defend himself…. Even so, even if by some miracle he escaped, your male friend is right. There are no means of finding Clockwork when he doesn't want to be found. Believe me, I would know. And even if we did find him, he was very clear with me and Konsilisto when he told us that he would not 'clean up our mess', this time. The Observants' hope, therefore, now rests on the two half-ghosts."

"Speaking of, uh, Danny and Vlad," Sam muttered. "Where are they? Or, more importantly, where is _Danny_? He said he would meet us back here in an hour with or without Vlad. And it's been more than an hour," Sam added, glancing down at her watch.

"Maybe he's upstairs and doesn't realize we are here," Tucker suggested, before moving past everyone and heading out of the lab.

Everyone else followed; but after a few minutes of looking around the house and not finding Danny, they finally knew their friend and brother was not home.

"I don't like this," Jazz said, worried. "Why hasn't Danny returned?"

"Considering that there's an evil Observant after him and that he went over to his arch-enemy's home, I'd say we better go find him" Sam said seriously.

"My thought exactly," Tucker said with a frown. "Cause he's not answering his Fenton phone!"

"I think you better come with us," Jazz then said to Justeco. "We still need you to show us where the Observants are once we find my brother."

"Very well," the Observant agreed before he followed the three teenagers back to the lab. And a few minutes later, they were flying back out of the lab; but this time, towards Vlad's mansion.

They got to their destination in no time. Armed and ready, Team Phantom cautiously approached the mansion's main entrance with the Head Observant floating behind them.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Justeco had been about to float up the stairs leading up to the doorway when he suddenly slammed into an invisible shield and he fell back in surprise. "What in the name of Time is this?" he asked, stunned.

Tucker had to hold back a snicker as he said, "I guess Vlad has a ghost shield up."

Sam and Jazz frowned in irritation when they could see that their friend was right. The previously invisible shield suddenly glimmered into view with its usual bright green glow.

Right then, however, there was a sudden hum, which steadily grew louder…

Everyone gasped in fear as in the next second another ghost shield abruptly appeared about a foot behind Justeco, effectively trapping him in between both just before the shields created even more seals on either side of the spirit until he was literally boxed in.

"**Intruder alert!"** an electronic voice announced, followed by a loud blaring. And before anyone could do anything, several weapons sprang from the ground, surrounding the Observant. And they instantly fired electric rays at the supposed intruder.

"Oh my gosh!" Jazz exclaimed when Justeco suddenly cried out in pain as he was assaulted with the ghost weapons. And because of the shields, he could not escape their wrath.

"Tucker, do something!" Sam exclaimed to her techno-loving friend.

But Tucker could do nothing, since he knew the controls from the ghost security system had to be inside the mansion.

And seeing her friend's helpless stare, Sam quickly spun around and raced up the mansion's main steps before she began to pound her hand on the front door. "Vlad! I know you're in there! You gotta turn off the security system! He isn't the enemy!"

An eyeball-like cam suddenly sprang out, and it quickly snaked around, inspecting everyone at the entrance much like it had done with Danny. Except that, it wasn't Skulker operating it this time.

Sam was considering blasting the door down when it suddenly swung open, revealing a very stoic Vlad Masters.

"I've been expecting you three…," Vlad muttered, impassively glancing at the three surprised teens. But his eyes narrowed as they locked on the writhing Observant as he said, "You, on the other hand… I was almost certain you would be hiding in the Ghost Zone like the one-eyed cowardly cretin that you are."

"Vlad, turn off your ghost system! Can't you see he's weak?" Jazz said urgently.

But Vlad ignored her and walked past them, easily bypassing the ghost shield in his human form. He slowly kneeled beside Justeco, who was looking worse by the second, especially when a few sores were opening up on the top of his eye. For a moment, the older hybrid just took pleasure in seeing the spirit suffer—_suffer excruciatingly,_ like they had made him suffer.

"How the tables have turned, haven't they, _Honorable Tribune_?" Vlad mockingly sneered. "You know, this is the least you deserve. And if it wasn't for the… circumstances, I would gladly just watch you slowly perish right now…"

"I-I can understand your resentment, Vlad Plasmius," Justeco said, in between his moans of pain.

"Oh, can you, really?" the man hissed, his eyes flashing red.

"Vlad!" Jazz suddenly snapped; and this time Vlad finally regarded the girl when he heard the sounds of guns charging up.

"Leave him alone!" Sam growled, her gun aimed at the older hybrid.

Vlad glared at the three teenagers, but then he looked back at Justeco and said to him with distaste, "As I said, the circumstances do not allow me to destroy you… That is, if you extend your bargain with Daniel to me as well…," he added with a smirk as he pulled out a remote from his pocket and pretended to study it.

Justeco was confused by what 'bargain' the man was talking about. After all, the spirit did not know that Danny had tricked the man into believing that the Timeless magic curse had yet to be lifted …

But too close to blacking out, Justeco didn't think much of it and just assumed the man meant he wanted the Observants to leave him alone.

"Yes, Vlad Plasmius. You have my w-word! And…and my bond," Justeco added, struggling to pull out his orb and squeeze it to prove to the older hybrid that his word was written in stone—or in his case, in his orb. It was binding.

"Very well, then," the man said causally before suddenly standing to his height and deactivating the ghost system.

Internally, he was grinning. So, Daniel had been speaking the truth after all. And he had managed to 'persuade' Justeco to grant him that pardon and that orb probably had to have sealed their agreement. But although Vlad could feel the slight tingle of the brand _still_ on his forehead, the man was not expecting it or the curse to be gone just yet. Vlad supposed that like any 'normal contract', he was obligated to fulfill his end of this deal _first_, before the brand was removed and he was freed of the Observants' little death curse. All the same, Justeco had just agreed to extend his pardon to him, which is just what the man had wanted!

Justeco slumped back as the pain finally stopped riveting every part of his body. And while Vlad calmly turned away and headed back inside, Danny's friends and sister ran over to the Observant to see if he was alright. He was definitely worse for the wear, but at least he was still responsive.

With the help of the kids, Justeco managed to pull himself up and they slowly walked inside the house. The kids slightly jolted when a butler closed the door after them.

Moving away from Sam and Tucker, Jazz glared at the billionaire and demanded, "Okay, Vlad. You better start talking. Where's Danny?"

"Calm yourself, Jasmine. Your brother is just fine," Vlad said, crossing his arms.

"Then, where is he?" Sam added with a suspicious frown.

Vlad regarded the three children for a moment before his eyes fell back on Justeco. He studied the weak spirit for a moment before he said, "Why don't we finish this in a more comfortable place? If not for the sake of my being a good host, then perhaps for the sake of our Observant _friend_, who clearly can barely hold himself up."

"Yeah, I think that's thanks to you, dude," Tucker pointed out with a frown.

But Vlad remained indifferent to the accusation and instead continued to walk further into his house, obviously expecting everyone to follow. And much to their annoyance, the teens and Justeco had no other choice but to do so.

Vlad finally stopped at an open door which led to a large living room. He gestured everyone in as he said, "Get comfortable. I will be back in a moment."

However, as he made his way to his kitchen, his eyes flashed red again and his shoulders tensed. He was so furious by just the sight of Justeco that Vlad was sure he hated the spirit more than Jack right now. Just the thought of the things Iluzisto did to him and Daniel under the Observant's orders made him almost lose control of his logic. If it wasn't for the fact that his only way out of this mess was to play 'hero' in the eyes of these horrible creatures, he would happily sit back and watch them get destroyed by their own stupidity. Vlad knew that what he had to endure in that prison was going to stay with him for the rest of his life…

Arriving at his kitchen, Vlad reeled in his emotions as he saw his cook finishing up the tea he had asked him to make. "George. You can leave that. I will take care of the rest."

"Sir?" the ghost asked, surprised by the suddenness of his orders and sobriety in his voice.

"I want you to gather the rest of the staff and head back to my castle in Wisconsin. Remain there until I say otherwise, understand?"

The ghost cook blinked. But having heard such orders from his employer before and knowing they usually meant something serious and dangerous was about to occur, George nodded and said, "As you wish, sir."

Vlad watched the ghost leave before turning his attention to the tea. He quickly reached above him into a cabinet for two odd glowing jars.

He quickly measured out an amount from one of the jars; and then after placing cookies on a plate and then on a small tray, he sprinkled some of the green power on them. It took a moment, but the powder soon vanished, leaving only a light green hue that was noticeable only in the darkness...

He then also added a dose to the tea pot, too….

"They will be doing what I want… one way or another," Vlad said darkly.

The man finally grabbed the _second_ small jar and placed it on the tray beside the tea pot. He then quickly grabbed the needed tea cups, sugar and utensils; and lastly, placed the dish of cookies on the tray. It was only then that he walked out.

But as he headed towards where he had left everyone, a hologram of Maddie suddenly appeared beside him.

"Oh, apple crumbs," she said lovingly. "Your ghost staff wishes to access your locked portal. Do I have your permission to let them through?"

Vlad nodded. "Yes. Just make sure you lock it back up. Also, turn on the human shield and then reinstate the ghost security system to its full operation. Just… disregard the 'intruder signature' from earlier."

"As you wish, my cherry tart!" Maddie answered before vanishing.

Vlad finally made it to the living room; and as he placed down the tray on the table in front of the kids, Jazz quickly spoke up.

"Where is my brother, Vlad?"

The older hybrid rolled his eyes in annoyance. But then he pushed the tray of cookies closer to the teens. He then calmly grabbed the tea pot and started pouring it into the tea cups as he replied, "Your brother, Jasmine, is resting upstairs in one of my guest rooms. If you failed to notice, he was very much sleep-deprived and weak."

"Not that I don't agree, but just how did you manage to get him to rest, especially in _your_ house?" Jazz asked skeptically, knowing that even she and Danny's friends had not been able to get him to relax for very long ever since they had returned from the Realm Beyond Time. They now knew that Danny was very skittish and anxious from his experience there…

"I have my ways," Vlad replied with a smirk.

"You mean you drugged him," Sam growled, now glaring at the man.

Vlad chuckled. "No, I had no need to do such a thing… Tea?" he then asked the girl, offering her one of the steaming tea cups.

But Sam just stared sourly at him.

Vlad raised an eyebrow, but then extended the tea cup to Jasmine, instead.

The older girl frowned, but accepted the tea cup with a quiet 'thanks'. Vlad said nothing and instead picked up another tea cup and offered it to Tucker.

"Uh, no, thanks. I don't do tea. But… I'll have some of those cookies," he said with a meek smile, pointing at the tray on the table.

Vlad waved in the tray's direction as he offhandedly replied, "Help yourself."

"Sweet!" Tucker said and quickly grabbed the entire tray off the table.

Vlad froze, clearly not expecting the boy to take the whole tray for himself. But the man ultimately said nothing and turned his attention back to the odd glowing jar he had brought with him.

"What is that?" Jazz said as she pulled the tea cup down from her lips, finally noticing the weird substance Vlad was measuring out and adding to one of the tea cups.

Everyone, save for Justeco, tensed when they saw the tea unexpectedly glow green.

"I see you are well-learned in ghost plants, Vlad Plasmius," Justeco suddenly said, getting everyone's attention.

"You would be surprised what you can learn about someone when you don't jump to ruthless conclusions," Vlad answered bitterly.

Justeco almost cringed at the jab. But then he startled when Vlad extended the glowing tea to him.

"I… I do not understand," the Observant gasped out, not understanding the man's generosity.

"Don't read anything into it," Vlad replied coolly. "I just can't have you dissolving in front of me before you can keep the end of our agreement."

Justeco frowned in confusion again, but then accepted the tea and muttered, "I see…"

"VLAD!"

Everyone startled by the angry shout that came from the hallway, sounding very much like Danny.

"Danny!" the teen's sister and friends exclaimed in relief.

But Vlad just rolled his eyes and headed out of the living room. Once in the hallway, he replied to the boy's shout in his own smug voice, "I'm in here, little badger…"

The instant Danny spotted the man, he glared at him and once he was standing at the living room entrance with him, the boy furiously and accusingly shook his finger at him and yelled, "You drugged me!"

The boy was so angry he did not notice the others present.

Vlad raised a condescending eyebrow. "I see you came to the same conclusion. Well, for your information, no, I did not drug you, Daniel. I simply helped you feel better and your body did the rest. Or, am I wrong?"

Danny frowned, knowing he did feel better—perhaps not _fully_ recovered, but a lot better than he had all day. At least his chest was not throbbing like before. And… he had been really tired. But—

"That's not the point!" the teen quickly snapped back stubbornly. "How are we going to work together when you keep doing things behind my back, fruit loop?"

"No need for insults, Daniel," Vlad muttered, his eyes slightly narrowing. "And if I didn't tell you the effects of the healing serum, it was because I know you would have never willingly taken it!"

"Dude, you need to stop acting like you know every little thing about me!" Danny blew up.

"I'm fairly certain I know more about you than you do of yourself," Vlad said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Danny's eyes flashed green. "I'm not your freakin' puppet or your _lonely guy cat,_ Plasmius! So, quit deciding things for me! I might have gone along with your ideas while we were in Iluzisto's prison, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be like that anymore! If we are going to work together, then you need to listen to my ideas, too! And I said we had to go back to my house! But, instead, you decide to drug me while we have a bigger psycho than you on the loose!"

Vlad finally snapped. "Now you listen to me, you ungrateful little urchin! I am not listening to your foolish and childish plans, because we both know you have no real plan! Therefore, we are doing this **my** way!"

"I don't think so!" Danny shouted back.

Meanwhile, as the two hybrids continued to argue, Justeco just watched them with great worry, while Jazz, Sam, and Tucker stared at them in surprise.

"So…Does this mean Danny convinced Vlad to help him defeat Iluzisto?" Tucker asked the others, scratching the side of his head while munching on a cookie.

"By what they are talking about? Yes. By the _sound_ of it? No," Sam replied dryly before finally grabbing the tea pot and serving herself some tea. She already knew this argument was going to last a while, so she might as well quell her empty stomach now that Vlad was occupied.

But as the goth girl took a drink of her tea, Jazz, on the other hand, put down her tea cup and sighed in frustration. At any other time, she wouldn't really interfere with Vlad and Danny's rivalry, now being all too use to hearing them argue and insult each other. But there was a bigger picture here than their dislike for each other.

"Danny," she called to her brother, her voice quickly getting his attention.

"Jazz?" he asked, blinking in surprise; and when he looked in the living room and finally saw his friends and Justeco there, too, he pushed past Vlad and added with more surprise and relief, "What are you guys doing here?"

Having been left with half of his words in his mouth, Vlad glared after the boy; but said nothing and walked further into the room.

"Well, you didn't show up, like you said. So, we got worried and came to get you," Jazz explained.

"Yeah, some fruit loop decided to drug me," Danny grumbled with a scowl at Vlad.

But the man became furious once again. "For the last time, you little rat! I **did not** drug you!"

"Well, you could've fooled me, Plasmius!" Danny growled back at the man.

"Honestly, boy, it is times like these that I am sure you are Jack's son!" Vlad sneered.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Danny retorted, clenching his fists.

"Danny," Jazz quickly interrupted them with a sigh.

But knowing where she was going, Danny quickly cut her off, saying, "Not now, Jazz! I'm sick of Vlad thinking he can do whatever he wants!"

"No, you are just sour because I really _can_ do whatever I want," Vlad retorted with smugness.

"_Not with me,"_ Danny hissed, his eyes flashing green again.

"Quite the contrary. _Especially_ with you," Vlad said with narrowed eyes.

"Now wait a minute," Jazz quickly said, knowing Vlad was now going too far.

But before she could finish, Vlad's eyes flared red as he threateningly said to her, "I'd listen to your brother, Jasmine. Stay out of this."

"Hey, you jerk! Don't you threaten my sister!" Danny exclaimed.

"Oh, and who's going to stop me? You?" the man retorted mockingly.

"Yeah, I am. And right now!" Danny assured him as he suddenly turned into Phantom and charged his hands with energy.

But before the teen could do anything, the sound of a plate falling to the ground caught everyone's attention.

"Tucker?" Danny asked when he noticed the large lazy smile on his friend's face.

"Wow, Danny. Did I ever tell you how glowy you are?" Tucker replied, propping his hand up on the sofa's armrest and resting his face on his hand.

"What…?" Danny asked, confused. But as he watched his friend, something suddenly dawned on him and the ghost teen quickly rounded back on Vlad, demanding, "What did you do to him, Plasmius?"

Vlad shrugged as he answered lightly, "Unlike you, Daniel, I did drug your friend. And, really, it was my intention to drug both of them and your sister with those cookies… But as you can see, your friend has an atrocious appetite. Good thing I added my improved derivative of the sleep spores into the tea, too."

Jazz and Sam gasped as they dropped the tea cups in their hands, while Danny's eyes widened in a mixture of rage and alarm.

Tucker just giggled at nothing in particular. It didn't surprise the others, though, how quickly the powdered sleeping spores took effect since they had already had an 'encounter' with the inhaled-form of them during their fight with Undergrowth. Therefore, Sam and Jazz knew they would soon be feeling it, too.

In return, Danny's arch-enemy merely crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he firmly said, "You wanted me to be forward with you, right, Daniel? Well, here it is: No one is leaving until I say so. And, before you say anything to contradict me, know that I have the human and ghost shield up. So, no, you don't have a choice."

"**That's it!** You're getting your butt kicked, Plasmius!" Danny exclaimed.

But before Vlad could retort, they heard Justeco suddenly groan loudly.

Everyone looked at the Observant, and Danny asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"

"We are doomed!" Justeco cried out in angst. "You two can never defeat Iluzisto as you are!"

"As we are?" Danny repeated slowly.

"As enemies!" Justeco answered, before closing his eye and holding it in his hands.

Danny glanced at Vlad, who had fallen silent.

Jazz sighed, ignoring the wave of weariness passing through her body. She walked over to the Observant and quickly assured him, "Look, it's going to be alright. We will figure something out."

Sam just lowered her own gaze, knowing the odds were really against them, while Tucker was too out of it to care.

And Danny suddenly felt really bad. He could tell even her sister didn't believe he and Vlad were capable of working together. But what was ironic was that the teen knew they _really_ _could_. But it was _so_ hard. The guy made it nearly impossible to trust him even a little bit, let alone trust him in battle and with his life.

"I do not understand why you all love to lie to yourselves," Vlad suddenly said in distaste. "There is no other way, Jasmine. And Justeco is right in that we are all doomed if Daniel and I do not come to an agreement."

"Maybe we could if you would stop doing things behind my back!" Danny said firmly.

"Fine. But you need to stop accusing me of things I have not done," Vlad retorted, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Danny crossed his arms; but then with a sigh, he turned human again and said, "Fine."

"Hey, now that that's settled, can I get some more of those cookies?" Tucker asked with a relaxed smile on his face.

"You realize that the cookies were drugged, right?" Sam asked with a heavy frown.

"I know," Tucker said as his eyes dropped down and he giggled again. "But, man, were they good! Hey, Danny should definitely make friends with Vlad, then we could come here every day for tea and cookies!"

"And you eat me out of food and home? I do not think so," Vlad suddenly said dryly, though he knew the boy probably didn't get half of what he had just said.

Danny frowned; but then quickly looked back at Vlad and demanded, "Are you going to explain to me why you drugged Tucker—and Sam, Jazz, and Justeco, too?" the teen added when he finally noticed how tired they all suddenly looked.

The man rolled his eyes and said more seriously, "It is merely a relaxant, Daniel. I told you. You and I are not ready to face Iluzisto. We need a plan. And we need to regain our full strength."

"And what does that have to do with you_ drugging my friends and sister?"_ Danny pressed.

Vlad's left eye twitched at the boy's repetition, but then with restrained annoyance he answered, "First of all, I did not want them jumping into the fray, as you would. And second of all, I prefer that you all stay here for the night. And since I know you were not going to agree, then I have now given you no choice."

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "I cannot stay here! My parents are going to flip out! I need to go home today! It's been _way_ too long!"

But Tucker chuckled weirdly as he settled further back on the couch and said, "I say we stay. If his chairs are _this_ comfortable, imagine the beds!"

"Just a relaxant, huh?" Danny said with an annoyed glare at Vlad.

"How was I to know your friend would eat the entire plate of cookies?" the billionaire snapped, crossing his arms. "And as for you, Ms. Manson. I am well aware of who your parents and Mr. Foley's parents are, _and_ of your little cover stories. I also know of the little white lie _you all_ fed to your school. The flu? Honestly, kids these days have no originality."

Sam and Jazz's mouth fell open in disbelief, but it was Danny who frowned as he suspiciously asked, "And how do you know all that? _I _didn't even know about any of that!"

Vlad scoffed. "And you wonder why I so easily defeat you in battle, Daniel. Have you not learned yet to not underestimate me? In this case, however, it was a matter of making a few phone calls. You see, I took the liberty of… embellishing and solidifying your little pathetic excuses. As mayor of this town and close friend of the Fentons, it was all too easy to call Casper High School and arrange a research project and report as your make-up work for all of your extended absences. Then, I simply phoned Ms. Manson's and Mr. Foley's parents and explained to them all about this important project—minus the flu fib, of course. They had absolutely no problem with your overnight research project on 'the history of Amity Park's mayoral responsibilities.' And as for Daniel and Jasmine… well, I needn't say any more, do I?" Vlad said with a smirk. "In any case, you children should speak with your parents. They were upset about your lack of calls. But at least you are all in clear. Um-hmm. Now is the time to thank me. Yes."

Sam and Jazz scowled at the man's arrogance, but they could not argue that the man had just helped them a great deal by backing up and 'improving' their cover story. Still, they were not about to thank him.

On the other hand, Danny clenched his teeth in anger. He was so past wanting to talk to Vlad. Really, all he wanted was to just blast him into a wall. What made the guy think he could decide what all of them did? And just as importantly, who told him he was running this show?

But knowing the Observants, and, actually, all Existence was depending on him and Vlad's cooperation with each other, the teen took a deep breath before looking seriously back at Vlad and saying, "Okay. You want our thanks? Fine. Thanks. But if you want us to stay here, too, then, do you think you can _at least _tell us why?"

"I thought I just did, Daniel," Vlad replied off-handedly.

Danny resisted the urge to growl, especially when he saw his sister move back to sit on the couch. Although she wasn't acting weird like Tucker, he could tell whatever Vlad had placed in their tea was making her and even Sam sleepy. And although Justeco looked better with the healing substance in the tea, he also looked very tired.

Tucker… Tucker was just about to pass out.

"I guess I missed it. So, mind repeating it?" the teen asked with a frown.

"Since you asked so nicely…," Vlad said with a smirk before moving over to a sofa and sitting down.

This time Danny did growl at the man's expectant look, but he went to sit beside his sister.

Vlad purposely waited a few moments before he crossed his legs and finally said in utter seriousness, "Daniel made me aware of the strong possibility that Iluzisto might come after both of us again…"

"Actually," Justeco meekly interrupted the man, "It is not just a possibility. It is certain, Vlad Plasmius. You see… I am sorry that I failed to tell you, Danny Phantom, that when we got captured by him, he revealed that part of his plans…"

Danny unexpectedly smirked at Vlad and quipped, "You would know all about a villain's warped need to divulge his plans, right, Vlad? Being evil and all?"

Vlad narrowed his eyes at Danny with the jab, but said nothing and focused back on Justeco.

The spirit glanced worriedly between the hybrids before continuing, "As I am sure you all can guess, his revenge against me and my kin is just the beginning. He wants to enslave all Existence, and he has gotten the horrible idea that he can do that if he gains the ability of regenerating his own energy. And he can do that only one way…He wants to merge both your cores with his own…"

Danny's eyes widened. "What? How would he do that?"

"Isn't it obvious, Daniel?" Vlad asked seriously. "He would have to take our cores _out_ of us _while we were still alive_."

Danny shuddered this time. "That… That is just… sick."

"Yes," Justeco agreed. "He told us he wanted your and the other hybrid's power. And to have it, he is going to… well… As I said, he wants your physical cores and he is going to merge them with his own. Unfortunately, I am afraid Iluzisto is right. If he manages such a wicked act, he would become the most powerful and evil being in Existence. He will be unstoppable."

Everyone fell into a quiet dread. Even Vlad seemed to hesitate with his next words. "…Well, that is precisely why we need to plan things out carefully."

"I understand that, Vlad," Danny interrupted. "But what you don't know is that every minute that passes by, the Observants are that much closer to extinction—especially when Iluzisto trapped them in some cave and sped up time for them at twice the normal rate!"

Vlad paused in thought. But he then looked over at Justeco and asked, "Do you know how to find this cave?"

"Yes. I have the means to do so," the judge answered, but didn't elaborate. Instead, he added, "Unfortunately, when my brother and I escaped, we discovered that much like how he had done with his prison, Iluzisto also created a maze out of this cave. I fear it will be extremely difficult to rescue the other Observants."

"Maybe, but it's not impossible," Danny quickly said to the Observant leader. "If we escaped Iluzisto's prison and you and your brother escaped that cave, then we can outsmart any kind-of-maze Iluzisto can dish out on us. You said the cave is somewhere in the Rockies, right?"

"Correct," Justeco replied, his eye curved with a bit of hope with the boy's clear determination.

"The Rockies, eh?" Vlad muttered thoughtfully before focusing on Justeco himself. "And… how long do you… approximate your kin have before they are destroyed by time?"

"It is hard to say for certain," Justeco replied with a sigh. "However, taking into account my own weakening, I infer that they have no more than seventy-two hours since they were trapped in that cave. And considering we were captured yesterday sometime past noon in your human time, then…

"Then, we have until tomorrow night. Or, early the following day at the most," Vlad concluded.

"See why we can't just stay here?" Danny insisted.

But Vlad shook his head. "We have no other choice, Daniel. We cannot possible attempt a rescue mission as weak as we are. I admit, the healing serum in these past few hours has been improving my ghost core's health in leaps and bounds, as I believe the same can be said for yours, Daniel. But the truth is, we are not fully recovered and we cannot risk exerting our cores just yet, especially when we do not know what to fully expect from Iluzisto. For example, how do we know Iluzisto didn't purposely allow Justeco and..,"

"Konsilisto," the judge supplied. "That is my brother and counselor's name," he further explained when Vlad glanced at him.

Vlad resisted the urge to roll his eyes and continued, "Yes, well, how do we know Iluzisto did not purposely allow… Justeco and his sibling to escape as a way to trap us, Daniel?"

"I don't think—," Danny began, only to be cut off by Justeco.

"No, he is right, Danny Phantom. My brother and I do not know how my brother obtained the key to our jail cell. It was just inexplicably in my brother's robe. I… suspect it might have been Clockwork. But my brother does not believe so since the Time Master is quite angry with us."

"I don't blame him," Vlad muttered with a frown.

Justeco sighed at hearing his words. "As I said to you previously, you have every right to be upset with me and my kind. And you have my deepest apology on behalf of me and my fellow Observants. But I can assure you, we were tricked by Iluzisto to come after you both. He has used our own laws against us."

"Save your explanations, Justeco. And your apology means nothing to me. I told you. Keep your word. I help you and your kind. And in turn, you leave me be. You drop your charges against me and that whole 'Timeless Spell' curse."

Justeco blinked in confusion. What was the older crossbreed speaking about? Did he not know that all charges had been dropped, since the trial had obviously been compromised? And the spell? He had long removed it, too!

"I think you are mistaken, Vlad Plasmius. You have—"

"Uh," Danny quickly interrupted, not wanting his lie to Vlad to be discovered. "We already talked and agreed about all that. So, can we get back to the point? What are we going to do about the Observants?"

Vlad frowned at the boy, not understanding his sudden nervousness. But he quickly dismissed it and replied, "For today. Nothing. I realize we will be cutting it short. But anything we try as we are now will most certainly result in failure… and death. Right now, we must focus on fixing our cores. Then, tomorrow we will see if there is a way to free the Observants. Meanwhile, it is imperative that everyone remains within my house. Iluzisto could be out there; and even if Daniel and I are his targets, we both know that he is not below using any of you to draw us out," Vlad said seriously, glancing at Danny, who had suddenly tensed with the possibility.

"Therefore," Vlad continued, "Everyone stays here. Considering the ghost shield is up around Amity, there are only three ways that Iluzisto can enter Amity Park. One, a temporary portal. But finding one at the precise place and time he needs it is as likely as finding a needle in a haystack. Two, my portal. However, I have sealed it shut with an anti-ghost system. And, lastly, your portal, Daniel. And that is the most likely scenario. It is only a matter of time before he finds it, if he hasn't already. It is why I sent Skulker to set up a few… surprises for Iluzisto, should he come that way," Vlad said with a smirk.

But before anyone could ask the man to explain what he meant, Vlad continued. "So, then, now that you know my reasons for having you all here, I want to turn our focus on Iluzisto himself. Justeco, exactly how do you expect Daniel and I to defeat Iluzisto, especially now that he has the Time Master's staff and Okulo's orb?" Vlad asked soberly.

The Observant sighed before admitting, "I truthfully do not know. But… Clockwork was certain that together you two are practically invincible. So, surely there must be a way."

"That doesn't exactly help," Vlad growled, clearly angered by the fact that the Observant had no plan for them.

"Look, we'll figure something out," Danny intervened. "Iluzisto has weaknesses, right? So, then, we just gotta put our heads together and use them against him."

"Well, then, I hope you figure it out soon, Daniel," Vlad said seriously. "Because I have a hard time believing a spirit with the capabilities of creating illusions and willing time itself has even a single weakness! Let alone, one large enough for us to be able to us to our advantage."

Jazz sighed tiredly. "Why don't we just sleep on it, alright? Maybe by tomorrow one of us will have thought of something."

Danny just sighed, while Sam frowned in worry. Tucker was by now completely passed out and drooling on Vlad's couch.

Vlad finally stood up and said, "Come, Daniel. We need to go to the lab again. As for the rest of you, feel free to pick out a guest room and the kitchen is open. You will have to tend to yourselves, since my staff has left."

Danny gulped, knowing what he was going to do in the lab. But hearing his other comment, the teen raised an eyebrow and said, "Your _ghost_ staff left?"

"Yes. Unlike you, Daniel, I don't like to bring _others_ into my problems," Vlad muttered before suddenly walking out.

Danny glared after the man for his jab, knowing the man was referring to the fact that he had been the one to bring Iluzisto—and their nightmare— to Vlad's doorsteps.

But when he was finally alone with his friends, sister, and Justeco, Danny sighed and said, "Well, I guess we are staying here for the night."

"I can't believe my parents actually believed that creep," Sam grumbled, crossing her arms. But when Tucker's head suddenly fell against her shoulder and as he continued to snore and drool, the girl rolled his eyes. "At least we won't have to explain to Tucker's parents why he's acting like he died and went to meat heaven."

"Is he going to be alright?" Jazz wondered, slightly worried.

"Those effects are commonly caused by a large dosage of sleeping pores from a ghost plant," Justeco said. "They are not toxic; but rather a relaxant, and a strong one if taken in the amounts your male friend clearly has taken it. In any case, he should be fine by tomorrow, once the effects wear off after a good night's sleep."

Danny sighed again before standing up. "I think you guys should try to get some rest before you pass out on the couch, too. And I also mean you, Justeco."

"And you, Danny?" Sam asked worriedly.

"I will soon, too," Danny assured her, though he thought, _"One way or another."_

"But, first," he continued out loud. "I need to go down to the lab with Vlad…. He, uh, well, he has this stuff that can heal my ghost core. So, I gotta go do that."

"How do you know that's safe?" Jazz asked suspiciously.

Danny shrugged in defeat. "I don't."

Jazz and Sam watched in uncertainty as Danny walked out.

"It's hard to believe those two are the same half-ghosts as the ones who stood before me just a little over two days ago at the High Tribunal," Justeco suddenly commented with an exhale of his own.

"Why do you say that?" Sam asked him.

"Because just a few days ago Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius were inseparable."

Sam and Jazz looked at the Observant in disbelief.

"My brother and Vlad inseparable? I'm sorry, but I can't believe that," Jazz said, shaking her head.

"Jazz is right, Justeco," Sam added. "Danny dislikes Vlad as much as Vlad probably dislikes Danny. For all intents and purposes, they are enemies."

"Well, we can only hope what brought them together at the prison brings them together again in time to save us all," Justeco replied gravely. "Otherwise… Just as they have the potential to save existence, the timeline has also proven to us that they also have the potential to destroy it. So, I pray that this timeline is different from that one…"

* * *

Iluzisto quickly floated through the Observant abode's halls, furiously pushing everything and everyone in his path away with the burning power now surrounding him. In fact, he was so infuriated that the halls blurred with his uncontrolled illusionist powers as he moved through them.

And, of course, the spirit had plenty reason to be angry.

Mainly, that worm Justeco tricked him! The door in the Observant's abode clearly had some safety mechanism against unwanted users. So, instead of taking Iluzisto to the Fenton portal as he had wanted, the infernal door had taken him clear across the Human World to some placed known as 'China'! It had been easy enough to open a portal back into the Ghost Zone. But because the Observant's realm was protected with Timeless Magic—which meant it was impenetrable by teleportation, even with Clockwork's staff—then Iluzisto had been left with no choice but to _fly_ back through the Ghost Zone.

It had taken him a good several hours to get his bearings since he had had no idea where he was, and then several more to fly across the Ghost Zone. And then _even more_ to get into the Realm Beyond Time!

Overall, it had taken him almost a full day to get back!

"Wait until I get my hands on Justeco," Iluzisto said darkly. "I'll destroy his sniveling brother in front of him _and_ _then_ I destroy him!"

But first, he was going to destroy the means of his misfortune….

Iluzisto arrived at the High Tribune's room and didn't break stride as he continued deeper until he was face-to-face with Justeco's Timeless door.

"If I cannot use you, then I will make sure no one else will again!" Iluzisto growled darkly before he took aim with his staff and sent a bright blue-mixed-with-purple ray at the door.

The door seem to cry in pain as the blue energy surrounded it and began to rot it, as if in a second, thousands of years of usage had been added to it. And then just as quickly, the purple energy entirely engulfed and consumed it, turning it into a pile of fine wood shaving. What remained of the powerful door glowed weakly for a moment before it dimmed into lifeless ashes.

Iluzisto glared at his work for a second or two before he whirled around and headed back out. He knew in the back of his mind that he had destroyed his only sure way of finding Danny Phantom's portal. But right now, he was too angry to care. He would think of a way to reach the crossbreeds later. After he destroyed that fool Justeco and his counselor!

Iluzisto soon made it to the hall containing all the Realm Doors. He could just teleport to his desired location, but all that traveling had made him weary and he had not been 'fed' in some time. So, instead, he decided to use the door to the human world and then afterward would just teleport to the cave in the Rockies.

However, just as he reached the door and was about to command the door to open, one of his prison officers rushed to his side.

"Master Prison Head!" Trupo called nervously.

Iluzisto paused and glared at his guard. "I am busy. What do you want?"

"I bear news about Clockwork!" Trupo explained with a bow.

Iluzisto's eyes flashed red as he hissed back. "It had better be good news! Did you all capture him?"

Trupo gulped fearfully before stuttering, "Not exactly…." But seeing and feeling his superior grow angry, the guard quickly blurted out, "But we took care of him! He will not interfere in your plans, Master Prison Head!"

Iluzisto stared at his nervous guard for a tense moment before he finally nodded and said, "Good."

"There is something else," Trupo quickly added when he saw his leader turn back to the door.

Instantly rotating his pupil to the back of his eyeball, Iluzisto questioned impatiently, "And what would that be…?"

This time the guard startled a bit at the pupil's intense stare and he was more reluctant to reply; but when Iluzisto slammed the bottom of his staff against the floor, Trupo blurted out, "We have reasons to suspect that the High Tribune has escaped!"

This time, Iluzisto's eyes widened. "What? No, that's impossible!" he gasped out. "What is this madness of which you speak, Trupo?"

"We were keeping watch around the perimeters of the Observants' domain and my troops and I saw Justeco. We gave chase to capture him when, suddenly, we were attacked by these…young humans inside a strange human contraption. We attempted to counter-attack, but before we really could, Justeco went into that flying contraption and then it sped away, along with the young humans and Justeco."

Iluzisto suddenly grabbed his guard by his uniform and yanked him closer. He ignored the yelp from the official as he hissed at him, "What did these humans look like? Was one of them the younger crossbreed? **Answer me!"**

"No-No!" Trupo choked out. "It was not him, but it was those same children that helped him escape! I am sure, as I am certain that it was Justeco!"

Iluzisto glared at his guard, but then pushed him away and turned his focus back on the door. "_Observi Teron_!" **(2)** he commanded the door.

In an instant, the door flung open and Iluzisto flew through it. Once back in the Human World, he wasted no time and used his staff to teleport to the cave in which he trapped the Observants.

"_It is impossible!"_ Iluzisto thought as he entered the cave and headed deeper into it._ "I took precautions to even ensure they would not escape! So, how…?_

"Sir!" one of his guards at the cave exclaimed as he almost ran into his leader.

Iluzisto quickly grabbed him and pulled him close as he growled, "Is it true? Has Justeco escaped?"

"Yes, and so has his counselor! We do not understand how, Master Prison Head! One moment they were there, and in the next, when we went to check on them, they were gone!"

"**Worthless!"** Iluzisto snarled as he threw his guard aside and stormed past him.

Meanwhile, the other trapped Observants had been quietly mourning their misfortune. The only one not looking completely miserable was Spektanto. He sat in a corner of his prison with a flat rock he had found inside his rocky tomb. With disheartened movements, the ex-lawyer used one of his sharp claws to write on the slab of rock. Of course, he scribbled in his usual Observant language.

The others sharing his prison had already snapped at him for his 'pointless' scribbling; but Spektanto ignored them and just continued to write. In the recent past, he wrote with a purpose. But then again, it was also what he did when he felt very stressed and troubled. It helped him cope. And now wasn't the exception.

However, whatever it was that he was writing was interrupted by a sudden wave of cries and gasps from his fellow Observants. And when Spektanto looked up, he also gasped when he saw Iluzisto quickly pass by his cell, heading deeper into the cave.

And by the looks of the red aura around the evil spirit, Spektanto knew Iluzisto was furious about something.

Iluzisto soon arrived at the cell he had made especially for Justeco and his brother. But when he saw it was indeed empty, he snarled and blasted the closed door out of his way. He searched and searched for a clue on how the two Observants had escaped but he found nothing.

And that only made Iluzisto even angrier.

He flew out of the empty cell and returned back to where the rest of the Observants were. He didn't even give them any warning when he began to fire purple blasts into each of the cells.

All the trapped spirits scattered in an attempt to avoid Iluzisto's wrath. But they were all too weak and they didn't have much room to move to begin with.

As the Observants cries of pain and fear echoed throughout the cave, Iluzisto screamed at them repeatedly, **"Where are they?"**

"Please!" one of the Observants from the council pleaded as he lay on the ground in pain. "We do not know of what you speak!"

Iluzisto stopped his assault and he looked darkly at the Observants with his red pulsing eye. "Do not think me a fool! I know you all know Justeco and Konsilisto escaped! I demand you tell me how they escaped and where they went or I will destroy you all!"

But the Observants all quickly gasped in surprise.

"O-Our leader and his counselor escaped?" another of the council members whispered.

Suddenly, a buzzing of whispers echoed through the jails; but they were not of fear or pain this time, but of hope. Their leader had escaped, which meant they had a chance to be saved! After all, Justeco was a kind and faithful leader and none of them had an ounce of doubt that he would return and save them!

"Silence!" Iluzisto hissed as his eye pivoted around to the different cells and saw the sudden hope in each of the Observants' lone eyes. But when they would not listen, Iluzisto quickly raised his staff and screamed, **"Silence!"**

A wave of power rippled through the cave, pushing all the Observants back and shaking the cave itself.

"You are all pathetic fools! Justeco might have escaped, but he will not save you! You are all doomed!" Iluzisto snarled at them, his eye narrowed in hatred.

In spite the pain and weakness they all felt, the Observants just stared quietly back at their tormentor, their faith in their leader not relinquished.

And seeing this, Iluzisto growled and turned away from the Observants. He stared up at the spinning clock counting down the trapped spirits' doom.

"Fine," Iluzisto said with a small chuckle and then said to the Observants without looking at them. "Remain hopeful. Let us see how the 'mighty' Justeco manages to save you all when he and his sniveling brother are still cursed to meet your same fate." His eye spun to the back of his head to glare at the helpless spirits and darkly assured them, "I give you all no more than a day's worth of time before you all become piles of ecto-dust."

Without caring to see their reaction, Iluzisto rolled his pupil forward and floated off, searching for his guards. Once he found them, he narrowed his eye again and demanded, "Who was in charge of guarding Justeco and Konsilisto when they escaped?"

The guards all looked at each other, but knowing they had no other choice, they all quickly parted away from the guard in question.

The poor guard stared fearfully around at his buddies before looking over at his leader. "M-Master Prison Head, I-I am sorry! I do not know how they escaped! I swear I was doing my job!"

Iluzisto approached the guard and studied him for a moment as the guard cowered before him. Finally, the spirit nodded and said, "I believe you and forgive you, Gardisto."

The guard blinked. "You… do?"

Iluzisto nodded. "Yes." However, just as he said that, the spirit abruptly raised his staff and plunged the sharp end into his guard's core.

The poor ghost screamed in pain, but quickly silenced when Iluzisto sucked him dry of his ghost energy.

The guard went limp as the aura around his ghostly body dissolved; and a second later, the ghost vanished into nothing.

The rest of the guards stared in horror at the spot where their friend had been before they turned and stared back at their leader. They could not believe it. Sure their leader had gotten angry with them and would punish them if pushed enough… But he had never destroyed one of them!

"I am sorry you all had to witness that," Iluzisto suddenly spoke up, his voice cool yet tinged with ice. "I hope Gardisto will be the last example I have to make." He narrowed his eye darkly as he added, "However, if any other Observant escapes, it will be each and every one of your after-lives."

The guards quickly nodded and bowed submissively.

Iluzisto said nothing else and instead made a portal before leaving through it...

Now back at the Realm Beyond Time, specifically, within his prison, Iluzisto searched again for Trupo. It was time to take even more precautions. With Justeco and Konsilisto loose, he could not take any chances.

"Trupo," Iluzisto called once he found him. "Gather your guards. I want you to head to the cave in the Rockies. Take the door to Earth and meet the other guards there. I want full surveillance there. No one gets in or out. Understood?"

"Yes, Master Prison Head," his officer quickly replied. But before flying off to carry out his leader's orders, Iluzisto pulled him back with his staff.

"Yes, sir?" Trupo asked a bit precariously.

"Call me 'Master-of-All' from now on," Iluzisto the Invidious darkly ordered.

"Of course, Master-of-All," Trupo said with a bow before returning to his mission.

As Iluzisto made his way out of the prison comma he continued to bark out orders to his officers, wanting to make sure the Observants' domain and Clockwork's tower were also well-guarded.

He needed to make sure if Justeco showed up again that he would be spotted and captured.

But that led him to another question…

Obviously, if Justeco had been spotted in the Realm Beyond Time with the young crossbreed's loved ones, then Justeco must have managed to find a way to get the boy to help him.

The question was why Justeco would risk coming back to the Realm Beyond Time when he had to know it would be well-guarded?

Unless… He was forced to return… What would force him to return?

"Wait…," Iluzisto muttered as he paused with his next sudden thought. "Trupo said they saw Justeco and the young crossbreed's human allies—they did not see Konsilisto; otherwise, Trupo would have mentioned him. But I just confirmed that Justeco _and_ Konsilisto escaped from the cave… So then, where is Konsilisto…?"

Iluzisto's eye curved as he came to the most likely conclusion, "The only thing that would force Justeco to take such a risk as to return here is if he _needed_ to return—or, rather, _his brother_ needed to return."

But, of course! Konsilisto was always a weaker fool. Surely the curse upon them was taking a harder toll on the counselor. And although coming to the Realm Beyond Time would not stop the time-spell Iluzisto placed on the Observants, this timeless place would help alleviate some of the discomfort!

Justeco very likely hid his brother somewhere in the Realm Beyond Time to keep him from fading out of existence for as long as possible.

"Shame I have no means of finding that coward Konsilisto… He would make excellent bait for Justeco and Danny Phantom," Iluzisto said with a small smirk.

But then, that thought gave him an idea just as good…

"Maybe… I do not need to physically capture Konsilisto…," Iluzisto muttered and then chuckled again.

However, that still left the same problem that he had from the beginning. He had no means of entering Amity Park. For some reason, the staff refused to teleport him past that Ghost Shield surrounding the small town…

And he could not find Danny Phantom's portal…

"And yet, Justeco _must_ have found it, if he managed to get to the young crossbreed…," Iluzisto growled angrily. He still couldn't believe the boy was helping the Observants after everything!

Justeco was certainly cleverer and more convincing than Iluzisto had given him credit for. After all, no one could be _that_ forgiving. At least, Iluzisto did not have to worry about the older crossbreed involving himself in this. He was sure Vlad Plasmius would never help the Justeco and the other Observants in a million years. In fact, Iluzisto was sure the older crossbreed would very likely help him destroy them before helping them… Then again, Vlad Plasmius hated him just as much… Still, it wasn't in the man's nature to be forgiving. Iluzisto knew that much.

"I need to get to the crossbreeds," Iluzisto grumbled. "But how? If only I knew where Justeco went…"

But the illusionist spirit trailed off as he realized something…

He could not track the young crossbreed or his portal, but…

He could track Justeco.

Iluzisto slowly pulled out the stolen orb he got from Okulo out of his robe pocket. He lifted the timeless relic up to eye level as he said thoughtfully, "I had almost forgotten Justeco's core is still tied to this orb… That means…"

Iluzisto suddenly squeezed the orb and commanded it, "Find Justeco…"

In an instant, the orb lit up green and levitated out of Iluzisto's hand and began to move off on its own accord towards a certain direction, a small green beam coming from the orb, acting much like a compass pointing north—except the orb's 'north ' was Justeco.

Iluzisto laughed in victory as he exclaimed, "At last!"

He wasted no time and followed the orb.

* * *

**(1) Esperanto for "Observe Ancients' Abode!"**

**(2) Esperanto for "Observe Earth!"**

**Pearl: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even with the lack of action. Then again, Danny and Vlad arguing while Tucker is pumped full of sleeping pores, is pretty exciting _and_ funny! XD So, announcement! With CM coming to an end, I would like to host one last chat session over at the Hidden Pearl for Checkmate. I would love to talk with you all and answer any lingering questions you might have about that story. So, I picked a date already and here it is: November 5th. It is a Saturday, so put it on your calendars! You can find out more about it on the Hidden Pearl at the DA. I will be posting an announcement tomorrow. I hope to see you all there. Lastly, expect the next chapter of CM sometime this week, and then the final one, the first week of November. *winks***

**Well, thanks again for all your support, and please share your thoughts about this sid chapter. We are getting close to the ending of this one as well! XD**

**A/N: truephan here: So, I see y'all made it done here—congrats! But as you can see, this is one of those important 'filler' chapters. *sighs since you know how MUCH I love action* But like I said, it's an important filler chapter, so there ya go! But don't worry, there's a bit more to come, so hope you're still biting your nails a bit—but NOT too much because I and Ms. Hyde would like you to save it for the REAL action! Thank again for all your support—oops a bit early…my thanks AFTER you push that little button down there and let us know your thoughts! *winks* Well, really, I mean it! LOL!**


	32. Ch32: Laying out the Illusionist Cards

**Pearl: Hello all! Gosh, I am SO sorry for the delay with this chapter. My fault entirely. Yup. I had some crazy stuff going on. And this poor chapter had to suffer through it all. First, my computer messes up and I lost my first write up of this chapter! Then, I had to babysit my friend's kid for two weeks and I couldn't concentrate enough to write. And finally, I just had some parent issues. Gah! But, yeah, I feel I owe you guys an apology and, of course, truephan for being SO patient with me with this. Hopefully, the next chapter will go smoothly! Well, enough of my rant! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you all ate a lot and then felt guilty about it! Lol! It's okay! Just go to the gym for three hours like I did! No, I didn't, but I do need to hit the treadmill for the next year to burn all I ate! HA-ha! Okay, enjoy this extra treat for you all! XD**

**A/N: truephan here: Wow, hello again everyone and Happy Thanksgiving weekend! I'm truly thankful for having such AWESOME readers as y'all! Makes all of this worthwhile and is MEGA-better than Black Friday! I think you all received a PM from us for the last chapter, but I wanted to make sure we said 'thank you' to 'Frizzle' whom we couldn't PM since your PM feature has been disabled. Well, since I'm STILL digesting my Thanksgiving meal even this late in the weekend (Duh! Why do you think we call it Thanksgiving weekend! LOL) …Anyhooo, while I'm digesting, let me sit back, prop my feet up, and smile as you read onward. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

**Chapter 32: Laying out the Illusionist Cards**

* * *

Early the next day, the hybrids were in Vlad's private lab.

Danny shifted nervously on his feet, watching his arch-enemy, who in turn, was focused on preparing the boy's healing serum shot for his core.

Even though the man had long since noticed the teen's apprehension, he was not going to be inclined to say anything about it. What for? This would be the boy's third and final shot and they both knew it was unpleasant but necessary.

Still, feeling just the slightest pity, the man decided to distract the boy and asked, "How are you feeling this morning, Daniel?"

Danny rubbed at one of his arms, already anticipating the unpleasant sting of the needle and the cold ghost chemicals that would soon be shooting through his veins. But knowing he was wigging himself out, he focused on answering his arch-enemy.

"Fine, I guess," he muttered.

Vlad paused in what he was doing and said dryly, "Care to be more specific?"

Danny rolled his eyes and replied more sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. I woke up feeling ready to kick some butt. Never mind that I also woke up with this leg cramp, which means I must have slept wrong or something. Not to mention, I have this cut on my arm with this weird itch that—"

"Have you tried to morph?" Vlad cut him off, knowing the boy was being ridiculous on purpose.

"I haven't even had breakfast yet. I usually wait until I've actually been _offered_ to eat something before doing that," Danny answered with a small smirk, having noticed the man's hidden agitation.

The teen silently laughed to himself. He had to admit: messing with the older half-ghost was a little too fun. Maybe that's why the man also messed with him at every chance he could. Now that he thought about that, Danny further wondered just how much of their arguments and fights were for a real reason and how much of them were just because they enjoyed the sport of challenging and riling each other up.

But noticing how the boy had suddenly gone quiet, clearly thinking about something, Vlad didn't hesitate to quip back, "You might not morph before breakfast, but _clearly_ you have no problem 'spacing out' before breakfast… It's actually quite abnormal, in fact. Perhaps you should talk to someone about that—and your sister does not count."

Danny quickly scowled. "Hey, the 'mental issues' jabs are mine, fruit loop. So, back off."

"Very well…," Vlad answered with a grin. "I do, after all, prefer 'jabs' which make you squirm." The man then lifted the now prepared shot in his hand and added, "And if they are the literal kind of jabs, it is even better. Come here, little badger. Time for your _medicine_."

"Okay, you need to stop," Danny said, now a bit freaked out. "The whole 'Dr Vlad Jekyll' bit is too creepy even for you."

The older hybrid laughed, but it was a genuine laugh. The man didn't question his light-hearted mood this morning, but seeing the teen seemed a lot more relaxed than yesterday also relaxed the billionaire.

Vlad had to admit, though. He, too, had woken up feeling much better. He could feel his ghost energy surging strongly just below his fingertips and his dormant core felt revitalized. He knew that ideally he—and Daniel—should rest for another day and give his body the proper time to absorb the last shot he would also be taking this morning; but alas, they were on a tight schedule.

And remembering that, the man sobered up, but still said calmly, "Alright, no Dr. Jekyll; but you still need to take this shot."

Danny cringed, his nervousness returning; but he still turned into Phantom and then reluctantly moved closer to Vlad and let the man grab his arm. "Last one, right?" he asked as his arch-enemy prepared his upper arm.

"Last one. And if it's any consolation, I will be taking one, too, as soon as I am done with you. And If we're lucky, neither of us will turn into Mr. Hyde," he replied before uncapping the needle.

"Yeah, very funny," Danny deadpanned. But then he added with a cocky smile, "But, heh. Knowing you'll get to suffer through this, too, makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Fortunately, I get to watch _you_ suffer, first," Vlad said with an evil smirk before he plunged the needle into the teen's arm a little more forcibly than necessary.

"Ahh!" Danny cried out, instinctively trying to draw back, but Vlad had had the foresight to grip the boy's shoulder with his other hand to keep him in place.

But seeing the man grinning, the boy glared at him and growled, "You are such a freaking jerk!"

"Sorry, little badger. I don't know my own strength sometimes," Vlad said innocently.

However, when he saw the boy close his eyes as the cold effect of the medicine began to invade his system, the man sobered up and focused on slowly pushing the remaining serum into the teen.

Danny gritted his teeth and paled significantly as he felt the icy serum gripping at his core. Fortunately, Vlad soon finished and it was over.

"Breathe, Daniel. It's over," Vlad said, watching the teen struggle to stay on his feet.

The teen took in a few shaky breaths; but feeling his head stop spinning and the coldness reduced down to a bearable level, he finally opened his eyes and muttered, "Maybe the 'Dr. Jekyll' thing is not too outside your zone, Plasmius. Seriously, only you would make such horrible healing serums."

Seeing the teen was recovered enough, Vlad let go of him and shrugged. "I will take that as a 'thank you, Vlad, for healing my core', hmm?"

Danny would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't so busy clutching his chest and just breathing. But when the lingering effects of the serum finally faded completely, the teen felt even better than before.

The boy grinned at the brightness of his ghost hue and the feel of his fully charged ghost core. "Oh, I am _so_ ready to kick some butt!"

"I am sure," Vlad replied as he began to prepare his own shot. "But although you are clearly recovered, it is still very recent. So, try to show some restraint, hmm?"

"Yeah, Yeah," Danny answered, rolling his eyes before he turned human again.

Vlad just shook his head before saying, "You should go have breakfast now. We are on a schedule, remember?"

"Oh, you are not kicking me out just yet," Danny said, narrowing his eyes. "I am going to enjoy watching you take that shot now, fruit loop."

Vlad narrowed his own eyes, but then an evil smirk curled his lips as he answered, "Hmm… Taking satisfaction in your enemy's suffering… You are more like me with every day that passes…"

Danny quickly scowled. However, knowing he had no comeback for that, he huffed indignantly and walked out of the lab.

Vlad chuckled. "So predictable," he said before turning his attention to the shot in his hand.

He readily frowned as he turned into Plasmius. And as he prepared his arm, he reminded himself that this was also his last shot of this horrid healing serum…

* * *

"Man, I had a great night's sleep!" Tucker said as he, Sam, and Jazz sat at Vlad's kitchen table for breakfast.

"Maybe because you were so far gone yesterday that you might as well've been dead," Sam replied sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know Vlad added some sleeping powder to the cookies?" Tucker protested, but then he smiled sheepishly and added, "But they were really good cookies. Maybe I should ask him for the recipe…"

"Maybe you should get your head checked," Sam retorted.

But right then the goth girl finally noticed how Jazz was not even paying attention to them or her breakfast and was instead looking worriedly towards the kitchen door.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Jazz?"

"Yes," she muttered before sighing. "I'm just—Danny!" she abruptly exclaimed when she saw her brother walk into the kitchen.

Danny, who was still slightly fuming, jolted when his sister was suddenly in his face and grabbing both his upper arms.

"Are you okay, Danny? Are you hurt?" she asked quickly.

"Ow, Jazz!" Danny protested, pulling away from her when she had grabbed the arm which had been injected. Reflexively rubbing it, he tersely added, "Calm down. I'm fine. I was just taking that healing serum shot. Thank goodness it was the last one."

"Sorry, I just don't trust Vlad," she replied with a frown, though she gave her brother his space again.

"Yeah, I'm with Jazz on this one," Sam agreed. "I mean, you don't know what could be in those shots."

"Yeah! Just look at what he did to me!" Tucker protested.

"Tucker, you kinda did that to yourself for eating so much," Danny said dryly, crossing his arms. But before his male friend could protest, he added to all three, "I agree with you, guys. I don't trust him, but I don't think he's up to anything with the serum. Actually, it did what he said and I'm feeling a lot better. Besides, I have to… er, sorta trust him if we are going to take Iluzisto down together. So, I don't have much of a choice, you guys."

Team Phantom sighed, but they finally nodded in agreement.

Danny smiled encouragingly at them, but then realizing someone was missing, he quickly asked, "Where's Justeco?"

"He went to sit in the living room to wait for you and Vlad," Sam replied.

But Jazz quickly added, "We need to hurry, Danny. He's looking worse than yesterday…"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, Vlad just had to take the healing serum, too. I'm sure he's done by now, so we can head out soon."

"Not until you eat something," Vlad's voice suddenly interrupted them, just entering the kitchen.

The teen looked back and scowled at the approaching billionaire. "What are you? My mother now?"

Vlad rolled his eyes before raising an expectant eyebrow at Jazz.

The girl frowned, but then sighed and said, "Danny, he's right. You need to eat."

"Yeah, dude, don't forget you were pretty hurt and weak just two days ago," Tucker said before he took a bite of his eggs and bacon.

"And just because you feel and look better now doesn't mean you should not be careful," Sam added.

"Okay, geez! I get it!" Danny replied, exasperated. But he then rolled his eyes again and walked towards the stove when he saw some pans on top of it. But as he grabbed the clean plate already on the counter after noticing the bacon and eggs, he thought,_ "__Great. __I __just __spend __one __day __with __my __friends __and __sister __at __the __fruit__loop__'__s, __and __he__'__s __already __turned __them __against __me.__" _

He knew that wasn't true, though. But it was still annoying to hear his friends and sister unwillingly back Vlad up.

But getting an idea, he glanced back at Vlad with a smirk and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a box of cereal, would you? Say… Fruitloops?"

Vlad scowled and replied, "I have cat food. It's close enough to your taste in food, is it not?"

"Naw, I wouldn't want to deprive your overweight cat of its needed meals," Danny replied casually as he turned his head and began to serve himself some breakfast. But he paused and shot back,"Oh, do you want me to leave you some of this? Being an old man and all, I'm sure you require your daily dose of protein, right?"

Jazz and Danny's friends kept quiet, though they were struggling to hold back their giggles. Danny's jabs were just too funny.

Vlad, on the other hand, just shook his head. Even he knew by now that it was pointless to get into a fight with words with the teen.

It would never end.

Taking the route of ignoring the boy, Vlad asked the real question on his mind. "Where is Justeco?"

"In that room we were in last night," Tucker answered between his chewing, only to get elbowed by Sam. "What? I wasn't supposed to tell him?"

Vlad ignored the teens and turned around to go.

But seeing that, Danny turned around completely to face the retreating man and quickly asked, "Where are you going, Vlad? Leave Justeco alone. You need to eat, too, so we can go."

Vlad halted and smirked back at the boy. "Last time I checked, this is my house and you _are __not __my __mother_."

"Darn it!" Danny huffed when Vlad walked out. But knowing he could not leave Vlad alone with Justeco for more than one reason, the teen put down his plate of food on the counter and began to leave the kitchen.

"Danny? Where are you going?" Jazz quickly asked. "You need to eat, remember?"

"I will in a minute, Jazz!" Danny replied, annoyed, but it was more because of his apprehension.

But seeing his brother was about to exit, Jazz quickly got up and cut him off. "Danny, I'm serious. You are about to go up against a powerful spirit in the near future! You need to be as strong as possible, so that means eating something!"

Danny sighed loudly. "Jazz, you don't understand! I can't leave Vlad and Justeco alone."

"I doubt he's going to hurt him, dude," Tucker answered, not getting why his friend was so worked up.

"It's not that!" Danny replied.

"Then?" Sam prompted.

The boy sighed loudly as he passed a hand through his hair. "I… lied to Vlad. I told him that the Observants' curse is still on us."

"Why did you do that?" Jazz asked, confused.

"Come on, Jazz. You don't think Vlad Masters, the guy who only thinks about himself and how things benefit him, was going to help the Observants and me out of the kindness of his non-existent heart, do you? It was the only thing I could think of to force him to help! So, if he questions Justeco about it, I could be found out!"

Team Phantom suddenly understood, but then Jazz smiled in reassurance. "I'll tell you what. I'm done with my breakfast, so why don't I go keep an eye on them, while you eat? I know we can't let Vlad discover the truth, but we also need you as strong as possible and we need to leave as soon as possible, okay? You trust me, right, little brother? If I'm good at anything, it's keeping your secrets."

Danny smiled when her sister winked at him. And he nodded. "Thanks, Jazz."

The girl nodded and then left; but when his brother's back was to her, she mouthed and motioned to Sam and Tucker, "Make sure he eats."

The two friends smirked and nodded back.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vlad had made it to his intended destination. He had wanted to talk with Justeco about the exact location of the Observants' prison. However, the moment he walked into the living room, he froze in surprise.

In fact, he barely noticed the red mist that leaked past his slightly parted lips…

Justeco was on the ground in front of one of the couches, his form so wispy that he was barely recognizable. And worse, he had all the more large hideous craters forming on his head and body, which were now seeping ectoplasm.

The Head Observant groaned in pain, and Vlad snapped out of it. The man moved to the spirit's side and squatted next to him. "Justeco. Justeco, can you hear me?"

At first, he did not get a response, but then the Observant groaned in pain again and his closed eye slowly opened. "V-Vlad…," he choked out. "I-I fear it is t-too late…"

The billionaire frowned and attempted to touch the Observant, only for his hand to go through him. This time, the man cursed under his breath and looked around with indecision, trying to find a solution to this. However, it was at that moment that the older hybrid's eyes fell upon a certain glowing orb right under one of his living room tables.

The man quickly got up to retrieve it. He had noticed since yesterday that the Observant was always holding this orb, much like a lifeline. It certainly looked similar to Okulo's orb, so Vlad was fairly sure it was another Timeless Magic Orb.

But the moment Vlad grabbed it, he inhaled sharply at the sudden strange feeling he got from the orb and that red smoke burn past his lips again, this time with more intensity and thickness. His entire body was growing hot and tingly as he watched the orb's greenish color begin to darken and turn blood red…

"Oh my gosh!" someone suddenly shrieked, jolting Vlad out of his trance-like state.

The man quickly stuck the orb in his jacket pocket and turned around, just as Jazz ran over to Justeco.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed when she tried to grab him and couldn't. But then looking over at the billionaire, she added angrily, "Vlad! Are you just going to stand there?"

Still feeling the strange effects of the orb, Vlad merely frowned. But then he sighed and said to the girl, "Stay with him. I will return shortly."

Jazz briefly startled when Vlad turned into Plasmius and then vanished in a puff of pink energy. But she quickly turned her attention back to Justeco and said, "Hang in there, Justeco. Vlad's going to find something to help you…" She paused and mentally added, "_I __hope_."

Meanwhile, Plasmius reappeared in his lab. He quickly grabbed the things he hoped would help the Observant; but then he paused and looked down. His eyebrows creasing with uncertainty, he turned his hand intangible and pulled out the orb from his clothing.

The effects were even stronger now in his ghost form.

"How odd…," he muttered to himself as he studied the now bright red orb. He had been under the impression that timeless magic only reacted to spirits. So, what did this mean? And why did he feel this strange feeling within him? And what was this red mist that escaped through his mouth every time he was anywhere near anything or anyone with spirit energy?

For some reason, it had not happened while he had been a prisoner in the Realm Beyond Time. It only started happening now with Justeco. In fact, the 'red mist thing' had happened to him when Justeco first came into his home. But he had been so angry at the sight of the Observant that he ignored it. And then last night, he hid the hot smoke whenever it would leak out in the spirit's presence because he had not wanted Danny and his loved ones to see it and question him. But now, Vlad couldn't ignore that and these other bizarre happenings, especially now that he kept reacting to Justeco's orb…

It was immensely strange… and curious… very curious, actually.

Vlad smirked evilly as an idea began to form in his head. But then knowing he had to get back to Justeco, the older hybrid slipped the orb back in his pocket and teleported again.

Danny choked on his drink when his arch-enemy suddenly appeared in the kitchen, while Sam and Tucker startled.

"Do you really have to do that?" Danny snapped. "I mean, can't you just walk in, like a _normal_ person?"

"Dude, he isn't a normal person, remember?" Tucker added with a meek smile.

Danny glared at his friend, but when he saw Vlad pay him no mind, the teen frowned and got up from his seat.

"What? You're ignoring me now? What… What's that for?" Danny added when he saw Vlad grabbing some glowing jar from his cupboard.

"It seems our spirit friend has taken a turn for the worst," Vlad finally answered.

Danny's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Vlad suddenly shoved the glowing jar into his hand and said, "Come. I need your assistance."

"Wait! Don't—"

But it was too late. Plasmius grabbed his arm and teleported them both.

Danny gasped when they suddenly reappeared in the living room. "Darn it, Vlad! You need to stop doing that to me!" he wheezed out.

Plasmius just smirked before taking the jar from him and placing it on the table. He then proceeded to put the rest of the things he had brought with him there as well.

"Enough of your childish tantrums, Daniel," the man said, now serious. "I need you to help me with this and you must do exactly what I tell you."

But Danny was now frozen in shock. He had at last noticed Justeco and his sister; but mostly, how bad the Observant looked.

"Daniel!"

The teen quickly nodded. "Yeah, okay. What do you need?"

"Give me a moment," Vlad said, as he opened a plastic container and revealed its unfilled pill capsules within. He then unwrapped a needle and syringe before he opened that glowing jar.

Danny just watched as the man carefully filled the syringe with the gooey green substance. Then, the man carefully grabbed an empty capsule and injected it with even more precision with the green substance.

As the capsule filled up and began to glow, Vlad muttered to Danny, "I need you to morph."

Danny only briefly hesitated, but did so. "What am I doing?" he asked.

"Here," Vlad said, handing the teen the filled and glowing capsule. "Feed it with a small stream of your energy until it turns blue. Understand?"

"What? But how—?"

"Danny, just trust me, alright?" Vlad cut him off with a frown. "I know what I am telling you. The healing serum in the pills will stabilize your energy. Just feed it until it turns blue."

"Oh my gosh!" they suddenly heard Sam exclaimed, while Tucker gasped when they finally made it to the living room.

But Danny paid his friends no mind and stared at Vlad with an unreadable expression. But deciding to take the chance and trust the man, the teen quickly took the pill from him and proceeded to force his ghost energy into it. It didn't take long, though, and the pill soon went from glowing green to a glowing blue.

"What are you two doing? Justeco is fading fast!" Jazz suddenly called to them.

"Give us one more minute, Jasmine," Vlad seriously replied.

Sam and Tucker had also gone to Justeco's side. However, highly nervous, Sam got up and went over to see what Vlad and Danny were doing.

Vlad was now on the fourth pill while Danny fed the third with ghost energy.

"Four should do it," Vlad said as he used his own energy to feed the forth one and turn it blue.

Vlad then pulled out a napkin from his pocket before turning it intangible and using it to grab the orb in his pocket.

Now not subjected to his touch, the orb was glowing with its natural green color.

"Hey, that's Justeco's! How did you get it?" Sam quickly demanded, suspicious.

Vlad just ignored her and although Danny also was wondering the same question, he remained quiet.

"Being that Justeco is a spirit, I theorized that subjecting these pills further with this orb's timeless magic and energy will prove them more effective. I need you to hold the orb, Daniel, while I expose the pills to it."

Danny frowned but raised his hand to the orb, while Vlad watched intently. The truth was the man didn't need anyone to hold the orb. He just wanted to see how it reacted to the teen…

However, the moment Danny touched it, it didn't react anything like Vlad expected.

The orb's green hue began to dim with the young hybrid's touch, while the teen's own hue began to brighten.

"Stop," Vlad quickly said, startling Danny enough for him to withdraw his hand.

Feeling this… rush, Danny took in a shaky breath and asked, "What? What was that?"

"Never mind, Daniel," Vlad said, carefully placing the orb on the table. "Just leave it there. ...The orb must have a safety mechanism to avoid anyone but Justeco from using it," he lied. But when Danny frowned back, he quickly changed subjects. "Just take two of the pills and let them touch the orb."

Hearing that Justeco's groan was barely audible now, Danny just nodded and grabbed the pills. He followed Vlad's example and let them touch the orb, watching how their whitish hue began to turn a golden color, though the blue energy inside it remained the same.

"Done," Vlad announced and quickly grabbed the pills from Danny.

He then moved over to Justeco and ushered Jazz and Sam back. Danny, however, soon joined the man beside Justeco.

"He looks bad, Vlad," Danny muttered fearfully.

"Yes… let's hope this works…," the man replied before he turned his hand with the four pills intangible and stuck it into Justeco's wispy body.

Vlad cringed as he reached the Observant's core. But then he had to press his lips close when he felt that red smoke come up from within his core, trying to exit through his mouth again. But he forced it down, and grimaced again when it felt like he swallowed down a gulp of blistering hot tea. The man's white hue then began to flicker. He rarely physically touched another being's core for the reason that it just felt highly uncomfortable. But he knew it needed to be done. As soon as he was sure the pills had been fully absorbed, the man didn't hesitate to retract his hand.

He looked up at Danny and saw the teen just staring back at him. "Did you just…?" Danny began before he shuddered at the thought of touching another being's core.

And knowing what the boy was going to ask, Vlad replied seriously, "Yes, but I recommend that you do not ever do it."

Danny frowned tentatively, "Uh… why? Wait. You know what? I rather not know."

Vlad just shrugged and turned his focus back on Justeco.

For a moment, it seemed the pills had had no affect on the spirit. And Vlad began to believe that maybe they were too late. But then, Justeco's body began to stabilize, his form becoming more tangible and the craters also began to heal for the most part…

"Justeco?" Danny called.

The Observant moaned, but at last opened his eyes. "What…? What happened?"

"You were fading," Jazz replied quietly.

"My brother… We are connected…," Justeco muttered weakly before attempting to sit, and with Danny's help, he managed it. "My brother does not have long, which means, I, too, do not have much longer."

"The energy pills will help," Vlad answered. "But we have indeed wasted enough time. It is time to act."

"Now, we're on the same page, cheesehead!" Danny said with a grin.

"We need to get to that cave, Justeco. Do you think you can lead us there?" Vlad asked seriously.

Justeco nodded. "Yes… I just need my…my orb! I dropped it!" he suddenly exclaimed and began to look around.

"It's right here," Sam said as she reached for the orb still on the table. She quickly brought the orb wrapped in the handkerchief to the recovering spirit.

"Oh, thank you!" Justeco said in relief as he accepted his orb. "Oh, but fear not, young one. The orb will not do you harm. In fact, its timeless magic only reacts to spirits."

Vlad kept quiet, though his suspicions had just been confirmed. And… he was also beginning to get an idea of what exactly the escape of energy from his mouth meant…

But hearing that, Danny opened his mouth to ask why the orb had dimmed with his touch, but the older hybrid cut him off.

"Now that Justeco is better, let us go, then," Vlad commanded, getting to his feet.

"Yes, the time to act has come," Justeco replied with determination.

Danny and Team Phantom quickly nodded in agreement.

* * *

Iluzisto had been following Okulo's orb, which was still locked on Justeco's core, for a good hour. The evil spirit had long since noticed that he had not been in this part of the Ghost Zone before, so that made him hopeful in his quest. He was sure that wherever Justeco was, he would also find the crossbreeds…

And best of all, he could tell through his enhanced staff that the end of the Observants was near. They would not make it past today. He was certain of that, too.

His eye curving into an evil and victorious grin and locked on the speeding glowing greenish-purple orb a few feet in front of him, the illusionist spirit pressed forward. Foolish Justeco. Even when he and his brother had escaped the prison, they had been able to do nothing. They were as cowardly and pathetic as he had known they were.

At this point, not even the crossbreeds would be able to stop the Observants' extinction—not that it would matter when the crossbreeds would soon be worrying about their own end.

"I will be eliminating two bothersome species before this day is over—truly I am worthy of reverence!" Iluzisto proclaimed with a gloating chuckle.

However, at that instant, Iluzisto was jolted by something in his peripheral vision. And not even bothering to turn his body towards it, he halted and his bluish-silver pupil pivioted to the side of his large eye as he stared in surprise at what had caught his attention…

There, amongst a few green boulders was a metallic grey octagonal-shape frame seemingly floating in mid-air. But within the middle of that frame was a slit which defined its doors. It was slightly cracked open, showing the slightest hint of earthly light.

"It is a human portal," Iluzisto muttered as he righted his body and his pupil returned to the center of the front of his large eye.

Was it possible? Had he just found the young crossbreed's portal on his quest to seek out Justeco?

But Iluzisto instantly remembered what he had been doing, and his pupil pivoted again in the direction of the still speeding orb.

Raising his free hand in the direction of Okulo's Timeless Magic Orb, Iluzisto commanded it, "Halt... Return."

In an instant, the orb jolted to a stop, and as if there had been an invisible ping-pong player at the opposite end, the orb shot back towards the spirit and he effortlessly caught it in his hand.

He looked at the orb in thought for a moment. If the orb was taking him away from this portal, then it meant Justeco was not on the other side of this human-portal. He was somewhere else—somewhere which the orb would no doubt lead him to.

But…

Iluzisto was currently very curious about the human-made portal he had just discovered. He was almost sure it was the young crossbreed's portal…

Or, it could be that the older one, too, possessed one, and this could be his?

Either way, it was worth investigating, especially if there was a chance that he would find at least one of the crossbreeds. If Iluzisto was lucky, they were still too weak to defend themselves. And if he was even luckier, he might even find them separated, making it even easier to steal their cores.

In any case, Iluzisto knew of the crossbreeds' weaknesses. The young one's heroic nature would be his downfall. And the older one's fatherly affection for the more vulnerable child would spell his own end.

With that cunning thought, Iluzisto pocketed the orb and then flew closer to the human portal. It was clearly broken or not closed correctly, which meant wrenching the steel doors open would be effortless.

Now in front of it, Iluzisto raised his staff and stuck the pointed end in between the crack doors. With an explosion of ecto-energy from the staff, the doors were thrown wide open.

However, Iluzisto never expected what happened next.

A sudden electrical green force field made up of little electrical bolts appeared around him; they had quickly started from one end of the portal and looped around the spirit until it reached the other side of the portal, trapping him.

Iluzisto gasped when the field glowed brighter and the little electrical barbs shot their energy, electrocuting him mercilessly.

Iluzisto screamed in pain as the sharp, hot and unstable power rendered him motionless and his entire body lit up with electricity.

Meanwhile, the one responsible for it finally turned visible, a large gun loaded and aimed at the spirit.

Skulker narrowed his eyes before he called, "Iluzisto!"

The spirit gasped at the sound of the unexpected voice, and his pupil pivoted to the back of his head.

"Compliments of my employer…" Skulker then said before he instantly fired two consecutive level-nine blasts at the spirit, and they both hit him squarely in the back.

Iluzisto yelled as the attacks hit his back and propelled him forward, right through the portal, where he disappeared on the other side.

Skulker cursed under his breath. He had hoped for the blasts to turn the spirit into ecto-dust in an instant. He really did not want to be anywhere near this spirit. In fact, he had protested greatly when Plasmius' told him why he had ordered him ahead to the Fenton portal.

Skulker had not even thought Iluzisto would come any time soon. Now, not only had the blasts not destroyed the evil spirit, but the hunter would be forced to confront him.

At least, it was fortunate for Skulker that Iluzisto had pretty much walked right into this trap. Either, the spirit's increase in power had made him incredibly smug, or the spirit was very eager to get to the half-ghosts.

Skulker suspected it was a combination of both. But knowing he was not finished with this 'little plan' his employer had sent him to carry out, the hunter turned on his rockets and flew towards the open portal.

He smirked at the still activated electrical field he had set up before he reached for his arm control and deactivated it.

He really was loving this new suit.

But this was no time to get cocky, so he sobered up and quickly turned on his scanners and sensors. Then, he at last turned invisible, and flew through the portal.

Skulker landed stealthily inside the Fenton's dimmed ghost lab and immediately discovered no trace of Iluzisto. The spirit had recovered a lot faster than he had anticipated…

Then again, his scanners were picking up a present energy level that was shocking.

In spite of that, the hunter already knew his instruments were useless at locking on a _spirit__'__s_ signature, so he instead relied on his own physical instincts, specifically the very one that had helped him track the crossbreeds to the Observant prison: his sense of smell.

Skulker tensed, quickly capturing the scent of the spirit nearby, and that only put the hunter on higher alert. This creature's stealth mode and ability to blend into its surroundings was a dangerous thing.

The hunter cursed his employer this time as he asked himself why he always willingly agreed to be part of the older half-ghost's insane schemes and plans!

However, at that instant, Skulker heard a shrilled sound to his left and he instantly shot an ecto-blast towards the sound, giving away not just how immensely nervous he was, but also… his location.

Still in stealth mode, Iluzisto instantly raised his hand. And although he still couldn't see the invisible ghost, he now knew where the hunter was and created two illusions in an instant.

Skulker gasped as he suddenly turned visible without his willing it so, and he further jolted when his gun suddenly took a life of its own. Its composition melded into a rubber-like substance before the barrel wrapped around him like a snake, quickly and easily pinning his arms to his sides.

Iluzisto appeared just as fast and fired an energy ray at the immobile ghost. With a cry of pain, Skulker was propelled back into a wall.

Skulker groaned for a moment, hearing a bunch of warning alarms going off within his helmet. He knew the blast that had struck him had been very strong, and if it wasn't for his improved suit, he would be no more than metallic rubble right now.

"Fool…," Iluzisto sneered as he approached the defeated ghost. "Did you truly believe you alone could defeat me? You were no match for me when I was at my weakest, let alone now!"

"I was not trying to defeat you," Skulker grunted out as he struggled against the illusion of his gun wrapped around him. However, as he did that, the real Skulker inside wasted no time and turned invisible and flew out of the control center within his helmet. Still, he kept his suit activated and on auto-pilot…

"Oh, I see… You were merely the decoy," Iluzisto said with an evil look. "Well, I do hope the older crossbreed did not count on your return…As you have already tasted, I am so powerful that no ghost can disbelieve any of my illusions now!" He aimed his staff at the ghost and added darkly, "Your core will now be my appetizer before my main courses…"

"As I said, that back there was compliments of my employer…," Skulker replied as he turned visible.

Iluzisto froze in surprise when he heard a squeaky voice answer him, but then he saw a small green glob-of-a-ghost floating next to one of the suit's robotic arms.

"What in the…?" Iluzisto began, but never finished.

"Now _this_ is compliments of the Ghost Boy," Skulker finished with an evil smirk before he pressed a button on his suit's arm and commanded, "Activate Fenton Ghost Defense and target only level nine ecto-entities and higher…"

But although Skulker's squeaky voice had uttered the command, his suit instantly repeated it back…. _in __Danny __Fenton__'__s __voice_.

And the house's defense systems recognized it instantly.

Iluzisto jolted when the lab filled with ghost weapons and they all fired at him. The suddenness of it all was so unexpected that the spirit's illusion vanished.

Skulker wasted no time and flew back into his suit just as his gun returned to normal. He immediately got back in control of his suit and sprang to his feet. He then aimed his gun again at the spirit and sneered, "And _**this**_ is compliments of me for invading my home!"

Iluzisto, who had been defending himself against the multiply assaults from the house, didn't even see Skulker's attack until it was too late. The spirit was thrown back into several lab tables, breaking them in the process.

But Iluzisto once again recovered quickly and he raised a shield around him to protect him from all the attacking house weapons.

Skulker temporarily froze in shock when Iluzisto's bright red-pupil turned and glared at him. This creature was… unstoppable.

But knowing he had done what he had come to do, the hunter slowly backed away towards the open portal, keeping his gun aimed at the spirit, who remained in his compromised position.

However, at that instant, Iluzisto recalled his idea from before and just as Skulker had been about to fly into the portal, the spirit yelled, "Hunter!"

Skulker halted and turned his head back; but before he could reply, Iluzisto used his free hand to pull out Okulo's orb in his robe. The orb floated out of his hand before a green and purple mist began to pour out of it, quickly molding itself into a figure…

A figure of a tied-up Observant.

"What...?" Skulker began with uncertainty.

But Iluzisto cut him off, and said with dark calmness, "In case you are not aware, this is Justeco's brother. He foolishly believed he could hide him from me, but I found his counselor and have now captured him. Furthermore, this orb is linked to Justeco's core. I do not even have to be near him to order this orb to destroy his core."

Skulker frowned. Vlad had explained enough of what had happened with Iluzisto when the half-ghosts had been captured. He was also told enough about the Ghost Boy's reason for his visit yesterday to know who Justeco and Konsilisto were and what was happening with the Observants. His employer had also mentioned something about an Observant curse over him and how he had made a deal with the whelp.

But what the hunter did not know was that the head Observant was currently at his employer's house or how Konsilisto had gone to hideout at the Ancients' abode.

"And why should I care?" Skulker retorted, masking his uncertainty.

'Konsilisto' whimpered against his bonds before the orb absorbed him again and it landed back in Iluzisto's hand.

"You might not, but… the young crossbreed might," Iluzisto answered with an evil curve of his eye. "You tell the crossbreeds to stop hiding from their fate. I **will** have two cores before this day is over—the crossbreeds can choose whether they willingly give me theirs… Or, I take the ones from these two pathetic Observants."

Skulker's frown deepened; but then without another word, he turned intangible and flew through the portal, quickly heading back to his employer's home.

Meanwhile, Iluzisto growled when the ghost vanished into the Ghost Zone. He wanted to go after him and destroy him; but it was better to let the weak creature play 'messenger boy.'

And besides, he still had these security weapons attacking his shield. But having enough, he raised his staff and the shield around him expanded before he thrust it in all directions, quickly destroying all the assault weapons.

But when he saw more devices come out of the walls, Iluzisto growled again; he wasted no time, turned intangible, and flew out of the combative house.

Now hovering in the air, he looked around and confirmed he was in the crossbreeds' worldly territory and under that infernal shield that had once kept him from going after the crossbreeds sooner.

Pulling out the orb from his cloak, Iluzisto smirked at it. Of course, he didn't have Konsilisto. He didn't even have the remote idea where the coward was, except that according to his guards, they had seen only Justeco leave the Realm Beyond Time.

Yes, it had been a mere illusion to get the hunter to play messenger boy, and in turn, get the crossbreeds right where he wanted them.

For a moment, Iluzisto debated if he should activate the orb again and have it lead him to Justeco. However, he soon decided to hold off. Why go on the hunt when it would be easier to let his prey come to him?

He looked around at the town as he remained in stealth mode. By the lack of activity on the streets on this sunny mid-day, he could only guess that the citizens must have been warned to remain indoors.

"Perhaps, I should give these humans something to truly fear…," Iluzisto remarked as another idea came to mind. "Now that I am at full strength…, these humans are defenseless against my power…"

Iluzisto laughed before he instantly began to glow and multiplied into six selves. He wasted no time and flew towards the seemingly more populated part of the town, ready to terrorize its citizens….

* * *

It had taken them about an hour going through the Ghost Zone to get from Vlad's portal in Amity Park to the one at his chalet in the Rockies. Luckily, they all had taken Vlad's very own modified Specter Speeder. Then, with Justeco's orb leading the way, they had made it to the prison cave thirty minutes later.

In all that time, while Vlad was piloting his flying machine, Danny and Team Phantom discussed tentative plans on what to expect and do once they got to the cave. Justeco made sure to fill them in as much as possible about what he knew about the inside and outside of the cave. And for the most part during that same time, Vlad half-listened to the group since his mind was whirling with his own plans. He did, however, tune in when Justeco was giving them details about the cave, but offered very little—or useful—input to what the teens had been discussing.

Justeco actually noticed this detail and frowned to himself in worry. He didn't understand why the older half-ghost wasn't as involved in the discussion as the young ones were, especially when it seemed obvious to him that they needed to be united in their plans. But even though he was concerned with that, he said nothing. After all, for all he knew, the older-hybrid might have remained essentially silent himself mainly because he was in agreement with the group.

Once they had arrived near the cave's coordinates, however, Vlad did inform them of that and was sure to tell the group to get ready. And once he did, he made sure to activate its cloaking system before landing his speeder several yards away from the entrance in a hidden area.

As Vlad morphed into Plasmius, he looked at Danny's friends and sister and ordered, "Remain here with Justeco. Daniel and I will take care of this."

"What?" Sam and Jazz quickly protested.

"Forget it! We are not letting Danny do this one on his own," Sam added with determination.

"Yeah, dude, we're Team Phantom," Tucker said crossing his arms. "That means we go wherever Danny goes."

Danny smiled at his friends and sister's words, but then he quickly looked at Vlad who had now turned his glare on him.

"You see, boy? This is exactly why I drugged your friends last night!" the man snapped. "How are we going to do anything with their being constantly in our way?"

Danny frowned. "You give them little credit, Vlad. Sam, Jazz, and Tucker help me all the time. They can hold their own just fine. Oh, and… don't make me remind you how they've tricked you a few times, too…," he added with a smirk.

But Plasmius was not amused in the least. "Don't be a fool, Daniel. This isn't some game. And for the record, I hardly consider your friends and sister a 'real threat'. We both know that if I wanted to, I could have easily destroyed them a long time ago…."

Tucker gulped and took a step back, while Jazz and Sam glared at the man.

However, Danny quickly answered with a growl, "Be careful, Plasmius. Don't think that just because I'm forced to work with you again means I'll let you get away with threatening my friends and sister. And don't forget it was them and Skulker who got us out of Iluzisto's prison; otherwise, we'd both be dead by now. So, you better start learning how to be a team player, or our _agreement_ is over."

Vlad frowned again. He honestly didn't like the complication of having the boy's sister and friends involved in all of this. Nevertheless, he hid his true feelings under a restrained smile as he replied, "May I have a quick word with you, Daniel—_in private?"_

Before Danny or anyone else could object, Vlad grabbed the boy and teleported to a distance far enough away from the hovercraft so what he had to say to the boy would not be overheard.

Just as he let Danny go, and ignoring the boy's pants in reaction to the teleportation, Vlad looked at him sternly and quickly said, "Looks like 'our agreement' might be in jeopardy already, Daniel. Having your sister and friends play cheerleading squad for you was never part of the agreement, boy." The man then narrowed his eyes as he warned, "In case you don't realize it, what we're needing to do is serious! And even though we both agreed to put our differences aside, this is too much. You want to risk your loved ones' safety, Daniel? Fine. But mark my words: if something happens to them, it will fall on you—and I will not be lifting a finger to help you save them."

"You won't have to," Danny countered, his jaw tensed with disappointment, "because they can hold their own. And, by the way, they're not my cheerleaders. They're my team and I depend on them….just as I'll have to depend on you in all of this whether I want to or not. And whether you like to hear it or not, you'll going to be able to depend on _us_ in all of this as well! Now, can we stop wasting time arguing and get on with it?"

Before the man could react, Danny morphed into Phantom and bolted upward in a heartbeat. He quickly soared away from the man and headed back towards the speeder again. But as he neared his sister and friends, he sighed with all the emotions whirling inside. He wanted to get along with Vlad, but it was so hard. They just had so much bad history. Still, they had been capable of getting it together before. Why not now? Why couldn't he admit to the man that he was right? That having his loved ones here was a big risk?

And the truth was he always worried about his sister and friends; but he also knew he had to give credit where credit was due. His friends and sister had experience. He knew they could fight. After all, they had saved him many times before… Even though he wanted to protect them, he had to trust them and let them… protect him, too…..He then jolted a bit when another thought leapt out: Just like he needed to trust and work with Vlad on this one.

Danny shook his head, still not sure on how to resolve this conflict, but he knew he would have to let it go and do the best he could to get along with the older hybrid. He said again with his mixed emotions. But then, he saw everyone finally leaving the hovercraft and he hid his emotions under an unconvincing smile as he landed in front of them.

"What did Vlad want?" Jazz asked when she saw her brother's face.

Sam and Tucker also noticed, but before they could say anything, Danny quickly cut them off.

"Nothing we have time to talk about," he replied as a more serious frown melded on his face. "You guys brought weapons, right?"

"Well, duh!" all three of them answered as they grabbed their weapons.

Tucker actually had a level nine weapon he had stolen from the Realm Beyond Time, while Jazz was carrying the Fenton Bazooka and Sam had on a wrist-ray which Tucker had modified to be able to deliver more power. And each of the three had a thermos.

Danny smirked at them, but then reminded his sister, "Jazz, we agreed to have you to stay beside Justeco at all times. Make sure you guard him if we run into trouble. We can't risk him getting hurt."

Jazz smiled assuredly at him and replied, "Don't worry about us, Danny. We'll be fine."

Danny's smile was more sincere before he suddenly commanded, "Remember everyone. We have to be quick _and __quiet__…_Now, come on."

The three said nothing and followed their friend and brother. Justeco lingered behind, looking thoughtful. Though he was still worried that he still thought that the two half-ghosts weren't quite in sync with each other, it still amazed him how someone so young as Danny had so much courage and determination…

"Justeco, you coming?" Jazz asked when she saw the spirit was not following.

With a weary sigh, he nodded and floated after her. Still, he gripped his orb tightly when he suddenly felt more weakness, but now also fear, swelling within him.

But it didn't matter. He needed to help his kin. They were depending on him.

When Danny finally caught up with Vlad, the man was half-kneeling behind a large boulder as he surveyed the scene several yards away. There were guards everywhere. But from what he could see so far, there were no guards visible within the cave. That was good.

"I think it's safe to say Iluzisto found out Justeco and Konsilisto escaped," Danny whispered as he also hid behind the boulder. But hearing his friends and sister coming up behind him, he gestured for them to stop and get down.

They quickly complied.

"We are going to need to distract, or preferably, take down the outside guards, in order to even get a chance at getting into that cave," Vlad said, keeping his voice low. He then added with more emphasis, "And we need to do that quickly and quietly. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. After all, we have no way of knowing if Iluzisto could be here, too."

Danny glanced back at his friends and sister before he replied to Vlad, "Right. My friends have the outside guards covered. Then what?"

"Then we have to check out that shield and how to get around it," Vlad replied, unconsciously relaxing a bit when he could see that the boy was giving him the lead.

Danny frowned and said, "Weren't you listening when we were talking about all that on the way here? Justeco said the shield was a fake."

"Yes, I know that, but I still don't trust it," Vlad hissed slightly back. "As you pointed out, it's obvious from all the added guards that Iluzisto found out that those two Observants escaped. He might have even guessed that we would attempt to rescue the Observants—at least, _you_ would. So, we don't know if Iluzisto has added a surprise for anyone trying to break in. Not only that, we can't just go barging in because we don't know how this 'time spell' complication plays into all of this."

Danny paused in thought. He had suspected that the man hadn't been listening while they were making their way here. After all, Vlad hadn't made any comments during all that time when they were making their plans. But from what the man said just now, it was obvious that Vlad _had_ been listening, but he had other ideas. And part of that was that the guy wasn't going to take any direct approach. Still, now that they were actually here, Danny had to admit that the man was right in his observations.

Nevertheless, Danny frowned in some irritation yet kept his voice steady as he replied, "So, what's next, then, since it's obvious that you have your own take on this; which, by the way, you _didn__'__t_ let us in on, on the way here."

Vlad blinked at the boy at the thought. He had to admit that the boy was right. It was just that….well, he wasn't at all used to this 'team-playing' silliness. When it came down to it, he was a lone wolf. Still, if he didn't let the boy in on just a little bit of his thoughts, this little rescue raid would definitely not go according to his plans.

"Well, true, Daniel," he admitted before smiling wryly. "I should have told you right away that all those little plans you and 'your team' came up with were too bold. But then again, what could I expect of teens, hmm?"

Danny frowned at the insult, but thinking about their mission, he dryly replied, "So, okay, since you think you got it all figured out, 'O Wise and Old Know-it-all', what's next then?"

Vlad smirked and said, "So glad you're willing to see things my way, Daniel."

This time Danny said in more exasperation, "What 'things'? You haven't let me in on them yet!"

Vlad glanced at Danny with an unreadable frown, but then he sighed in resignation. He had to admit. The boy was really trying to get along. And…he had to admit, he was, too. He turned his red eyes back to the cave. "What's next will have to be played by ear. Ideally, we should take Justeco through the cave with us since he has been in it before; but he is too weak and if he has a relapse while we are in there, then we are all done for. That means, we are on our own on this rescue mission, Daniel."

"But… How are we going to find the Observants once we're in the cave?" the teen countered. "Justeco said Iluzisto made it like the Observant prison we were in!"

"Precisely," Vlad replied. "We now know not to trust our eyes. That is why I added a useful feature to my watch this morning…"

One of Danny's eyebrows rose in surprise and interest as Vlad moved his arm closer to him and quickly pressed some buttons on the watch-like, red glowing device on his wrist. In an instant, a holographic screen shot up above the watch, showing a multitude of green blinking lights, much like sonar radar.

"As I said, we'll be playing this _by __ear_," Vlad said with a smirk, before proudly saying, "I call this the 'Plasonar Modulator'. It emits a soundless echo that picks up ecto-energy levels and maps them out on this holographic screen. It is one of my most ingenious inventions yet!"

"Much like the name, right? I'm sure that took hours of thinking," Danny replied dryly.

Plasmius scowled, but then quickly turned off the modulator and said, "Unfortunately, it does not differentiate between energy levels. So, we will have no way of telling who is a guard and who is an Observant in there."

"So, how are we..?" Danny began, only to be cut off.

"Justeco," Vlad whispered back to the spirit hunched behind the boulder as was Team Phantom.

"Yes?"

"I am assuming the Observants are all locked up close to each other, correct?" Vlad asked.

Justeco nodded. "In different cells, but they were put near one another."

Plasmius turned his head back. "There. That's how we'll know. We'll seek out the area where the most energy readings show up."

"Alright... If you'll think this will work…" Danny replied with a shrug before looking back at his friends. He then looked back at the man and dryly asked, "Mind if the rest of our 'team' helps?"

Vlad rolled his eyes and shrugged before quipping, "As long as they're quick _and __quiet.__"_

Danny also rolled his eyes and then turned back to his friends. He quickly whispered, "Sam. Tucker. You know we need to get to that cave's entrance. Think you guys can handle the guards outside like we planned?"

Sam and Tucker crawled closer until they were next to their friend and took a look at the number of guards.

"Yeah, we'll take care of them," Sam replied with a smirk, already getting an idea.

She then gestured to Tucker to follow her and they carefully made their way to a group of boulders closer and to the left side of the cave entrance.

Jazz smiled at her brother and said. "We'll be here if you need us." Then patting the large bazooka, she added with a smirk, "And no one's getting near us with this baby."

"Right. Creepy good, but good!" he replied, one of the corners of his own lips tugging up.

She threw a knowing half-smile back at him and said, "Be careful, little brother."

He nodded, and then he felt someone grab his arm. He turned and Vlad told him, "We are going to teleport as soon we get an opening."

"Oh, great…," Danny muttered. "But at least you warned me this time."

Vlad smirked and advised, "Just hold your breath when I tell you..."

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker looked at the guards floating back and forth next to the prison cave's opening. They were currently hiding behind those sets of small boulders just three yards from the closest pair of guards.

"How many did you count, Tucker?" Sam asked quietly.

"Eleven guards," he replied with a lowered voice.

"Yeah, me, too," she answered as she continued to mull over her plan of action. "Okay, we need our own distraction. Do you have that spy-bug we first found at Vlad's house when he and Danny disappeared?"

Tucker frowned, though he nervously replied, "Why would I keep it? I mean, it's Vlad's. Even if he is a bad guy and that device was totally cool, I would never steal it from him."

Sam just raised an eyebrow and stared back dryly.

Tucker chuckled softly. "Yeah, okay, I have it," he admitted as he searched his back pocket and pulled it out. "And for the record, it's not considered stealing since Vlad's, like, a bad guy; he's fifthly rich; and has like a whole bunch more of these."

"I'm not judging," Sam replied with a knowing smirk. But then she sobered up and said, "Think you can program it to work and give us that distraction?"

This time Tucker gave her a wry look.

Sam rolled her eyes and muttered, "Right. Why do I even ask?"

Tucker ignored her and quickly linked his PDA to the spy bug to activate it.

"Hey, guys?"

Sam gagged her gasp at the sudden low voice, while Tucker barely squelched his own yelp.

Danny, who had been invisible behind them and had also been who just startled them, cringed when he saw how two of the closest guards in front of them paused with Tucker's quiet outburst. But the young hybrid instantly turned his friends invisible, too.

They all waited in tense anticipation, hoping the guards would not come over to investigate. And seeing how they soon dismissed the noise, the trio relaxed.

"Danny! Don't sneak up on us like that!" Sam whispered a bit harshly.

"Yeah, dude, you almost gave me a heart attack, something I shouldn't have to worry about until many years later of eating meat!" Tucker added.

Danny turned them visible again and crouched down with them. "Sorry, but Vlad's getting impatient and he wants to know what's taking so long. And… Is that one of Vlad's spy-bugs?" the half-ghost teen abruptly asked, both surprised and confused to see his male friend with the device.

"It's a long story," Sam dismissed before replying, "Just give us a few more minutes, alright?"

Danny frowned as he watched Tucker bring the little spy-bug to life; but then he shrugged and nodded. He finally turned invisible again and flew back over to Vlad's side.

"Is it ready?" Sam asked Tucker as the little Plasmius-looking bug chirped and his beady eyes looked around.

"Almost… Just putting it in defense mode and… Done!" Tucker unhooked the bug from his PDA but used it as a remote control for the bug. He made it turn towards Sam and confirmed he could see what the bug saw on his PDA's screen.

"Heh… Now, watch this," Tucker then said with a growing grin.

The little bug only chirped once before its wings spread out, turned invisible, and finally flew off.

Iluzisto's guards continued their usual rounds, which really just consisted of floating back and forth in front of the cave's entrance and its perimeter. Since Justeco and Konsilisto's escape, Iluzisto had tripled the amount of troops currently guarding the imprisoned Observants.

But now the newest guards had been on duty for almost twenty-four hours while the rest of the guards had been there for as long as the Observants had been captured. It had long since become extremely boring for all of them to just be moving back and forth within the same space doing nothing for the most part.

So, it was in great part why one of the guards halted when it saw a little red-and-black bug perched on a small rock, just to the left of the cave's entrance. He blinked at it as he watched it chirp and clean its little antennae. And being that the ghost had never been outside Iluzisto prison before now and that all there really was to look at out here was rocks, the ghost was extremely interested in this little worldly creature. In fact, he quickly called over one of his buddies…

"Look at this!" he whispered excitedly to his friend as he approached him.

The other guard frowned at the small little bug, but then when it suddenly chirped some more, a smile curled his lips. "It's… so cute," he said.

"I know! Right!" the other answered, grinning himself.

"What are you two doing?" a third guard suddenly demanded, upset that his colleagues had stopped doing their rounds.

"Just looking at this earthy creature," the first guard replied sheepishly.

The third guard looked down at the small creature which had spread out its wings as it walked a bit on the rock.

"I think it's called a… bug," the third guard muttered curiously.

"What are you—?" a fourth guard began, only to pause and abruptly exclaim, "That is so cute!"

"Right!" the other three guards uttered at the same time.

"Hey, Skolto! You gotta see this!" the fourth guard said, calling his friend over.

Two more guards also came with Skolto.

Suddenly the little spy bug spread its wings again and flew on top of one of the guards.

The guard screamed, jolting everyone there and capturing the rest of the guards' attention.

"Wait!" one of the other guards said when his friend was about to swat the bug off him. "It won't hurt you."

He carefully put his hand near the lady bug and let it crawl on his hand. "See? It just likes us…"

Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad blinked in confusion as they watched the eleven guards all hovered in one spot away from the entrance.

"What in the world are they looking at?" Vlad muttered.

Danny was about to reply that he had no idea when it suddenly dawned on him; and a smile curled his lips. "That right there is my friends' geniuses and awesomeness at work, Plasmius."

"So it is," Vlad replied, a small smirk ghosting his lips when he finally saw from this angle the two human kids making their way around the boulders so as to sneak up behind the distracted guards.

Guns ready, Danny's friends slowly continued around the huddled guards using the other nearby boulders as cover. If their guess was right, they would end up right behind the guards by the time they reached the last boulder.

As they crept closer to their designation, Tucker couldn't help but comment. But he made sure he kept his voice low. "Wow. That worked better than I thought it would. Man, these guys need to get out more."

"I almost feel sorry for them," Sam quietly added, also surprised by how 'cute' they thought a mere bug was.

"Shame we'll have to burst their bubble," Tucker added evilly as he stopped to command the bug to do something else before they got any closer.

They cautiously moved closer and when they had finally reached the last small boulder that would place them only a few feet away from the back of the guards, Sam paused, turned to her friend and whispered, "Tucker?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said and they quickly moved closer until they were just several feet away from the guards…

Meanwhile, the guards were all arguing amongst one another, wanting to be the next to touch the bug.

"I was next! I get to hold the earthly creature now!" one of them protested to a guard next to him.

"You already held it!" another accused.

The bug chirped as it flew over to a guard in the center of the group and landed in his waiting hands. It continued to chirp and then began to clean its antennae again.

"Aww!" the guards chorused at the 'cuteness' of it all.

But their playtime was cut short when they heard a voice behind them say, "Hey, dudes! Don't ya know some bugs bite?"

The guards all jolted and turned their heads towards Tucker and Sam, who had their guns on them.

"In that case, though, that bug there more like has an ecto-sting!" Tucker finished with a smug grin.

The guard holding the bug gasped when he instantly felt the creature begin to grow hot. And all the guards shifted their gazes to their alarmed comrade.

But before they could do anything, the spy-bug released a ring of red-energy and blasted all the guards away with a cry of surprise.

"Now, Sam!" Tucker exclaimed.

But the girl was already ready and she quickly used the thermos in her hand to capture four of the guards trying to recover. But seeing the rest of the guards fly up and aim their own weapons on them, Sam switched to defense mode and she quickly shot two of the closest guards with her wrist ray.

Meanwhile, Tucker was already blasting at the guards himself, but the two teens also had an 'extra hand' thanks to the little spy-bug, which was flying overhead blasting at the guards below. Its attacks were not strong enough to keep the guards down for long; but the attacking 'bug' served enough of a distraction and an annoyance against the ghosts for Sam and Tucker to keep the upper-hand.

And during their entire attack, the two teens continued to suck up the fallen guards with their Fenton thermoses.

"Don't tell my PDA, but you are my new baby!" Tucker exclaimed up at the little bug as it blasted a guard that had gotten too close to Tucker, while Sam used the thermos to trap it.

Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad had seen their opening and the older hybrid had readily teleported them to the entrance of the cave.

But now in closer proximity, Vlad finally saw what had had the guards so distracted in the first place. "Is that one of my…?"

"Not now, Vlad!" Danny cut him off, tense with apprehension, which suddenly clouded his logic. "We're here! Now's our chance to get in. In fact, who cares about the time spell? Let's go!"

Plasmius frowned at his spy-bug before focusing back on what they were doing. He firmly replied, "The more important question is _who__'__s __affected __by __the __time __spell?__"_

"It wasn't put on us, Vlad; so, there's nothing to worry about. _Let's just go!"_ the boy said, now more than ever anxious to save the Observants.

Vlad paused before an idea suddenly hit him. He looked at a few of the guards that were down and about to be captured by the Fenton thermoses. "Hmmm… Be right back." Vlad merely replied before he vanished.

Danny frowned at the man's sudden action and lack of explanation; but the teen then just rolled his eyes and glanced over at his friends. They were just about to suck up the last four guards. Then suddenly, Plasmius appeared out of a puff of pink smoke right next to one of those guards.

"And Vlad was worried about _them_ getting in the way," Danny scoffed when he saw the man appear near his friends.

Tucker startled and with a yelp pulled his thermos slightly away from the man. But all Vlad did was touch one of the downed guards before he disappeared again in another puff of pink smoke.

"What was that all about?" Tucker asked Sam in exasperation after the older half-ghost had left. "I almost sucked him right in!"

"I don't know," Sam replied, glancing briefly over to where Danny was before adding, "But more importantly, why are they taking so long to go into the cave?"

Danny looked back at the shield, and suddenly getting more anxious and impatient to finish this mission, he moved closer and raised a hand to touch it.

"Don't!"

Danny jolted when a hand suddenly grabbed his and stopped him. And seeing it was his arch-enemy, he yanked his hand free, and snapped, "Geez, fruit loop. Chill out! It's just an illusion! Let's quit wasting time and just get on with it!"

"Not so fast, Daniel," Vlad quickly said. "Now I'm convinced that Iluzisto left some kind of trap.

"How can you be so sure?" Danny asked, now unsure himself.

"I thought those guards looked…odd. Their auras were an odd color. They must have some kind of device or spell on _them _to keep them safe from that time spell… But… there is only one way to find out…" Plasmius muttered. He sighed sharply and then quickly flew right through the glowing green shield.

Danny jolted at the suddenness of Vlad's action. But then the teen froze again when his arch-enemy, now having crossed the cave's threshold, turned around and stared down at his hand.

"Something is wrong… I feel…" Vlad began, but never finished.

Danny's eyes widened when he saw his arch-enemy's ghostly black hair begin to turn gray and his blue skin began to wrinkle and dry up.

"Oh, crud! VLAD!" Danny exclaimed, reflexively taking a step toward the man.

But it was too late. The older hybrid fell to his knees as he continued to rapidly age. And then his entire body disintegrated before the young hybrid's eyes, until it was a pile of bones. And then, that, too, vanished into dust.

Danny stood there stunned, but he suddenly screamed, "NO!" And past all logic, he was about to fly into the cave himself before two strong hands gripped him from behind.

"Daniel, stop!"

The shaking teen quickly turned around and he gasped when he saw Vlad right in front of him. "Y-You're alive? H-How did..?" But he trailed off, realizing what the man had just done. And suddenly furious, Danny yanked one of his arms away before bringing it back and punching the man right in the face.

Plasmius yelped and stumbled back. However, catching himself, he paused, confused and stun with Danny's attack before it melded into something else...

"What the blazes is your problem, you little rat?"

_"You jerk!"_ Danny exclaimed. "You did that on purpose! I thought it was you who went in there, not some duplicate!"

"Don't be an imbecile, boy!" Plasmius sneered. "Do you really think I would just jump into the fray when I had just told you we needed to be careful?"

"I-I never saw you duplicate! I thought it was _you_!" Danny shouted back, clearly still shaken.

Vlad was about to argue back when it suddenly hit him_:__the __teen __had __been __horrified __at __the __thought __of __his __demise._

Danny's anger mixed with confusion when he suddenly saw his arch-enemy's own anger fade from his face. But when the man tried to grab one of his shoulders, the teen jolted and pulled away from him.

"Calm down, Daniel," Vlad said with more gentleness. He hesitated and his eyebrows creased as he added, "I did not mean to frighten you… I am just not use to working with someone else and telling them my course of actions before I do them," he admitted.

The teen suddenly realized he was still shaking and forced himself to calm down.

"I'll let you punch me again, if you want, all right?" Vlad suddenly added with a knowing smirk.

Danny glared. "I'd rather kick your butt, but…" He trailed off when he heard a commotion coming from within the cave. He quickly turned around, only to gasp when he saw a large group of guards flying towards them.

"It will have to be later," Danny replied, backing away from the approaching guards and letting his hands curl with ghost energy. "And sorry about that, but I think we just attracted all that 'unwanted attention' you didn't want."

Vlad cursed as he, too, charged his hands.

"We can handle these creeps," Sam suddenly said as she and Tucker ran up behind the hybrids, already done trapping the guards that had been outside.

The guards began to fire their weapons as soon as they were close enough to the intruders. But it was hard for the ghosts to get a shot in when the intruders were all just outside the mouth of the cave firing back.

However, it was Trupo leading the attack and he already had had the foresight of sending more of his guards towards some secret exits at the side of the cave, and all too soon, the intruders were surrounded by guards.

Now pulling back-to-back into a tight, defensive circle, Plasmius continued to fire at the guards around them as he grunted, "It is pointless to continue fighting, Daniel! It's now obvious that we can't get into the cave since we now know that the time spell wasn't just for the Observants. We need to retreat."

"I'm not leaving without the Observants, Plasmius!" Danny replied in determination as he shot a few more guards making a surge for the group.

"Listen to me, Daniel! We cannot help them with that time spell over this cave!" Vlad argued back, plowing down even more guards with a burst of red energy. "We will both be dead once we cross the threshold!"

Never stopping firing in the group's defense, Sam yelled over the din, "But I thought the time spell was only on the Observants."

"It's apparently also in this cave and it has a deadly effect on any being within time. At least, that's what we are now forced to assume! We cannot risk it!" Vlad answered while blasting a new wave of attackers.

"But why can the guards go through the entrance?" Tucker still asked as he activated his thermos and kept firing with his weapon.

Vlad grunted with both irritation at the question and that they were beginning to get pinned in. Nevertheless, he said through gritted teeth, "They have something protecting them. I felt it when I touched one of those guards a few moments ago!"

But Danny was still driven to continue fighting the growing mob of guards encircling and closing in on them, unable to make himself leave before even trying to rescue the Observants.

"Daniel!" Vlad yelled sternly. "There. Is. Nothing. We. Can. Do."

"B-But I promised Justeco!" Danny desperately yelled, even as a powerful blast of his green energy took five guards down in one blow.

Vlad frowned, suddenly feeling a bit sorry for the distraught teen. He grunted as he dispelled more of his energy, downing ten guards as easily as if they were bowling pins before he replied, "We'll think of something else, alright? Now, let's get out of here before we are all captured."

Danny reluctantly nodded. That desire not to leave was still burning within even when it was obvious they had failed…And the anguish of having failed after trying to so hard to work with the older hybrid now ate at him, too...If only Vlad had let him in on his thoughts earlier…or if only Vlad had thought of some other way to get in if he suspected that time spell over the cave was going to be a problem! But then realizing he had no more time to think about that right now, he sobered and said, "Okay, then. On three, I want you to grab my friends and get them out of here, Vlad. I'll cover you!"

"What? No, I—" Vlad began only to be cut off by Danny.

"Can you just trust me for two seconds?" the teen snapped back at him.

Vlad frowned but then sighed and muttered, "Fine."

Danny quickly focused on his ice powers and his eyes and hands began to glow blue. "One, two... three!"

Vlad quickly grabbed Sam and Tucker and turned them all intangible and flew them up high into the air. In turn, the guards redirected their weapons to their fleeing targets.

But before they could do anything to his team, Danny yelled to the guards, "You all work too much. How about chilling—a lot!

The guards gasped as Danny let loose a burst of cold energy in all directions; and being that the teen had not used his ice-powers for some time, it was particularly powerful.

Now icicles, the guards were no longer a threat and Danny flew up but hesitated to leave as he stared at the cave's entrance. However, seeing more guards just about to fly out of the cave, Danny sighed and quickly turned and flew off.

"_I__'__m __not __giving __up,__"_ Danny thought in determination before he sadly muttered out loud, "I'll find a way to help them… I… promised."

* * *

It had taken them another hour-and-a-half to get back at Vlad's house in Amity Park. They had talked about what had happened at the cave, and Justeco confirmed how the Time Spell was indeed the reason why the hybrids could not get in. And that is was very possible for Iluzisto to create a spell to protect the guards from it when he had the time staff.

The Observant leader wished he had thought of the possibility of the spell's preventing the half-ghosts' from saving his kin sooner. But he had not expected Iluzisto to have thought this far ahead and created such a powerful spell.

Then again, the evil Observant had been planning his revenge for decades.

However, Justeco's thoughts on that matter weren't as important as the ones he had on how the two hybrids were reacting right now. Neither one of them had not talked much about what happened at the cave on the way back to their Real World home. But what concerned him the most was that the older hybrid looked too calm about the matter and Danny looked particularly upset and kept glaring at the man.

As they all sat back down in the living room, Danny insisted, "There just has to be a way to get in there and free the Observants!"

"Daniel," Vlad began, annoyed, only to be cut off.

"I am not giving up, Plasmius! Just because _you _gave up right away because you didn't let us in on your lame plans doesn't mean that I have to!" Danny snapped angrily.

Vlad rose up in anger while Danny's friends and sister gasped at Danny's accusation.

Now alarmed at the situation, Justeco quickly intervened, "Please. There is no need to argue! The fault was all mine! I only wish I would have thought of how that time spell affected those within time sooner so to avoid this time lost."

Justeco sighed when he saw Danny purse his lips and look away from Vlad before muttering, "Sorry."

And when Justeco heard Vlad only huff a bit in response before he sat down, the spirit added, "It seems Iluzisto has thought of everything. He made it so that _no __one_ could get in... or out of that prison..."

Knowing now that Danny had said those things only because he was upset about not rescuing the Observants, Jazz knew she had to try to help Justeco put the conversation back on an even keel. She quickly spoke up, "But you and Konsilisto escaped... That means there has to be a way!"

"There is," Vlad suddenly said seriously, refocusing back on the matter at hand. "We have to break that Time Spell."

"But how?" Tucker asked. "Iluzisto has the time staff and Clockwork is nowhere to be found!"

"Well, what if we take the staff from Iluzisto?" Sam asked.

"Could we use it?" Vlad asked curiously, turning his eyes to Justeco.

But the Observant shook his head. "Only the owner of the staff can will it."

"Then, how is Iluzisto using it? I mean, it's _Clockwork's_ staff," Danny finally said with a frown.

"In spite of everything, Iluzisto has never stopped being an Observant, young half-ghost," Justeco replied. "And like all Observants, he has the ability to will time to some extent. After all, it is part of our duty to observe time. But unlike Clockwork, we can only see the time stream's current path. We cannot view the alternate possibilities, as does Clockwork. Our time powers are limited, which is why we have Clockwork work for us. He can do more than open a window into time and observe it. He can manipulate time and change the timeline if he chooses. Nevertheless, even with our under-developed time powers, it is enough for an Observant as powerful as Iluzisto to command Clockwork's staff. I am sure it is not to the extent that Clockwork can, but if his powers continue to grow, it is also possible he will gain full control of the staff well enough to influence time and that would mean he could render you completely helpless within the grips of frozen time… I do not have to tell you, then, that it would be very devastating to all Existence."

Everyone fell quiet at the thought.

But then, Vlad spoke up. "But it was Iluzisto who created this Time Spell over the Observants and their prison… That means that it is very likely that the spell will be disrupted if we take the staff from him..."

"It is possible, unless the staff has bonded too strongly with him; then the spell would continue even without his holding the staff," Justeco replied. "However, if he is defeated and the staff is returned to its rightful owner, then the curse will be lifted."

"Then, that's what we have to do," Danny said firmly. Though he was more in control of his emotions, he was still struggling with them. Still, he knew he had to stay focused on that 'working together' thing. "We need to bring down Iluzisto once and for all… Uhm, Vlad and I are now strong enough, and, uhm, we can fight him."

Justeco nodded, but still said, "Together, you _two_ can subdue him. However, there is something else you must keep in mind. Iluzisto is not a ghost. He is a spirit, which means most of your weapons or devices might not work on him. Also, because he is a spirit and his powers have undoubtedly grown—and will keep on growing—stronger, your attacks will not have as much of an effect on him as they would on a ghost."

"But we know his weaknesses," Danny said, now a bit more focused on the discussion. "One of them is that he is really bad at conserving energy, so if we get him real angry, he'll waste it. Then, all we'd have to do is conserve our energy while wearing him out and when he's weak enough, hit him with full force."

A bit calmer now that he could see that Daniel was back in the game, Vlad added, "Daniel's right. Iluzisto also despises being tricked. In fact, it seems that because he has been trapped in the time stream for so long, he has been more than physically affected by it. He has become obsessive in nature, much like any ghost. So, he might be powerful, but in essence, we are going against a spirit with the mentality of a ghost. Now the question is, even if we can defeat him, how will we capture him?"

"We could try a ghost thermos," Tucker suggested.

"We could. But if it does not work, we need something else as back-up," Vlad replied.

"Well, how did you all keep him under control before?" Jazz spoke up thoughtfully.

"With power inhibitors around his wrists," Justeco answered, "but he gained too much power and destroyed them."

"Well, what if he was weakened enough?" Sam asked. "Couldn't they work again? At least long enough to take Clockwork's staff from him and capture him in a thermos?"

"You know... That might just work...," Justeco said, his eye curving upward a bit into a smile. "If Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius can get him weakened enough to secure him with power-inhibitors, then perhaps I could attempt to use Clockwork's staff enough to thrust Iluzisto back into Time's influence and freeze him within it!"

"And then trap him with the thermos! It's worth a shot!" Danny said, already liking their plan.

But Vlad sighed and frowned uncertainly. "We are taking a lot of things into assumption... But I have to admit, it is the best we can do given the circumstances." He looked at Justeco and then asked, "Where are we going to get these power inhibitors?"

This time Justeco cringed. "We would have to return to the Realm Beyond Time."

"That's impossible," Vlad quickly protested. "We do not have that kind of time. There has to be something else... What if I made one? I have similar devices in my lab. Perhaps I could make some adjustments to one of them to serve our purpose..."

Justeco sighed. "It might work. I could use my orb to make it strong enough for a spirit."

"Then, let's get to it," Vlad said, standing up.

But when Justeco tried to stand himself, he gasped weakly, unable to do so.

Vlad quickly added, "Why don't you stay here? I'll call you when the devices are ready..."

Justeco looked away in shame but nodded.

As Vlad walked out of the living room, Danny turned his attention to his friends and sister. "I'm gonna need you guys to help us out with people control. We can't risk someone getting hurt while all this goes down."

"But what about you, Danny? Who is going to back you up?" Sam asked with a frown.

Danny smiled warmly at her, Tucker, and Jazz, who were also clearly worried about him.

"Fear not. I am certain Vlad Plasmius will protect your friend," Justeco suddenly said, looking more sternly at Danny.

Danny's eyes widened at the emotion he felt coming off of the spirit. And he suddenly knew to what Justeco was referring. Nevertheless, he cast his eyes to the ground.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, Justeco. We just cannot believe that. Vlad... He..."

Justeco, who had continued to look at the boy even when Danny had looked away, firmly addressed him and asked, "Why do you not tell them the truth?"

Danny still wouldn't look at anyone and just shook his head. "There isn't anything to tell. Everything that happened in the prison between Vlad and me is only because we were forced to work together and because it benefited him to be 'nice'. It meant nothing, and the proof is in the fact that we failed at the cave."

Justeco narrowed his eye a bit before he suddenly said in a stern but almost fatherly voice, "That is enough, Danny Phantom! I have seen yours and Vlad Plasmius' timeline many times! And I know you two are capable of putting your differences aside for the greater good! In fact, you two are capable of more than I can rightfully voice without disrupting the timeline! So, do not say your experience in that prison with the other half-ghost meant nothing. You have taught me how foolish pride can be, Danny Phantom, so do not let it cloud your own judgment now! I will not allow it. And like you taught me about being just, I will not allow you to be unfair to the other half-ghost. If you do, only more evil will come from it…And let me forewarn you now. Just like you have learned in these days Iluzisto's weaknesses, he has learned yours and the older half-ghost's, too. Individually, he will destroy you both. But together, you stand a chance because you cover each other's weaknesses. So, enough. You must decide right now if you are willing to fight alongside your so-called arch-enemy. If not, then, let it end here. I will not allow you to perish for a lost cause."

The Observant paused a moment before he added somewhat sadly, "And I would expect nothing less than that from you, young half-ghost. I know that you will always put doing the right thing first."

Danny looked at Justeco with disbelieving eyes, but before he could say anything, Justeco got up and floated out of the living room.

The half-ghost teen stared after the spirit before he sighed and lowered his eyes.

"It's alright, Danny," Jazz said, putting a hand on her brother's shoulder.

Sam readily added, "Like I said, we have your back. And... Justeco just doesn't know what..."

"No, Sam, Justeco is right," Danny cut her off with a loud sigh. He looked at his friends and sister before saying, "I know you guys are with me all the way, but... I need Vlad for this one, too. I just...was so upset that we had failed at the cave, that I thought for a while there that we would fail at…everything else… I want to believe he cares and that I can even trust him, but I'm afraid if I believe it, I'll just be disappointed."

"You're gonna have to risk it," Jazz said with a small smile. "If you were able to 'convince' him to help you save all Existence, then you can get that fruit loop to work with you to get it done."

"Yeah, dude! We totally believe in you!" Tucker added, while Sam nodded and smiled.

Danny smiled. "Thanks, guys. And you're right. I managed to survive being with Plasmius all those days in Iluzisto's prison, I can do one more day. We... actually made a pretty good team when we were in the Realm Beyond Time... Actually, considering we were on an uneven playing field, we were _really good_ at tricking..."

Danny suddenly halted mid-sentence and his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Jazz asked, confused.

"That's it...," Danny whispered as a smile curled his lips again. "Guys! That's it!" he said even louder. "Why didn't I think of it before? Even Vlad just mentioned how it was his other weakness! He hates being tricked!"

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Sam asked with a frown.

Danny suddenly stood up and looked around before calling, "Maddie."

In an instant, the hologram of Maddie Fenton showed up and frowned down at the young hybrid. "Why are you calling me? I am not programmed to obey anyone but my sweet muffin."

Danny grinned at the hologram before ignoring it and turning to his friends and sister. "How do you trick a trickster?" he asked with a smirk.

His friends and sister blinked back at him before looking at the hologram of the pouting Maddie Fenton.

Suddenly, it dawned on Jazz and she grinned back and replied, "By using his own tricks against him."

Sam and Tucker quickly caught on and smirked themselves.

'Oh, this is gonna be fun," Tucker beamed.

"Time to lay out the 'illusionist' cards on the table?" Sam quipped.

"Oh, yeah, and I got a couple up my sleeve," Danny said with a mischievous chuckle.

* * *

Vlad had just started to gather the different cuff-like devices he had around his lab, trying to determine which would be best suited for this situation, when his portal began to beep.

And knowing the portal was locked down and only programmed to open to a less-than-a-handful of ecto-signatures, Vlad already had idea of who it was.

And as he suspected, Skulker flew in, the portal quickly locking behind him.

"Skulker, how did it go? Did you see him?" Vlad quickly asked.

The hunter nodded. "I did more than see him, Plasmius. Iluzisto has grown very powerful. I really think you should not even think of crossing him. I mean it."

Vlad frowned. He had not seen his ally this afraid of another entity since the whole thing with Pariah Dark.

"Did you get a lock on his energy reading?" Vlad asked.

"Yes... He's at level 13. It is unheard of! Plasmius, that's more than the level of Pariah Dark when he wears the crown of fire and ring of rage! And Dark is a ghost and Iluzisto is a spirit and his powers are growing."

The hunter began to pace and mutter mostly to himself, "It is no wonder my ecto-bombs and level-nine weapons barely fazed him! What are we going to do? He is going to take over the Ghost Zone in a matter of days at this rate! I... I should start warning all the ghosts! And my home! I need to—!"

"Skulker!" Vlad exclaimed to get the hunter's attention. And when he saw his ally's distressed eyes lock on him, he added more calmly, "Calm down. We will find a way to prevent that. Now, what else did you find out? That is why I asked you to lay out that small trap for him. I need to know what exactly we're up against. Now, focus and tell me what else you found out."

Skulker sighed and nodded. "His staff was different. Clearly, he has the Time Spirit's staff. And I also saw that orb. As I said, he is very powerful. My level nine weapons were like a small shove to him. His... illusions are becoming more real. I mean, he used my own weapon against me at one point and... I knew it was not real, but... it still affected me, Plasmius."

Vlad's eyes widened a bit, but then he frowned and looked at his ally a bit more carefully and saw his suit was damaged. "Are you hurt?"

"I am fine," Skulker answered with another troubled sigh. "There is... one more thing..."

"And that is..?" Vlad urged.

Skulker frowned. "Iluzisto had with him an... Observant. He said it was supposedly Justeco's brother and further declared that orb he had is linked to Justeco's core and he can destroy him whenever he wants... Iluzisto said that if you and the ghost child do not give up your cores, he will take those of the two Observants instead..."

Vlad scoffed before he shook his head and cursed.

"You are not going to make the trade, right?" Skulker asked.

"Of course not!" Vlad answered back with a frown.

"But the whelp will," his ally added, raising an eyebrow.

"No, he will not, because we are not going to tell him or Justeco about Konsilisto or the orb's deadly power over Justeco. I cannot have Daniel getting into his quaint 'hero mode' and doing something foolish. We are sticking to the plan. If... Iluzisto wants to waste the two... then so be it."

"Didn't you make a deal with Justeco about saving them, though?" Skulker asked.

"I made a deal to stop Iluzisto and I will do that. If we manage it before the Observants perish, then fine, if not... " The man shrugged. "Nevertheless, I need to acquire Justeco's orb to assure this curse over me is lifted. Although the Observant said that he could not break his vow, I will take no chances. I will have to keep Justeco close, especially now that it's possible he might be destroyed before we can defeat Iluzisto. In that case, I need to quickly get his orb and assure my own survival. For now, we are not going to tell anyone that Konsilisto has been captured. Justeco would be foolish enough to..."

The man suddenly paused and frowned when a now familiar but strange feeling jolted his core before he just as suddenly shot an ectoplasmic ray from his eyes right into the wall next to the entrance.

**"Bang!"**

Skulker jolted with the sudden sound and then the yelp of surprise that followed it near the lab's entrance; but then he and Vlad tensed when Justeco suddenly flickered into view, and was sprawled on the ground.

"Justeco!" Vlad growled, this time forgetting to suppress the red smoke that leaked past his mouth. He knew he felt some entity near for some odd reason, but by the strangeness of that feeling he had known it could only be Justeco. And since he had then believed that the spirit was spying on them, the man had purposely hit far enough away from the spirit to only scare him.

The Observant gasped as he struggled to stand. "I-It is not what you think! I was looking for you and I heard voices in this direction. I was going to make myself known, but I suffered another weak spell just as I floated in! And then you attacked that wall!"

Skulker and Vlad shared a look before they turned their eyes back to the Observant.

"Well, what do you want?" the man snapped. Still, he was carefully studying the spirit, trying to determine if Justeco had heard what they were just talking about.

"I-I wanted to see if the power-inhibiting devices are ready, so I can increase their power with my orb," Justeco answered nervously. In reality, though, the spirit had sought out Vlad in hopes of getting him to understand the importance of working together with the other half-ghost to defeat Iluzisto...

"Of course not," Vlad replied, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I have barely sorted through the possible devices for the task."

"Power-inhibitors?" Skulker asked, but then said, "I have a pair of power-inhibitor cuffs I use to capture my prey."

Vlad and Justeco quickly looked at the hunter as the hunter pulled them out.

"That's right!" Vlad said, remembering his ally had such devices. But then he frowned and asked, "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

Skulker stared dryly back at his employer. "I just got here, Plasmius. And you never asked." The hunter then turned his attention to the cuffs and pressed a button to activate it. "I have them set to allow my prey minimal energy usage..."

"Why would you do that?" Justeco asked, confused.

"Because it's no fun if my prey can't at least kick and scream when I chase it down," Skulker answered with a shrug, as if it was obvious.

Vlad rolled his eyes and questioned, "Could you have them block energy usage on the wearer completely?"

"Of course," Skulker said before typing in a command on his PDA in his arm and then linking the glowing green cuffs to his arm.

Meanwhile, Vlad turned his attention to Justeco and saw he was trying to mask how troubled he was.

"Are you alright?" Vlad asked carefully.

Justeco nodded. "I just do not feel well... and I sense my brother is also not faring well..."

"I see..." Vlad muttered, still suspicious that Justeco had overheard them. But if he had, wouldn't the Observant be panicking by now?

"There, done," Skulker announced and handed the device to Justeco.

The spirit took the cuffs, but then hesitated to take out his orb. Still, he did so and used it to increase the strength of the cuffs to make it strong enough for a spirit.

Justeco handed them to Vlad before lowering his eye and telling him, "I want you to know that I do keep my word, regardless of whether or not you save me and my kin. I just wanted to make it clear that you are in no obligation to aid us."

Vlad readily frowned in confusion. "But the curse—," he began, but never finished because a blaring alarm suddenly went off through the lab.

Maddie's hologram came up and said, "Hello, my turtledove! It seems there are several disturbances around Amity Park."

Vlad instantly turned into Plasmius before he looked down at his glowing red device around his wrist and commanded his mainframe through it, "Run live video feed."

Two screens suddenly came down from the ceiling and Vlad's eyes instantly widened when he saw Iluzisto wreaking havoc through the city's downtown district and the pier. Judging by all the overturned white vehicles, the Guys-in-White were on the scene and not faring too well.

"This certainly just complicated things," Vlad muttered. But he also realized how powerful Iluzisto really was getting. He had clearly created a clone of himself since he was at two places at once; but it was like his clone was _exactly_ him. In other words, it had no problem using his illusionist powers, judging by how there were people fleeing from 'nothing'.

It was time to act.

Vlad turned and said, "Justeco, you—" But he stopped himself short when he realized Justeco was gone. "Where did he go?"

Skulker shrugged, also now noticing the spirit was gone. "Perhaps back to the whelp?"

Vlad frowned, this time in dread, but quickly floated out of the lab with Skulker trailing after him.

However, when the two reached the living room, they quickly discovered that Danny and the other three teens were watching the news on TV and were now aware of the chaos being caused by Iluzisto.

Danny quickly looked at Vlad when he saw him come in and asked with large worried eyes, "Did you see this?"

"Just now," Vlad replied with a deeper frown.

But then, there was his other concern and Vlad asked urgently, "Where is Justeco?"

"He went off somewhere a while ago," Tucker half-answered since he was still more focused on the events unfolding on the TV.

Vlad quickly looked at Skulker and they both instantly came to the same realization: Justeco **had** heard their conversation.

And as if to confirm it, another alarm went off, this time throughout the house and the Maddie hologram appeared in the living room.

"Love drop, the outer ghost shield has been breached."

"Oh, cinnamon toast!" Vlad exclaimed.

"Well, so much for that plan," Skulker muttered.

"Wait. What's going on? …Where's Justeco?" Danny quickly demanded when he had finally refocused on what Vlad and Skulker were saying.

Plasmius cursed under his breath again. But he knew he had no choice but to tell the young hybrid the truth... But, he also knew that the time for Daniel and him to come to a quick understanding was now—since it looked like they really had no choice now anyway. With Justeco gone and probably walking into a trap and Iluzisto's attack on the town to draw them out, all he and Daniel had left to assure their survival past this day was each other.

Vlad suddenly recalled what Justeco himself had once told them during the trial. He had said that he and the boy were to be kept apart _on __purpose;_ and later he had discovered it was because the Observants believed that _together_ they were _unstoppable_…

He smirked to himself before frowning in a sudden understanding. Daniel had also told him something similar to that, only that he recalled that the boy had said they were _almost_ invincible. Typical. Daniel couldn't admit the truth….but then again, he smirked in admiration. Once again, typical. The boy would try to keep them both on the right course….

Very well, then.

It was time to put the Observants' belief to the test.

* * *

As soon as the older hybrid and the hunter's attention had turned to the screens, Justeco had left the lab. He sighed as he floated towards the front entrance. He had not heard everything that Plasmius had said; but he had heard enough to learn his brother had been found and captured by Iluzisto.

Justeco had no idea how the evil spirit managed it, but he didn't care. He had to save his brother. Still, he could not let on to the older half-ghost and his ally that he knew or he would have been stopped.

Luckily, that alarm had gone off and gave him his needed window to escape.

He did feel a bit disappointed to further realize from what the older half-ghost had said that Danny Phantom must have had to trick Vlad Plasmius into helping him. Now, the man's constant concern about the curse and 'some deal' made sense. And if there was still distrust underlying how the two half-ghosts felt about the other, then that meant that it was now indeed possible that the two half-ghosts would fail in defeating Iluzisto.

Though saddened at the thought, he meant what he told the man. It had never been his intention to force either half-ghost to aid him and his kin. Justeco knew he had no right to do such a thing. And although he knew the boy had done it with the best intentions, the spirit could not let the older half-ghost do something he did not want to do.

Justeco just hoped his few words had been enough for Vlad to realize the truth. If it hadn't been for the alarm, he would have finished telling him how the curse was already lifted and he had no obligation to aid the Observants. The spirit's pupil sagged a bit at his next thought. If the man guessed the truth, he could very well call everything off, and it would definitely mean the destruction of everything. Nevertheless, Justeco was glad he said it. At least, then, when all else was destroyed, the truth would still exist.

But even that thought gave him little hope. It didn't matter anymore. There was only one consolation he could cling to in the midst of his despair:

His brother…

Justeco resisted the urge to sigh again, not wanting to make any noise. Reaching the mansion's front entrance, he reached into his robe and squeezed his orb tighter before he turned invisible and intangible and went through the door. He paused when he saw the green ghost shield still activated over the older half-ghost's mansion. But now that he knew what it was and now that the system was programmed not to attack his energy signature, the shield was of no consequence.

Pulling out his orb, he felt his fear swell at what he was about to do. But… he had to help his brother, and he could not let the half-ghosts sacrifice themselves for him and Konsilisto. But even with the pain of all that emotion, he felt a tug once more from something he had not been aware of until this very moment. No, it could not be… The underlying hope that good would prevail had flickered again within him. How indeed bittersweet it was that he could still hope that the half-ghosts could at least come together to stop Iluzisto from destroying Existence, and that the new restraints he provided them with would help in spite of how completely hopeless he felt….

But it was a thought that would be lost in time...

For as for him and his kin…

It was over for them.

Justeco squeezed his orb and a green beam shot out of it and towards the shield. It quickly was absorbed into the shield, and although at first it seemed like nothing would happen, the green barrier suddenly began to crack where the energy had hit it.

Two seconds later, a hole big enough for Justeco to fly through appeared. The head Observant only looked back for a moment, before he turned and flew through the opening.

He pocketed the orb, while the shield closed up again. But he didn't care to check it and just flew off, following the path of destruction Iluzisto had created.

But about a half-hour later of searching for the evil spirit, Justeco slowed down and lowered to the ground. He looked around at the smoky and destroyed area, growing more and more anxious.

Where was Iluzisto?

"Iluzisto!" Justeco called out. But hearing and seeing nothing, he yelled even louder, "Iluzisto! I am here! Show yourself!"

An evil chuckle suddenly answered him, but it sounded around him and the wind picked up.

"Have you come to save your sniveling brother?" the 'wind' asked smugly.

Justeco tensed and pulled out his orb to defend himself, yet replied, "Our dark fate is inevitable. All I ask is that you grant me the mercy of being with my brother before you cast us into Oblivion."

"Very well…," Iluzisto replied as he suddenly appeared in front of Justeco. But seeing the orb, his eye curved and he extended his hand and commanded, "Give me your orb."

Justeco hesitated, but right then Iluzisto pulled out Okulo's orb and activated it before commanding through it, _"__Give __me __your __orb, __Justeco.__"_

This time, the head Observant was forced to obey and he let go of his orb. Iluzisto instantly used his powers to levitate the orb to him.

Once the orb was within his bony, knotted hand, Iluzisto's eye narrowed in threat as he said, "You know, I could easily crush you to ecto-dust right now; something that I have very much wanted to do since your infernal portal sent me to the other side of this wretched human world."

Justeco nodded his head in defeat and resignation, but he still desperately pleaded, "Do as you wish. Just please, let me see my brother now."

"Oh, yes… Konsilisto…," Iluzisto replied, his eye curving upwards. "There is one problem with that… I do not have your brother. Never did…"

"But I heard…," Justeco gasped, floating back in regret at having been so foolish again.

Iluzisto cut him off by recreating the illusion of the tied up Konsilisto. But then the image suddenly morphed into a ball of ghost energy. Justeco only managed a shout of pain as the energy struck him and slammed him senseless into the ground.

"But… I now have you," Iluzisto finished before laughing loudly.

* * *

**Pearl: Well, this was a fun ride, and I think Truephan will agree! But I really liked this chapter, and I hope you all did, too! As a side note, I owe you all a thanksgiving oneshot. I couldn't get it up for thanksgiving like I wanted to, because of all the crazy stuff I mentioned up there. But I still owe it to you all, so I hope to have it up sometime this coming week. Better late than never, is my motto, it seems! LOL! Anyways, we are close to finishing this story which is shocking, but I'm also excited. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten DoaS! It will come back to life soon! Well, thanks for your support! Share your thoughts with us, kay? Those are treats that I can devour without gaining weight! HA! P.S. For those that read CM and are curious to see a picture of the Spirit of Order, head to my DA page and look for the artist Fantasy93! Wicked picture! XD Or, here's the address: fantasy93. deviantart. c om/#/d4fzis0 Ta for now! **

**A/N: truephan here: Gee, y'all, I'm just sniffling here from this last scene. My heart goes out to Justeco even though he should have just stayed put. But, really, I think of him as a very brave and noble leader under all of that arrogance he was so used to be hiding under, so I would have expected him to do this in the end! *sniff* All else I can say that thank goodness that there was some delicious action in here to cheer me up or I'd be a bawling basket case right now! But, ohh, but that only means more ahead…and more surprises as you'll soon find out. Thanks again for all of your support…That, too, keeps me from falling into that basket full of tears! And please don't dunk me right into that basket, but keep me aloft by pushing that blue button down there and send us your wonderful thoughts! Happy Thanksgiving once again to all! **


	33. Running Down the Illusionist Clock Pt 1

**A/N: truephan here: Well, we're down for the wire and now I'm kinda nervous on how this is all going to go down…I just don't want anyone hurt and—**

***truephan suddenly knocked out of her seat***

**Ms. Hyde here, dearies: Don't pay attention to Ms. Goody-Goody! She's done enough of a delay getting this chapter to you and now she's doesn't want to see anyone hurt? Pish-posh! Give me that odd-looking metallic feathered pen and I'll show you—**

***Ms. Hyde suddenly knocked out of her seat***

**Truephan: No! Kumbaya, Ms. Hyde! I think everyone should get along! I won't let you take control, Ms. Hyde! I'll—**

***truephan suddenly not only knocked out of her seat again, but also thrown to the floor before being wrapped totally in Ms. Hyde's scarf, including being gagged by it***

**Ms. Hyde (ignoring truephan's muffled yells as she takes over the computer): Heh-heh, now it's time for evil fun…and action! Enjoy!**

**Pearl: Alright! We have reached the final climax! Sorry for the long wait. Same old reasons. But we have more than one surprise in store for you all! **

**P.S. Thank you, Annon, for your review. We could reply to you through private messenger, but we wanted to say thank you all the same. The rest goes to all our readers! Thank you for continuing support! Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

**Chapter 33: Running Down the Illusionist Clock (Part One) **

* * *

"Well, aren't you going to answer me?" Danny demanded, growing even more suspicious with Vlad's silence, especially when Skulker's eyes kept darting between him and his employer. "Where's Justeco, Vlad? And what plan is Skulker talking about?"

Unable to connive his way out of this, Vlad sighed in defeat and just told Danny the truth, including everything Skulker had reported back to him from his encounter with Iluzisto.

Danny stood stunned for a moment before he exploded, "You were going to keep all this from us? **How could you do that? **_After _what happened just a few hours ago when we tried to free the Observants from that cave?"

"I did not want you or Justeco jumping into an obvious trap, Daniel!" Vlad replied back with a deep frown.

"Yeah, and that worked out _so well_ for you, Plasmius," Danny replied with sarcastic anger. "Because now, Justeco is gone and we have _no choice_ but to go find him and his brother, which will mean 'jumping into that obvious trap'!"

"Hold on a minute," Jazz suddenly interrupted, getting up from the couch she had been sitting on next to Sam and Tucker. "How can Iluzisto have Konsilisto when Sam, Tucker, and I went with Justeco into the Realm Beyond Time, and Justeco took his brother to the Ancients' domain? Justeco said his brother would be safe there, so how could Iluzisto have even found Konsilisto?"

"I agree with Jazz, Danny," Sam spoke up. "Something isn't adding up." The goth girl looked at Skulker and further asked, "Are you _sure_ Iluzisto had Konsilisto? Is it possible that he could've tricked you with an illusion?"

The hunter frowned, not having considered it until now since he had been trying not to get destroyed by Iluzisto when that all happened. "I cannot say for certain, whelp," he was forced to admit. "Iluzisto had one of those Timeless Orbs, similar to the Observant leader's own orb. Somehow, Justeco's brother came out of the orb, arms bound… He _looked_ real—but then again, it _could_ have just been an illusion. You see, Iluzisto has gotten so powerful now that even when I was fighting him and I had known at one point that he had conjured up an illusion to capture me and I concentrated on not believing it, I was still harmed and unable to break free from it. I fear no ghost can now escape his illusions…"

Tucker's eyes widened. "Dude, that makes everything ten times more dangerous!" He looked at his half-ghost friend and further said, "How are you supposed to defeat some spirit that can probably waste you now with just a snap of his fingers?"

"Tucker!" Sam exclaimed, annoyed by her friend's bluntness.

But Danny was still reeling with his discovery of Vlad's keeping things from him again; but he forced himself to push that aside for now and focus on what they had to do. They were really running out of time. It was already mid-afternoon and if Justeco had been right and the Observants had until tonight before they were consumed by Iluzisto's evil spell, then they needed to act now.

"I have to try, Tucker," Danny finally replied seriously. "Justeco and Konsilisto are now our friends. We can't just let Iluzisto waste them."

"If he has not already done so," Skulker said bluntly.

And when no one scolded the ghost for it, Tucker quickly jumped in protest, "Hey! How come no one gives _him_ grief when he says things like that?"

Sam and Jazz rolled their eyes, while the two half-ghosts paid no attention to the boy. They were both deep in thought, but Vlad at last voiced what he was thinking.

"Skulker, I think this orb you saw is Okulo's orb. Iluzisto stole it from him. I know what it does, thanks to that idiot Okulo loving to run his mouth and gloat about that nifty little toy of his. I cannot be certain, but although Okulo's orb does many things—like take control of another entity's core, _as Okulo enjoyed sharing with Daniel and me while we were imprisoned—_I highly believe that physically capturing spirits or ghosts _within it_ is **not** one of those things. I think the form of Konsilisto was indeed an illusion, which means he tricked you, Skulker. And, of course, Justeco also fell right into his trap, too."

Skulker frowned, but said, "You are probably right, Plasmius. However, we now have to assume that Iluzisto has Justeco, at least. And…" The hunter glanced at Danny as he finished, "Iluzisto was clear when he said that if you and my employer do not show up, he would take Justeco and his brother's cores."

"Then, I'll give him what he wants," Danny said with a determined look.

"What?" his friends and sister exclaimed, and Jazz quickly added, "But what about _your_ plan we were just discussing, Danny?"

And Sam added, "You can't just give up now and give Iluzisto what he wants without a fight!"

"He's after me… and Vlad," Danny replied without looking at the older hybrid. "Justeco and maybe Konsilisto are just bait. I have no other choice, guys…"

But Vlad finally directly addressed the boy, quickly protesting, "We cannot do that, Daniel! It would just be suicide, and Justeco and Konsilisto will be destroyed anyways!"

Danny finally looked at Vlad, but there was no anger in his eyes, just a strange sober look. And it sounded in his voice as he answered, "We? There is no 'we', Vlad. And you know why? Because _you_ don't know what 'we' means!" Danny shook his head, some anger leaking into his words again. "Every time I try to work with you, you do something to make me regret it."

The ghost teen suddenly paused, and looking away from everyone, almost sadly muttered, "Justeco was right…. We might as well end this now… Do what you want, Vlad, but I'm done… I give up."

Everyone remained quiet as the tense air around the half-ghosts weighed heavily upon them all.

Vlad just looked at the defeated teen for a long moment before he glanced at Skulker.

And understanding the look without his employer's needing to say anything, the hunter sighed quietly and nodded. He then looked at Team Phantom, who looked utterly torn with their friend and brother's words of surrender. But clearly none of them could think of what to say at this point.

"Pups," Skulker called to the three humans before calmly ordering, "Come with me. I want to hear of this 'plan' you were all referring to a moment ago."

Sam looked about to refuse when Jazz placed a hand on her shoulder and answered for them, "Good idea. Let's go, you two."

Danny glanced over at his friends and sister as they walked out of the living room with Skulker. But then with a deep sigh, the young half-ghost sat back down on the sofa, staring down at his feet.

There was another long silence, which felt even heavier now that the half-ghosts were alone. Vlad, who was still standing, crossed his arms, looking unsure of where to go from here.

But even he knew that surrendering was not an option.

But he also knew their only chance of making it through today was if he and Daniel came together on this.

Vlad's frown deepened, just a little reluctant to admit that the boy's reluctance to work with him this time was mostly his fault and that it was now up to him to fix things. But just when Vlad had been about to say something, Danny beat him to the punch.

"I'm so tired of this, Vlad," the teen muttered sadly, his back hunched forward and his arms resting on his thighs. "I'm _tired_ of always having to fight against you. I'm _tired_ of having to search for some underlying meaning to everything you say and do. And… I'm tired of you acting one way with me one day and the total opposite on another."

Danny finally looked up at Vlad with troubled eyes and asked, "Did… Did everything that happened in the prison mean nothing_?_ Was it just an act because it benefited the both of us? Is… _this_ our reality, Vlad? To fight each other for the rest of our lives?"

The boy's voice took a desperate tone when he got no answer, and instead voiced what he really wanted to know. "What is that you _really_ want from me? To be your son? To follow your dark path? To be your chess pawn?"

The man's eyebrows creased with uncertainty, surprised to hear that the teen's words were mostly about their rivalry. And by how open the boy was being, Vlad knew Daniel was more upset than he had thought.

Danny sighed when he still got no response and soberly muttered mostly to himself, "Maybe I'm aiming too high…" He focused his troubled gaze back on his arch-enemy as he asked instead, "Is it just about revenge, then? About self-pride? Do you want me to just admit defeat to you and agree with you that my father messed up your life? Would you stop with the games, if I do? Would you…. stop seeing me as your enemy, then?"

Plasmius shook his head and looked away as he seriously replied, "Why are you bringing all this up now? How would any of it change our _current_ predicament?"

Danny lowered his gaze as he quietly answered, "I just… I need to know… For once, just be honest with me, alright?" He looked up at the older hybrid as he dejectedly added, "If you want, you can just call it a dying kid's wish, because I doubt neither of us will make it past today. Just tell me _the truth._ I cannot take all this confusion and uncertainty anymore, Vlad. So, please, tell, me, _what do you want from me?"_

Vlad just stared back at the troubled boy with an unreadable expression, but still said nothing.

Danny lowered his gaze again as he was left with only one bitter conclusion. "You can't answer me, can you? Because… _you_ don't even know…"

"No, Daniel," the man quickly answered, capturing the teen's attention. "I do know exactly what I want of you."

Vlad paused, reluctant to speak how he really felt; but even his tough heart was forced to admit, "It's just that… the more I know you, _the more I experience with you,_ the more my wants… seem to change."

Vlad sighed tiredly himself. He knew they were wasting time, but if he and Daniel did not come to an agreement and common ground, then they were most definitely going to fail.

He supposed, for once, a little honesty wouldn't hurt.

"When I first met you, I used to see you as a pawn I could use against your father," Vlad answered soberly. "But… as I began to discover your qualities, I wanted to test them, _rival_ them. Somehow, though, that has also changed over time. You have become very important to me—like a son. All I want is for you to be my side, but… there is so much between us, Daniel."

Vlad approached the teen and squatted down in front of him as he tossed aside his remaining pride and gently said, "I do not know how this all will end between us. Maybe we will forever be enemies… Maybe we won't. But, regardless of that, regardless of all that's between us, regardless of what you think I may want or not want from you, you _can_ be certain of one thing: I do care, Danny. And I think that to my misfortune and your good fortune, I will _always_ care for you." The man looked the teen directly in the eyes as he assured him with conviction. "You are not dying today. Iluzisto is **not** taking your core, because I _will not_ allow it."

"And… I won't let him take yours, either," Danny assured him quietly, hope and determination returning to his gaze. "I won't let him, because… in spite of our rivalry and differences, I… care, too."

Vlad smiled warmly before he stood to his height and said with his own determination, "No more games. No more tricks or half-truths. At least until we finish this. At least until we show Iluzisto why we are a force to be reckon with!"

The older half-ghost extended a hand at the boy and added with a smirk, "Join me now, Daniel. I will fight with you. I will trust you… if you can do the same."

Danny looked at the man's extended hand as he recalled how Justeco had assured him Vlad would protect him. But then he locked his gaze with the man and took his hand, standing as he replied with resolve. "If you have my back, then I have yours, too."

Vlad smiled and nodded before they let go. But sobering up, he then asked, "So, what is this plan you had in mind?"

"I thought we could trick Iluzisto into a trap of our own." Danny bit his lip with uncertainty as he got back into the game. "But I, uh, don't know if it will work now. See, it would only work here, in your house—where we have the necessary stuff. But… Iluzisto is expecting us to come to him, and _we_ need _him_ to come to _us_ for my idea to work."

Vlad still didn't know the exact details of the boy's plan, but he was still willing to go with it. However, thinking of something to solve their current dilemma, the billionaire replied, "Then, let us do both. We will go to him; _but_ we will _also_ lure him back to us."

"How? And what if we get captured?" Danny asked with a frown.

Vlad grinned this time. "Oh, but if that would happen, it will not be us who he captures… Just duplicates."

Danny's eyes widened in understanding before he grinned. "That's genius!"

"Well, you know…" Vlad replied with a smug look.

Danny rolled his eyes, but then he frowned again when he remembered something, "Wait… But, I don't think I could pull that off, Vlad. I mean, I just recently learned how to make copies, but… I can't really hold them for very long and I've _never_ tried putting a large amount of distance between myself and a duplicate."

"You will only need one, and I will help you sustain it, so do not worry. It _will_ work," Vlad quickly assured him.

Danny nodded and smiled, albeit a bit shyly this time, but it was still there.

Vlad was bit surprised the teen had just accepted his help instead of question how he could possibly aid the boy to 'sustain' a duplicate. And although he was a bit touched by that and was tempted to smile warmly, the older hybrid did not want things to get too strange between them, and instead continued discussing their plans…

Danny told Vlad what he and his friends and sister had discussed previously on how to trick Iluzisto.

"This just might work," Vlad said thoughtfully once the teen finished.

Danny smirked, partially pleased that the man hadn't immediately scoffed at his idea. "Well, I thought about what _you_ said about how Iluzisto's mentality is more ghost-like than the spirit he is. So, why not use it to our advantage? We need to get him weakened before fully confronting him, so what if we anger him enough to make him waste energy all on his own?"

A smile began to grow on the man's face, already piecing everything together. But wanting to hear it from the boy himself, he prompted, "Hmm… Go on…"

Danny grinned, feeling a bit giddy at the fact that Vlad was definitely taking one of his ideas seriously, and he quickly told him the rest of the plan.

Vlad listened closely, liking the plan more and more. But the man was also already mentally mixing the boy's plan with his own ideas and calculating their different options and deciding which would be the best approach for success.

"Indeed that this might work, but I think I have a few ideas of my own to make this plan foolproof," Vlad said with a devilish smirk. But then he suddenly placed a hand on the teen's shoulder and quickly added, "Come on. Let's go find everyone and I'll tell you what I have in mind. We need to hurry, though."

"My thoughts exactly," Danny agreed and followed the man out of the living room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Team Phantom and Skulker had been having their own conversation just down the hallway from the living room which Vlad and Danny were. But, oddly, it wasn't about discussing their plans, which was Skulker's ruse to get them away from the hybrids.

At first, Sam had been upset that they had left Danny alone, but Tucker and Jazz argued that their presence right now would probably make things worse between the half-ghosts and that they needed to let them work things out on their own.

Skulker, however, seemed uncaring to the kids' concern and argument. In fact, the ghost was fidgeting with his suit, not even looking at them.

And that _really_ grated on Sam's nerves because it reminded her once again how drastically Skulker had changed ever since they had rescued Danny and Vlad and had returned from the Realm Beyond Time.

The hunter acted like nothing had ever happened between them all, and remained as frigid with them as before.

Considering that Sam was already upset from this whole situation and also that Justeco was now gone, Skulker's attitude had her close to exploding.

Still, she continued to silently seethed, looking like a tea pot about to blow its whistle.

Tucker and Jazz, who also were upset with Skulker's apathy towards them, could feel the tension growing between them all; but they did their best to focus on something else while they waited for something to happen with Danny and Vlad—whatever that could be. Deciding to break the thick silence, Tucker spoke up and began to share with Skulker about the plan Danny came up with to trick Iluzisto…

At least the hunter seemed mildly interested in that.

"So, then, all we would need is to lure him here and adjust Vlad's system to get it to do what we want," Tucker finished telling Skulker.

"The idea is not bad, pups," Skulker said thoughtfully. But then he suddenly shrugged and added, "However, we will need to run it by Plasmius, first. So, we must wait."

"Seriously?" Sam suddenly exploded, and Tucker and Jazz cringed knowing things were about to heat up.

More than frustrated now, Sam moved closer to the hunter and raised her arms up in anger as she yelled at him, "What is it with you, Skulker? I mean, can't you do something on your own **_for once?_** Why does **everything** always have to go back to your jerky employer? He isn't some _freaking god!"_

Tucker and Jazz jolted when Skulker's eyes flared a brighter green and he suddenly moved right into the goth girl's face.

"Be careful, human," he growled back at her. "I do not care whether or not I am forced to work with the Ghost boy's _helpers._ Disrespect me, and Iluzisto will not be your only threat!"

"Oh, so now _you're_ making threats," Sam said sarcastically. "Somehow, I'm not surprised! I mean, we _are _at your 'employer's house'. You wouldn't want him seeing you be 'nice' to the _Ghost Boy's helpers,_ who practically saved your butt on more than one occasion in the past few days!"

Skulker frowned, finally understanding why the girl was truly upset. But not wanting to get into that, he said instead, "If I said we have to run things by Plasmius, it is because he knows his programs and home better than anyone. If we go through with this plan, we want it to be _successful._ So, _like it or not,_ my employer is part of all this. Therefore, **yes**, we do have to include him, just like we also must include the Ghost Boy. Do you have a problem with that, human?" he asked, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Sam glowered at him, but then just crossed her arms and looked away. She didn't have a problem with that. She had a problem with Skulker's attitude! Although she was trying not to show it, Skulker's cold treatment hurt more than angered her…

Jazz and Tucker looked between the hunter and their friend, knowing why Sam was so upset. Actually, it was upsetting for them, too; but they had thought better to not acknowledge it.

The fact of the matter was that it hurt knowing that the instant Skulker was with Vlad again, his attitude about them completely changed.

Jazz sighed and decided to take the initiative and stop ignoring the elephant in the room. "Look, I know things have been _weird _lately. But right now isn't the time to really deal with it. Still," she added, frowning at Skulker. "Just like we all know Danny and Vlad need to find a way to work together, we also need to do the same _now_." The girl sighed as she said more quietly, "Skulker, I know that you would never choose us or anyone else over your friendship with Vlad. And that's fine. I respect that, because it is how it should be. Just like we will always be there to back up Danny, I know you would never turn your back on Vlad. So, all I am asking—all **we** are asking—" she added, looking at Sam and Tucker before looking at Skulker again, "—Is that we can work together like before until this is all over."

The hunter looked at the three humans with an unreadable expression. He did not show it, but it had been hard to get back to reality after all they had gone through together in order to rescue the Ghost Boy and Plasmius. It had been hard because, even if he could not acknowledge it…, he _had_ felt a connection with these three humans.

It was almost as if it was fated for them to work together and depend on one another—that's how _natural_ it had felt to be with these whelps.

But the truth of the matter was that as long as the two half-ghosts remained rivals, there could never be anything real between them. When it came down to it, Skulker knew he would always side with Plasmius and these whelps would always side with the Ghost Boy.

The hunter sighed at last, knowing he could not continue to evade this pending conversation anymore. "I cannot deny how we were a very efficient team back on our rescue mission," he admitted with a frown, though his voice had softened. "However, we all know the truth and it would be foolish to attempt to pretend otherwise…"

The hunter paused. He didn't want to admit that he wished things could be different, but he felt _this stirring_ that forced him to at least say what he said next.

"Still, if it means anything to you all, If Plasmius and the whelp would ever become true allies… well…" The hunter coughed before he muttered out, "I would have no quarrel with allying with you all, too…" But clearing his throat again, he said more firmly, "But until then, we are enemies, pups! So, do not get any ideas! We will work together now, but _only_ because it is necessary. Understand?"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were shocked by what Skulker had just said. Although he did not say it directly, they were all now sure that Skulker did care and had felt that connection with them, too!

Team Phantom looked at one another before they grinned, and suddenly, they all ran over to Skulker and hugged him!

The hunter jolted and quickly raised his hands as if the kids were some infectious thing on him, but then he protested, "Whelps! Get off me! The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter does not hug!"

Right then, Danny and Vlad walked in and they froze at the sight in front of them.

"Wow…" Danny muttered to Vlad. "And I thought you and I getting along was weird…"

Vlad didn't answer since he was also too baffled with the sight in front of him.

"… Skulker?" the man called. He had never taken his ally to be so… affectionate.

The hunter gasped and almost yelped as he jumped away from the kids and said, "P-Plasmius! This is not what it appears! It was they—!"

But Vlad raised a hand, silencing his ally. "I really do not want know, Skulker. Besides, we have a few more urgent matters to discuss."

Meanwhile, Danny had walked closer to his friends and sister, who had all been snickering with each other with Skulker's reaction. The Ghost Boy raised an eyebrow at them and asked, "What was all that about?"

But his friends shrugged innocently and Jazz replied, "Nothing, little brother."

Danny gave them all a weird look, but then he smiled as he realized what was going on. He had almost forgotten how his friends and sister had spent so much time with Skulker when they had been on their rescue mission. The fact felt a bit odd to Danny; but then again, it's not like he had not gone through something similar with Vlad.

Still, right now wasn't the time to talk about that. They had a plan to carry out.

"So, Danny. Is… everything okay now?" Jazz suddenly asked hesitantly, pointing over to Vlad, who was now talking over their plans with Skulker.

Danny nodded and muttered, "I think so. Or, I hope so, anyways." He sighed to himself as he remembered how even now that he and Vlad had vowed to work and trust each other, the teen was still keeping the complete truth from the man. But… Danny couldn't tell Vlad _that_ truth, because it was possible the man would call the whole thing off.

Danny couldn't tell Vlad that the curse was no longer a threat. That he had _lied._ The teen was sure the man would not help him otherwise.

"Daniel?" Vlad suddenly called, pushing the teen out of his thoughts. "We need to head to my lab to set up this trap."

The boy nodded and he gestured his friends and sister to come with them. It took them a good half-hour to lay out their complete plan—for once, everyone willingly listening to the other's ideas and working with them. In the end, it turned out to be a much more solid plan than any of them could have come up with on their own.

"Hold still," Vlad told Danny and his team, as he activated the mainframe of his computer. "This part is very delicate. But once we're through, Skulker and Mr. Foley can handle the rest…"

Danny waited for the beam projecting from the computer to extinguish before saying, "Sam, Jazz. You guys know what to do, right? Once Iluzisto realizes the truth, it's your job to lure him where we need him."

"Don't worry, Danny. We got it," Sam replied with a smile.

"Skulker," Vlad then said with a serious look. "If for any reason things do not go as planned, you, Jasmine and Daniel's friends are to fall back. We cannot risk Iluzisto gaining anymore advantage against us."

"Yes, I will make sure of it," the hunter replied, glancing at the three human kids. In spite of having agreed to follow the plan, they all knew Danny's friends and sister would toss it aside and jump into the fray to help Danny if he got into trouble.

But underneath, they all realized that it was that same rashness that had Justeco at Iluzisto's mercy right now. So, they had to try to stick with the plan.

"Daniel? You have the inhibitor cuffs?" Vlad then asked.

Danny grabbed them from the table Vlad had placed them on before saying, "Yeah." He looked at the devices a brief moment before saying, "At least Justeco helped us by making these cuffs strong enough for a spirit. I… hope he's alright…"

Jazz, who was close to her brother, placed a hand on his shoulder and said encouragingly, "We'll find him, Danny, and we'll save him and the other Observants, you'll see."

Tucker and Sam nodded in agreement and Danny smiled sadly, but hopefully, at them. But getting back to what needed to be done, Danny quickly turned his focus on Vlad again and asked, "Hey, Vlad? Did you already switch the ghost shield around Amity for a human one like we talked about? We have to get the Guys-in-White out of the picture, or things could turn uglier fast. "

"Actually, I am turning it off completely now," Vlad replied as he finished typing some last things into his computer system. He then grabbed a nearby white remote next to the mainframe and added, "But this will assure us that we can activate the shield as a human one the instant we need it."

"Then, we're ready to go?" Danny asked a bit nervously.

Vlad nodded at the teen before glancing at everyone in the room. "Yes,…the moment of truth has come…"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz quickly moved closer to Danny and hugged him.

"Be careful, little brother," Jazz said fearfully.

"Yeah, man, go kick some butt, but watch yourself," Tucker added.

As they pulled away from their half-ghost friend and brother, Sam finally said, "We'll get to you as soon as we can, okay?"

Danny smiled, but then said to them with just as much worry, "I'll be fine. But… you guys be careful, too, _okay?_ If something goes wrong, don't try to confront Iluzisto. Just get out."

"You, too, Danny," Sam replied seriously.

The kids shared one more hug before they looked over at Vlad and Skulker. The two were quietly talking about something before Vlad smirked at whatever the ghost had said and then placed a hand on the hunter's shoulder in a last parting gesture.

Vlad walked up to Danny and asked, "Ready?"

Danny sighed but nodded firmly.

And as if in on cue, both half-ghost morphed into their ghostly counterparts.

Vlad glanced one last time at his ally and only the man could see the worry behind the ghost's unreadable frown, but the man pretended not to notice. After all, Vlad knew that deep down, both he and Skulker knew they were more than 'allies', and privately knowing it was enough for the two.

Focusing back on Danny, Plasmius smiled for more reasons than one before warning the boy, "Hold your breath."

In an instant, the man grabbed one of the teen's arms and teleported them. The two reappeared high up in the sky above the billionaire's home.

"Time to duplicate…," Vlad said before he began to glow pink; and suddenly there were two of him.

Danny hesitated, but closing his eyes and concentrating, he began to glow green and successfully created his own duplicate.

"According to mayoral reports," the original Vlad then said, "the majority of the chaos is concentrated in two places: the pier and the downtown district; but they are only reporting a sighting of an 'unknown 'one-eyed entity' at the downtown. That is where our copies will go. _We_ will start at the pier and head downtown once Iluzisto is out of the way."

"Got it," Danny and his copy said at the same time.

But noticing how the Ghost Boy's duplicate was more transparent in appearance than the real Phantom, Plasmius glanced at his own duplicate. It nodded and quickly stepped forward to fix the boy's copy.

"This might feel strange," the Plasmius double warned the Phantom duplicate before placing a hand against his chest and surging blue energy directly into his body.

Danny's double gasped in surprise as a blue hue lit up its body. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone and the teen duplicate was now solid and stable.

"What did you do?" the real Danny asked curiously as he watched his double and Vlad's own waste no more time and fly off to their intended direction.

"My duplicate simply supplied yours with stabilizing energy. Your copies tend to be more unstable than you, which is probably why they are so hard to maintain. However, the blue energy will help it as long as it does not use too much of its own natural energy. Otherwise, the blue energy will destabilize and the results will not be pleasant for it."

Danny briefly closed his eyes to link the information to his clone before looking back at Vlad. With a glint in his eye and a mischievous smile, he replied, "_Copy_ that totally!"

Vlad rolled his eyes slightly and dryly added, "Hilarious. But make sure _you_ keep your focus. We cannot have your duplicate suddenly vanishing, alright?"

Danny nodded before he smirked and said, "So, you wanna go spook those loser Guys-in-White?"

Vlad grinned evilly. "I thought you would never ask…."

Danny chuckled as they turned invisible and took off towards the pier.

* * *

Currently at the center of Amity Park's downtown, Iluzisto was floating above a street with upturned cars and pieces of buildings strewed about it. And yet, the spirit was growing very bored of just waiting for the crossbreeds to take his bait. It seemed that after all these decades of waiting to be free, he had exhausted most of his patience. Yet, underneath, he was really betting on for the younger one to show up _alone_, especially when he knew how cautious the older one was and how less likely he would be to do anything pathetically 'heroic' as the child….Not only that, things would be much…easier if he could deal with the two crossbreeds separately. Meanwhile, he might as well add insult to injury by destroying their precious territory…

Iluzisto watched on in amusement as the pathetic human hunters attempted to take down his four copies and their numerous illusions currently causing havoc around them. What was even sadder on these inferior creatures' part was that in their attempt to stop his clones and illusions, they were causing as much damage as he was with their weapons…

He supposed he had to give them some credit, though. After all, they had managed to evacuate the town's citizens out of this area rather quickly.

The evil Observant chuckled to himself as two of the white-clad hunters fired a missile at the illusion of a large dragon currently setting a tall building on fire. But the missile simply went straight through the illusion and ended up blowing up the entire building.

"Shame there was not any humans within. It would have been fun to see them scream as they perished by their 'protectors' own hands," Iluzisto muttered with a fake sigh of disappointment before his eye darted to his staff and he added, "Do you not agree, Justeco?"

The center eyeball on the staff, which was currently swirling with a black cloudy mist, glowed weakly in response.

Iluzisto laughed; but right then, a red bolt of lightning came from the sky and slammed right into the spirit, engulfing him within a loud explosion of asphalt and debris.

In that same instant, the four copies of Iluzisto and his illusions that had been terrorizing the surrounding area vanished.

The one responsible for the attack slowly turned visible as he flew down closer to the crater below, waiting for the smoke to clear.

"That was a little too easy," Danny's copy muttered to the Plasmius copy next to him.

Vlad's copy said nothing; but by his tense posture and still crackling, ready hands, Danny knew Plasmius agreed. In an instant, the Ghost Boy's clone lit up his own hands with green energy.

But when the smoke cleared at last they were only partly surprised to see Iluzisto was no longer there.

However, the spirit didn't wait too long to make himself known, though he did so in his usual way…

_"Hello, crossbreeds. Come to play with me at last?"_ the wind around them whispered as it picked up.

Clearly, the attack had taken Iluzisto off guard enough to make him lose his concentration, but it had hardly physically fazed him. Still, the spirit wasn't all that pleased to see the crossbreeds fighting together. He would have to be very careful now. First, though, he needed to test out how 'recovered' they were…

At hearing that obnoxiously familiar and hideous voice, Danny and Vlad quickly twisted until they were back-to-back as they searched the sky for the evil spirit.

Plasmius' eyes narrowed as he replied darkly, "Show yourself and we will gladly _play_ with you…"

"Yeah, and we'll make sure you lose!" Danny added before demanding, "Where's Justeco and Konsilisto, you jerk?"

The wind picked up and laughed loudly before it said, _"Oh, so my pets have licked their wounds and now think they can bite the hand that cared for them with so much dedication?"_

The wind suddenly grew hotter and thicker as it hissed, _"I will have to remind you curs of your place again, then!" _

But right then, the Guys-in-White below had regrouped after seeing the two new—but _familiar_—ghosts arrive. They knew by experience that they were as a big threat as the unknown one-eyed entity, so the commander was quickly barking out orders to attack the half-ghosts as well.

"Vlad, how are we going to do this with these idiots here? I thought they were at the pier!" Danny asked, pointing at the Guys-in-White below them with one hand, while keeping the other ready to attack should Iluzisto try something.

"They must have split into two teams, so we'll have to work around them," Vlad replied, but added, "Here, I'll create a shield. We can—" The man's words melded into a gasp when he suddenly saw a glimmer of something just two feet from him; and going on instinct, the older half-ghost fired a bright pink bolt.

The air instantly hissed in pain, but much to the half-ghosts' dismay, Iluzisto did not reappear and there was a ripple all around them, giving them no clue where the actual Iluzisto was.

"What was that?" Danny quickly asked, knowing from experience that the ripples meant Iluzisto's presence. But he couldn't be everywhere at once!

"I'm not sure," Vlad quickly admitted, only to be cut off from whatever else he was going to say by a barrage of ecto-blasts from below.

The older hybrid quickly used one hand to create a shield to protect them.

Unfortunately, Iluzisto took advantage at the distraction the human hunters provided.

"Oh, crud!" Danny exclaimed when he saw a thick beam of purple energy appear from nowhere and come straight at him. However, Vlad also gasped because he, too, saw a huge purple beam—but it was charging at _him. _Neither of the hybrids knew at this moment that they were right in the middle of a crossfire_. _

The hybrid clones barely managed to protect themselves. And while Plasmius had managed to create another pink shield in his free hand right before the purple beam intended for him crashed into it, Danny braced a green wall of energy with both of his hands just as the other purple beam slammed into it.

Vlad's second shield keeping the Guys-in-White's attacks at bay suddenly flickered from the intensity of Iluzisto's attack and he gasped in alarm. But the teen beside him also gasped as his arms trembled and his own shield almost buckled under the blow, and if it wasn't because he was back-to-back with Vlad, the beam's intensity would have thrown him back!

"That was unbelievably strong!" Plasmius hissed, voicing Phantom's own thought.

"Vlad, we need to split up!" Danny said urgently, but quietly.

"Daniel, we agreed that—," Plasmius began in an uncertain voice, but Danny cut him off.

"I know what we said, but we didn't talk about what to do if we had to worry about _both_ Iluzisto and the Guys-in-Whites' attacks at the same time! So, we just have to improvise a little or our plan's gonna fail before it begins!" Danny answered; and as if to prove his point, Iluzisto suddenly conjured up an illusion of another dragon that headed right to them, while the Guys-in-White also fired an ecto-missile at the half-ghosts!

Plasmius cringed as he just barely managed to capture the incoming missile with his energy and turn its direction away from them, while turning his shield toward the dragon at the same time.

"See what I mean? So that's why we gotta change things up a little if we have to!" Danny said, before hastily adding, "Just keep Iluzisto off my back, while I take care of those Guys-in-White!"

And before the older half-ghost could even agree or disagree, the teen suddenly turned invisible and flew down to where the human hunters were continuing to focus their attacks on them. But now only having one of their three targets in sight, the hunters were even more determined to at least take down that remaining one—Plasmius.

Of course, Danny didn't even give them the chance to try.

But Iluzisto had seen the young crossbreed disappear and then reappear below, clearly trying to distract the human hunters. And yet, by his indirect attacks on the hunters, the boy obviously was not looking to hurt them.

Iluzisto was going to have to change that, then.

Plasmius gasped as the dragon illusion that had been circling him suddenly twisted down into a sharp dive, heading towards Danny!

But before the older half-ghost could do anything, the evil illusionist spirit turned his focus on him. He sent another ecto-blast at Vlad, who saw it and quickly blocked it.

And yet, Iluzisto was hardly bothered by that. He was more satisfied to see that the two crossbreeds had split up —just as he wanted. But…that didn't completely please him, either. The spirit had felt something was amiss from the moment the pair arrived. Perhaps he could buy it from the younger one to jump into the fray like this and just begin attacking him, wanting to 'save' the Observants; but the older one? _That _one was too calculating. Nevertheless, even as perplexed as the spirit was in seeing the older crossbreed here at all, much less fighting alongside the younger one, he was more interested in figuring out what he and the child were trying to do…What were they up to? That was why he was…holding back for the moment.

But the spirit couldn't let any more of those thoughts bother him. It was time for his next move…

Suddenly feeling a strange energy moving around him, Plasmius dropped his shield and instead charged electricity into both his hands as he continued to search around for any sign of Iluzisto. The older hybrid knew he and the boy had to make this part of their plan look convincing in order for the rest of the plan to work.

But Iluzisto was not attacking—at least not to the level he could.

Why? And then his quick mind knew…

He was testing him and Daniel. That much was certain. But there was something more. Vlad would expect the spirit to be suspicious, but to be curious? Oh, yes. Either the spirit wanted to determine how recovered and strong they were, or he was waiting for them to mess up to take advantage of it.

Maybe it was both…

_"Why so tense, crossbreed?"_ the wind once again mocked. _"Are you afraid? There is no need for that yet. After all, you should know that I plan to take the young one's core before yours. That way, you can watch."_

"Overconfidence is dangerous, Iluzisto," Vlad replied calmly. "Believe me, I would know…"

"Oh, I have every reason to be overconfident, crossbreed…" Iluzisto said.

But, this time, the voice had come directly from behind him.

Vlad gasped and turned around, only to jolt when Iluzisto was right there in full view, aiming his fully-charged staff just before firing an ecto-blast!

But if it could be called fortunate, Vlad had already had his electrical energy ready and so had no choice but to fire back. Once their energies crashed into each other, the immediate explosion it created propelled Vlad clear across the sky with a cry of alarm.

* * *

Meanwhile, Danny had been busy demolishing the Guys-in-White's weapons, but they just continued to get more and more devices. The teen didn't even know how they were able to carry so many things on them! Luckily, though, despite the hunters' continuing call over the radio for backup, the teen knew no reinforcements would arrive.

The real Vlad and his original self were making sure of it at the other side of town.

However, just when Danny thought he would be able to handle the hunters quickly, another problem emerged…

In the form of a big red dragon.

Danny gasped and barely managed to turn intangible as the creature propelled a ball of fire at him. The attack went through the teen, but it slammed below, sending pieces of armored tanks and ghost weapons everywhere as it destroyed all that it hit below.

Danny quickly focused his powers on the dragon and fired a half-dozen ecto-blasts, only for them to go through the dragon.

"Darn it!" Danny exclaimed and flew right at the creature with extended fists.

But much to his surprise, the dragon flew right under him, seemingly losing interest in him as it began to attack the Guys-in-White and set everything on fire.

"No!" Danny yelled, not wanting to see anyone else get hurt other than what he had already seen on the news before getting here.

But as he attempted to create a shield to protect the humans below, the hunters saw his proximity as a threat and began to fire at him, too.

Danny gasped as he was forced to create a shield for himself instead.

"Stop! I'm trying to help you guys!" he yelled at them.

But it was useless.

The fire the dragon was creating continued to swell, which meant bad news for the numerous buildings around them.

Danny paused in distress, trying to think of what to do. Since he was only a duplicate, he knew his energy reserve was limited and he couldn't risk puffing out of existence or their plan would fail.

But if he didn't do something to stop the infernal below, a lot of people where going to get hurt and possibly perish.

Danny glanced up, seeing Vlad in trouble but still managing to hold his own against Iluzisto. But then the screams of the Guys-in-White helped the teen make his decision.

Concentrating, he focused on his ice-power and let it build and circulate around his body.

He gritted his teeth, but then with a yell, the teen released the cold energy into a wave, which extended in all directions and froze everything, but the infernal below. Instead, the fire was snuffed out, becoming nothing but a light mist, which rained down on the Guys-in-White.

However, as the ice wave hit the dragon which had been facing away from the teen, the creature abruptly vanished into a puff of purple smoke.

Danny gasped and fell to ground and onto his hands and knees as he fought to keep his weak body stable and not flicker out of existence. Unfortunately, being a duplicate, he had no true core, so he didn't have the ability to regenerate his lost energy—and he had just used up all that he had with that powerful ice attack.

The only thing keeping him whole was the blue energy Vlad's own copy had fed him before they got here. But when he began to feel that foreign stabilizing energy now _destabilizing_, Danny soon remembered that Plasmius had warned him about that happening if the teen used up his own energy…

"No, I can't!" he gasped out, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt his body flickering and falling apart. However, it only got worse from there because the strange warmness circling throughout his body that had been Plasmius' energy began to grow hot—_really hot._

The teen gasped again and his eyes snapped open, unaware that his green eyes had flashed red as he had done so.

But in spite of the burning sensation inside him, he felt his body still holding together somehow. He had been about to get to his feet, but froze with the sound of cocking weapons around him.

"Oh, crud," Danny muttered as he stared at the Guys-in-White now surrounding him.

* * *

The moment Vlad had realized he would be unable to stop his uncontrolled flight he quickly corrected that by teleporting. In an instant, he reappeared higher up in the sky; but Iluzisto did not give him any break.

The spirit just as quickly appeared right in front of Plasmius—and also to his left and right…

And from behind.

Plasmius gasped and froze as a sharp needle, one which he knew too well, poked against his back.

It was Iluzisto's staff.

"Do you like my duplicating trick? I learned it from you," the Iluzisto from behind said teasingly.

"Glad I could be of service," Vlad replied with a nervous smile as he watched the three Iluzistos in his line of sight floating closer with evil intent, while still feeling the one behind him still pressing its weapon against his back.

"Yes, you were. And soon you will be serving me even more," Iluzisto answered hungrily. It would be so easy to just take Vlad Plasmius' core right now; but Iluzisto had made a vow to himself, and that was to finish of Danny Phantom, _first_.

In spite of his compromised position, the older hybrid was already forming a plan of escape and attack. Unfortunately, being a duplicate, he had no ghost sense, at least not when he was this far from his real self. So, he had no means of knowing which of these four was the real Iluzisto.

But now Vlad had to wonder if Daniel and his ghost sense would even work on Iluzisto anymore. The only reason it had before was because at that time Iluzisto had had those power-inhibitors, which not only kept his powers suppressed but also kept the spirit within time—making his signature appear very ghost-like—and thereby, detectible.

That made sense. After all, when Vlad had been configuring his system, he had made sure to scan all around Amity again. But unlike before, when his scanners could pick up Iluzisto, now they could not. And that meant that this could certainly present a problem when the real he and Daniel faced the evil spirit.

But for now, all the man could do was store it for future reference and report it back to his original self.

At least, he knew that his real self could not only detect signatures, but it could feel strength levels. Maybe that part of his ghost sense would still work with Iluzisto.

He would find out when the time came. For now, he just needed to get out of his current predicament…

"Nowhere to run, crossbreed," the Iluzisto in front of him suddenly said, noticing the calculating gleam in the man's eyes. The spirit then lifted his staff and pointed it at the older half-ghost's chest, adding, "I am almost disappointed how easy this was…"

Vlad narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Don't be so sure…" And then teleported…

Or, tried to…

The man gasped as all he did was create a pink smoke show, but had not gone anywhere.

Iluzisto laughed. "One would think you would have learned by now!"

Plasmius' eyes flashed a brighter red in his anger. But teleportation was hardly the older hybrid's only trick.

"Oh, I learn all right—_very_ quickly!" Vlad growled and suddenly turned into a mist that passed straight through the Iluzisto that had had his staff against his back. However, Plasmius quickly solidified as soon as he had all four surprised Iluzisto's in front of him.

The half-ghost raised his hands, instantly trapping the four within a large red sphere before they could react.

"How about we heat things up?" Plasmius asked darkly as the air within the sphere began to heat and crackle.

But right then, the man heard Danny scream and his eyes darted downward, just as the boy released a massive wave of ice energy. It froze everything over and a cloud of steam rose up as the ice lastly swallowed the flames below.

Iluzisto had also been distracted by this and looked below. He gasped when he saw his illusion of the dragon destroyed by the boy's ice power.

_"No!"_ he mentally exclaimed, realizing what had happened. But his eye further widened when he noticed something else—specifically about the boy below.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt the sphere surrounding him and his copies grow hotter. A surged of a massive amount of electricity lit up the sphere, looking very much like someone set off several red fireworks inside it.

The four Iluzistos cried out in pain; but the real one held enough focus to hold his copies, but also to use his staff to destroy the sphere containing them. But before they could even recover, a wall of red energy came at them, propelling them all clear across the sky.

Not bothering to see if that kept the spirit down or not, Vlad teleported in an instant, having already seen how the teen below him was in trouble.

It was indeed a big mistake, because Iluzisto and his copies were not even stunned by the massive attack and it took them only a moment to regain control of their flight. Growling at the lingering sting of the older hybrid's electrical attack, the original Iluzisto looked down at the one responsible.

He saw how the older crossbreed appeared next to the younger one in time to cover them in a pink barrier just as the human hunters fired their weapons at them.

He really despised that older freak's electrical power, and made a note to give him a taste of his own medicine as soon as he got the chance. Right now, he was more interested in what he had seen with the Ghost Boy before Plasmius had done that little number on him.

Iluzisto narrowed his eye again as he noticed the boy's body flicker just faintly… much like it had after he had used his ice energy to destroy the dragon illusion…

Well, weren't these freaks so clever?

"Very well, crossbreeds…I will bite," Iluzisto said wickedly before he suddenly vanished along with three of his clones, leaving one behind…

Meanwhile, Vlad was now fed up with the Guys-in-White and their blasted weapons; but he couldn't take them out how he wanted—not with the boy next to him.

So, using the pink dome shield still covering him and Daniel, Vlad quickly melded it back into energy and thrust it out, the force throwing the hunters back a few yards.

"Move, Daniel!" Vlad commanded the weakened teen.

And in spite that he felt like his insides were on fire, Danny launched up into the sky, just before Vlad took advantage of the moisture on the ground and air left by the teen's ice energy.

All the Guys-in-White managed was a gasp as they saw sparks of blue light up around the Wisconsin Ghost just before the ionic particles in the moisture around them conducted the electricity, firing it in all directions and electrocuting anything in its path.

The hunters instantly screamed in pain.

Danny gasped in alarm, feeling the electricity right below him enough for his hairs to stand on end. But seeing the hunters on the brink of passing out, the teen yelled at the other half-ghost, **"Vlad, stop!"**

But the older hybrid ignored him, determined to get rid of these nuisances once and for all. And besides, it was just blue electricity. It wasn't strong enough to waste the hunters—or, he didn't think so anyways.

Oh, well.

Seeing Plasmius had no intention of letting up, Danny quickly did the only thing he could to make the man stop. He fired an ecto-blast at him.

However, instead of his usual green energy, red energy sprang from his hands, and the teen gasped as the energy burned him and his body only grew hotter.

Vlad jolted when he heard the blast coming at him and barely managed to dodge it. That in turn, forced him to stop his attack on the human hunters. But the man hardly cared as he looked up at Danny in confusion and disbelief.

Had the boy just fired a _red_ energy blast at him?

But seeing the teen clutching his chest, Plasmius realized what was wrong and quickly flew up, forgetting the hunters. He knew that they would not be recovering any time soon, anyways.

Vlad had just reached Danny and hissed in mostly worry, "Daniel! I told you not to use up all your energy! Your body can't handle running on my energy alone. It's too hot!" And seeing the boy's eyes flash red, the man added with a frown, "And clearly, it has destabilized you, too!"

But before Danny could even focus enough to answer, they both heard someone clapping.

"Bravo, my pets! You truly are impressive creatures!" Iluzisto said with a sharp laugh as he floated a few yards away from the half-ghosts. "And yet, although it is obvious you are both fully recovered, you should conserve your energies. At this rate, neither of you will be able to even kick and scream as I take your cores!"

"Oh my gosh, Vlad! I-I'm burning up!" Danny panted out quietly as he struggled to keep himself intact in front of Iluzisto. They couldn't let the evil spirit figure out they were just duplicates!

Vlad just kept his eyes on Iluzisto, feeling troubled by the fact that the spirit wasn't even trying to attack them. But the older hybrid knew they had to do something fast before Daniel's duplicate succumbed to the hot energy inside it.

"I'll distract Iluzisto, while you head back to my home. I'll catch up," Vlad said quickly; and not waiting for a response, the older hybrid teleported in front of Iluzisto and fired two red ecto-blasts.

However, Iluzisto just raised his staff and absorbed the energy within it. It was almost comical how predictable the older crossbreed became around the younger one.

"Hmm… why thank you for the sample," Iluzisto said wickedly. "But I am already craving the main course…"

Vlad ignored the urge to shiver at the hungry tone in the spirit's voice and instead demanded, "What have you done with Justeco and Konsilisto? You told my ally you would exchange them for us; so here we are!"

Iluzisto laughed. "Oh, do not act so naïve, crossbreed. It does not fit you. We both know I have no intention of trading those two cowardly Observants for you and the other crossbreed. Why would I when I can—what is that expression you humans use?—Ah, yes—when I can have my cake and eat it, too!"

"In your greed you might not be able to do, either," Vlad replied back with narrowed eyes. The spirit was so sure he had won that he was taking his time, toying with them as sadistically as a cat would a mouse before it's about to devour it…

"Such bold words for a creature who is about to die," Iluzisto said darkly before the air around him suddenly blurred.

Vlad gasped as two dark clouds with red eyes and sharp teeth appeared next to Iluzisto and just as quickly lunged at him.

Plasmius flew down to avoid being swallowed by the black smoke-made creatures. But he had not noticed how a third one appeared below him until it was too late.

Vlad froze in true terror when the third creature was suddenly upon him, jaws open and ready to swallow him whole.

**"Vlad, move!"** Danny yelled, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and grabbing the man's arm. He pulled the older hybrid out of the way just before the cloud's jaws slammed shut at the space where Plasmius once floated.

"Daniel!" Vlad gasped in disbelief as the teen, still clutching his arm, picked up speed and altitude and flew them away from Iluzisto and the three smoke-made creatures behind them.

"I thought I told you leave!" the man exclaimed, mostly from still being shaken up.

"Pfft. It's a good thing I didn't," Danny replied, rolling his eyes; but realizing he still had a bone-breaking grip on Vlad's arm, he let go, adding, "Oops, sorry. Those cloud monster things back there really freaked me out."

"Well, then you better fly faster, because they're right behind us!" Plasmius suddenly yelled.

"Oh, crud!" Danny yelled when he glanced back and saw the three black clouds with eyes and teeth chasing them and quickly catching up.

Picking up speed, Plasmius urged, "Faster, Daniel! We have to make it to my house!"

But Danny's vision was spinning and his body was growing even hotter—if that was possible at this point. Still, he was determined to get to the mansion.

Their plan could not fail.

* * *

Meanwhile, the real Vlad and Danny, who were presently invisible, had arrived at the pier where the other group of Guys-in-White was busy trying to destroy three illusions of sharks flying around and destroying everything in their wake.

"We're gonna have to get rid of these illusions before we deal with the Guys-in-White," Danny said with a frown as they both floated a few yards away from the destruction.

Vlad briefly closed his eyes and confirmed that his clone had found Iluzisto and was currently battling with him.

"Well, at least I know for sure Iluzisto is not here. That means, we can make ourselves known without risk to our plans," Vlad finally said, opening his eyes. "But you're right, we need to deal with these illusions, first. However, we cannot leave these hunters unattended, because they will just as easily turn their attacks on us."

"Let's split up, then. I'll deal with the idiots and you deal with the fishes," Danny said with a smirk.

"No, Daniel," Plasmius said, his eyes carefully watching the illusions. "We cannot split up, either. These illusions are clearly more powerful than any we have faced before. The fact that Iluzisto does not need to be here to keep them so real and so destructive proves that all too well."

"Then?" Danny prompted.

Vlad suddenly smirked at the boy and then created two clones of himself. But, they, too, remained invisible.

"You know, it's actually pretty cool you're so good at duplication when you're not using it against me," Danny said with a smile; but then he looked back at the illusions and muttered, "Now, we just gotta figure out _how_ we're gonna get rid of these illusions."

The hybrids knew from their recent past experience that Iluzisto's illusions were pretty much untouchable, and the only way they had been able to ever get rid of them was attacking their creator. However, with Iluzisto occupied far away with Danny and Vlad's clones, the real half-ghosts could not even do that now.

So, really, they had no idea how they were going to get rid of these illusions.

"I guess we will have to improvise," Vlad said with a sigh.

"Now, _that's_ _my_ specialty," Danny quipped with a daring smirk, before he gestured to Vlad to take the left side, while Danny took to the right.

Meanwhile, the Guys-in-White were firing mercilessly at the three sharks destroying the pier; but all their attacks just continued to go through the creatures.

"What are these things?" one of the commanders growled in frustration. They could get no energy reading from these creatures or a lock on their ecto-signatures; and yet, they were clearly ghosts!

What else could they be?

"Sir," one of the GiW operants called as he rushed to his leader's side. "Team Delta is requesting back-up at Sector G. They have reported that the Phantom kid and the elusive Wisconsin Ghost have joined the unidentified one-eyed ghost in his attack against our comrades."

The commander cursed, but just as he was about to reply, Vlad's two clones materialized right above them.

"Hello, gentlemen. It seems you are all in my way," the clones said smugly in unison as their hands lit up with pink energy.

The Guys-in-White's eyes widened in alarm before the commander exclaimed to the operant beside him, "I thought you just said the Wisconsin Ghost was at Sector G!"

"Well, apparently he's also here," the agent gulped.

"Sir, look!" another operant said, pointing towards the flying sharks. But the ghost hunter was not pointing at said illusions.

"It's the Phantom punk!" the commander growled, seeing the teenage ghost attacking one of the sharks, just before another Wisconsin Ghost joined him.

But they were unable to do anything about it because the two Plasmius copies hovering above them fired at that instant and the Guys-in-White were force to scatter with screams of alarm.

But the commander, who had rolled out of the way of a particular attack, quickly began to shout out orders. He knew that responding to the other team's call for backup was now out of the question. They now had their own invasion to worry about.

"How are these creatures everywhere at once?" the commander growled to himself as he returned fire at the clones.

Meanwhile, Vlad and Danny were throwing everything they had at the shark illusions, but it did not even touch them.

"Vlad, this isn't working! We can't even touch these things!" Danny yelled before he gasped just as he unwittingly jerked his flight downward to avoid being eaten by one of the sharks.

Vlad growled in growing frustration as everything he did against the illusions proved ineffective. Like Danny, he kept all three sharks in his line of sight, not wanting to be caught off guard by any of them.

And it was a good thing, too, because right then, one of the sharks lunged at him. Vlad teleported just before the creature's jaws could snap him in half. Appearing behind it, he quickly fired an ecto-blast at the shark before it could turn back around towards him.

The shark was fast, though, and it managed to shift enough so that the attack meant to hit it dead on merely clipped the upper tip of its tail. But to Vlad's surprise, part of his beam actually _made contact with_ the illusion. And the smoke rising off the shark's tail was solid proof!

"What in the…?" But Vlad trailed off as a second shark came at him. He quickly flew up higher and whirled around to face the creature. And seeing the first shark now charging, too, he fired two red ecto-blasts, one at each shark.

But the rays just went through them again!

And as if seeing his confusion and aggravation, the sharks paused and smiled wickedly at him before lunging once more.

Meanwhile, Danny was having his own troubles. He was trying to find a way to get rid of the third shark, but it was barely giving him a chance to think. The shark just continued to chase him relentlessly and no matter what the teen threw back at it, he could do nothing to slow it down.

"Darn it! Why can't you stupid illusions just disappear!" he yelled back at the shark. However, it was at that moment that Danny felt his clone's distress and he gasped at the sudden burning sensation in his core.

Unintentionally, he halted in mid-air and squeezed his eyes closed as several visions invaded his mind at once; but as quickly as they came, they were gone and he was left panting and with a big headache.

What had happened? He could feel his duplicate was still whole somewhere, but he could also feel how it was distressed and growing weaker. Why was it—?

"DANIEL!" Vlad suddenly yelled out, bringing the teen back to reality. Danny felt his blood freeze when he realized why the man had screamed out his name like that.

He had forgotten all about the shark that had been chasing him!

The boy wasn't even able to _think_ about turning around to face the incoming threat before it was right on top of him. All he could do was squeeze his eyes shut just as he was swallowed whole by the shark from behind.

Vlad froze in dread when he saw the boy disappear inside the shark, only to jolt when the shark moved through the boy as easily as a cloud. What was that? How had the illusion not just killed the boy?

The teen was as much shocked as the man when he felt no pain, but a breeze move by him. Snapping his eyes open, Danny gasped when he spotted the shark that had just 'swallowed' him turn back around and growl.

"Blast! Let go!" Danny suddenly heard Vlad cry out and he quickly looked over at the man.

The sharks had taken advantage of Vlad's distraction; and now he was caught between two sets of jaws. One of them had clamped their teeth down on Vlad's cape and the other had its teeth clamped down on the barrier he had somehow managed to create in front of him to keep the shark from eating him.

Danny's attention returned back to the third shark in time to see it abruptly appear right in front of him. It didn't hesitate to snap its jaws at the teen.

Danny yelped as he turned his lower half into a spectral tail and darted out of the way, but he had not been quick enough and the shark managed to clip the tip of his tail.

Danny hissed as his legs reformed and he saw a shallow cut running down his left calf. However, he had no more time to think about it and took off again as the shark gave chase. He didn't understand it! How had the shark not eaten him before, but now just hurt him? And clearly, by Vlad's compromised position, the sharks were capable of touching him, too!

So how…?

Danny mentally jolted as one of his clone's brief visions that he had seen a moment ago came to his direct attention. His clone had destroyed the dragon illusion with his ice-powers even when he had not meant to do that—the copy had just been trying to put out the fire. In fact, the creature had its back to Danny's clone when his ice attack had struck and destroyed it…

And… Danny also had had his back to the shark illusion just now when it had attempted to swallow him, but instead, it had gone right through him…

Could it be…?

Danny suddenly stopped and cringed when he felt the shark upon him. But he did not dare turn around to face it, wanting to confirm his belief. And like before, the shark opened its jaws and tried to eat Danny…

Only for it to go right through him again!

Danny grinned in triumph, but wasted no time and fired an ecto-blast at the shark before it could turn itself around and face him.

For the first time, Danny's ecto-blast _connected with_ the illusion, hitting the shark's tail. It dispersed into nothing, leaving the shark tailless.

"Vlad! You gotta hit them from behind!" Danny yelled at the older hybrid as the shark spun around in spite of it being tailless and lunged at the teen again.

Vlad's eyes widened in realization, and going on his next idea, he teleported. The two sharks that had been attacking him collided with each other; but all that did was cause them to blur before they spun around, searching for their target.

And seeing the older crossbreed reappear a few feet from them, the sharks growled and lunged again.

This time, Vlad did not move and waited up until the last minute to teleport again. But this time, Plasmius reappeared behind the sharks and fired two bolts of electricity.

One of the bolts hit the shark from behind dead on and it instantly disappeared into purple smoke. The second bolt, however, went harmlessly through the second shark, because it had spun around fast enough to face the older hybrid.

Right then, Danny suddenly flew toward Vlad, shouting, "Hey, Cheesehead! Think fast!"

Vlad jolted as Danny flew right past him with the third shark on his tail. But the man quickly spun around, turning his back to the shark he had been focused on. Instead, he shot a strong ecto-blast at the shark chasing the teen.

The red energy struck the tailless shark from behind and the illusion disappeared in an instant.

Making an upward loop to retrace his flight path, Danny grinned at the billionaire, only to gasp when he saw the last shark lunging at Vlad from behind.

"Vlad, don't turn around!" the teen yelled as he propelled forward at top speed towards the last shark.

However, the man instinctively spun around to face the incoming threat and gasped as he saw a set of jaws right on top of him.

Vlad raised his arms in front of him, just as the large jaws came down on him. However, at that same instant, Danny formed a large ray of ice energy and fired it at the shark from behind.

The older hybrid gasped as the creature instantly vanished in a puff of purple smoke and all the man felt was a cold breeze hit him.

Vlad's eyes darted over to Danny, who shook his head at him and scolded him like he was a kid, "I told you not to turn around, fruit loop."

Plasmius swallowed, still not believing he was still alive. But seeing Danny smirk at him, the man sighed loudly, his tense muscles relaxing a bit.

"Yes, well, I'll have to listen next time," Vlad replied with a small smile. But then his eyebrows creased inward as he asked, "How did you figure out we needed to attack them from behind?"

Danny frowned a bit in worry. "I got a flash of my copy's memories and I saw how it had destroyed an illusion from hitting it from behind. But, I'm worried, Vlad. My duplicate's really weak and I don't know if it'll make it back to your house."

"Then, we better hurry," Vlad said, pointing over at their other problem.

The Guys-in-White were still trying to destroy Vlad's clones with no success.

"Well, they are persistent; I'll give them that much," Danny said dryly.

"Persistence is a dangerous thing, Daniel," Vlad warned as he watched the Guys-in-White get the upper hand on one of his clones. They mercilessly shot it with all they had until it was forced out of existence.

But before they could do the same to his second clone, Vlad called it back to him as he and the boy flew closer to the group of humans.

"Now, really? Was that necessary?" the real Plasmius asked, crossing his arms and sighing in fake hurt.

The Guys-in-White quickly turned to Danny and Vlad, and they instantly aimed their weapons at them.

"Yes, it is. Just like it will be necessary to capture you both and dissect you piece-by-piece! And then we will keep your cores as trophies!" the commander sneered.

"Eww, dude!" Danny said with a shudder. "Seriously, what is it with everyone wanting our cores lately?"

Danny quickly raised a wall of ice between them and the Guys-in-White just before they began firing again.

"Back on plan?" Danny asked Vlad, as the ice wall was bombarded by ghost weapons.

"Yes, move!" Plasmius replied as he moved forward and fired a powerful ecto-blast at the ice wall. It exploded instantly, sending pieces of sharp ice everywhere while the force threw the ghost hunters back.

"Daniel, I said go!" Vlad said more firmly when he saw the boy still next to him, clearly concerned about the hunters.

Danny jolted but quickly took off.

Vlad rolled his eyes, but then flew after the boy, quickly catching up with him.

"Vlad, we're just going to lead them towards the outskirts. We can't hurt them," Danny stressed worriedly, still not liking the man's last vicious attack. Those sharp pieces of ice probably hurt some of them enough to put them in the hospital!

But Plasmius smirked and just replied, "Of course, Daniel."

Danny frowned as the man picked up speed; but the teen said nothing else and just matched the older hybrid's speed.

The teen looked back and saw the Guys-in-White had regrouped and were quickly getting in their tanks, while others were taking to the sky in helicopters and hover-rockets.

The hybrids made sure to stay ahead of them enough to avoid any attacks, but close enough so that the hunters wouldn't lose sight of them…

* * *

Danny and Vlad's duplicates had finally made it to Vlad's mansion and they quickly phased in. The moment they landed, Danny's clone fell to his knees as the red hue around his body intensified.

But Sam and Jazz had been waiting for their return and quickly saw what was happening to their friend and brother.

"Danny!" they yelled instinctively.

"We are just clones, remember?" Plasmius quickly told them in annoyance, before pointing at them and telling them, "Do not forget the plan! Go!"

Jazz and Sam quickly nodded and ran off.

Vlad vaguely heard Maddie announce that the ghost shield and security system had come online as he squatted down next to Danny. The man studied the boy for a moment before saying, "We made it, Danny. You can stop fighting it now."

"Is this gonna hurt the real me?" Danny asked, as he panted, his eyes a solid red now.

Plasmius smiled. "No, but he will know what happened. If it were real you, then, perhaps my energy would have affected you differently. But, that's a lesson and an explanation for another day, hmm?"

Danny scoffed but smiled back, replying, "No, cheese head. I'm still not joining you."

But before Vlad's own copy could say anything, Danny's clone was consumed by the hot energy inside it and he vanished into a puff of red smoke.

Plasmius stared thoughtfully at the place the teen once was. It had been surprising enough that the teen's duplicate had been able to hold himself together after the amount of energy it had used back there; but to have been able to hold himself together for as long as he had solely on Vlad's hotter energy was not just surprising, but strange.

"Truly you intrigue me more with every encounter, Daniel…" Plasmius commented before his sensitive hearing caught the faint sound of an energy blast hitting the shield around his mansion.

Narrowing his eyes in thought, he stood and turned towards the main entrance. "So it begins," he whispered before suddenly vanishing out of existence and returning as energy to the real Vlad some distance away…

* * *

The real hybrids soon made it near the downtown district as had been their plan. After all, they needed to have all the Guys-in-White after them for this to work.

So, it came of no surprise when the second group of hunters—the ones that had been attacking the hybrids' clones and Iluzisto a moment ago—were waiting for them ahead.

Clearly, the first group from the pier had informed their other comrades of the 'incoming threats'.

Right then, however, Danny gasped as he felt his duplicate at last give in and vanished out of existence.

"Daniel? Are you alright?" Vlad asked noticing the boy had slowed down.

Danny nodded as he blinked back the dizziness of having his clone's memories return to him.

"He burned up," the teen muttered, confused.

"What?" Vlad asked, not sure what he was talking about.

But right then, Vlad's own clone returned to him as energy. A pink hue briefly brightened Plasmius' body, but it soon was absorbed, and the man's eyes widened in surprise. He finally understood what the teen was talking about.

But right now, there were more important things to worry about.

Although their duplicates had made it to the house, now _they_ needed to make sure that they were in position for their next part of the plan.

Seeing the hunters ahead begin to fire at them and the ones behind closing in, Vlad and Danny quickly made a sharp turn to the left, between two buildings. The half-ghosts stayed their course towards the outskirt of Amity Park, and more importantly, to the town's ghost shield—which Plasmius had deactivated at his mansion before he had left.

But hopefully soon, it would become a _human_ shield.

It seemed the Guys-in-White were not going to make things so easy for them, though. The sound of helicopter blades soon overwhelmed the sky above the half-ghosts, quickly closing in on them.

"Keep going, Daniel," Vlad quickly said before he suddenly vanished.

"Vlad!" Danny yelled, but the man was gone. The boy growled, but still kept skirting the downtown buildings, phasing or weaving around them to avoid the firing of the helicopters and the hunters on jetpacks almost right on top of him.

He soon made it out of the district, but now that he was out in the open, the 'GiW' didn't hesitate to increase their attacks. Danny yelped as he barely missed two ecto-missiles. Putting on more speed, he dove closer to the ground, giving the hunters on the ground a better visual, but he still kept ahead of them.

"Okay, Fenton, here we go," Danny muttered to himself as he finally saw the east limits of Amity Park. He wasted no time and drew up ice energy from his core and quickly poured it out, freezing over the road just a few feet below him.

As a result the Guys-in-White on the ground began to lose control of their vehicles before they all crashed to a stop. That hardly deterred them, though, because they didn't hesitate to jump out of their tanks and vehicles and give chase on foot.

Danny glanced back as he led the hunters right toward the town shield's perimeter. By now, the helicopters had caught up with him and he was now in range of their weapons. The hunters with jetpacks were also not too far behind.

"He's heading for the shield! We got him trapped now!" one of the commanders exclaimed, sure that the ghost shield around Amity was up. That meant the Ghost Boy was about to slam right into it, and then they would surround him!

However, much to their surprise, Danny smirked and flew right past the _supposedly_ activated shield.

"Come on, dudes! Come get me!" the teen taunted as he sped up again, knowing he needed to get them all at least a few yards out of Amity's perimeter.

The Guys-in-White were stunned. There was no sign of the shield! It must be turned off! How? They did not know, and they had no time to ponder it right now.

Quickly pushing aside their disbelief, the commanders barked out orders to pursue the Ghost Boy. They had lost all visual and energy readings on the Wisconsin Ghost, so they weren't about to lose Danny Phantom, too!

Danny finally reached the agreed upon distance and he began to slow down; but that meant he was now getting surrounded by ghost hunters.

_"Hurry up, Vlad!"_ Danny mentally urged, growing more anxious by the second.

But as if Plasmius heard his silent plead, the older hybrid abruptly materialized right above the helicopters, which had been about to vaporize Danny.

The Guys-in-White gasped as their instruments when crazy with Plasmius' sudden appearance, especially when the powerful ghost conjured up ecto-spheres in his hands. But by then it was too late, and the older half-ghost didn't hesitate to fire three consecutive attacks, effectively destroying each of the three helicopters rotators.

"Mayday! Mayday! We're going down! We're going down!" the hunters inside the copters yelled into their radios as they spun out of control, heading straight down.

**"No!"** Danny yelled, realizing the three helicopters were about to crash on top of the hunters below.

But before that could happen, a pink hue surrounded the copters and halted their descent before it could harm the men in them and on the ground.

"You and your heroics," Vlad said over to the teen with a helpless sigh before he levitated the copters some distance away from the people below and dropped them gently enough to spare the lives of the men inside it.

Plasmius floated down next to Danny who rolled his eyes, but there was also a relieved smile on his face. He had no time to say anything, though, because the hunters below were regrouping and they still had the ones on jetpacks to worry about.

Actually, the latter were already surrounding him and Plasmius

"Don't move! You are both under arrest!" they all yelled, aiming their weapons at them.

"Yes, of course we are!" Vlad replied with a snarky grin. "However…"

Plasmius suddenly grabbed Danny's arm and teleported them a few yards inside Amity's perimeter before Danny grinned and finished for him, "—we think it's you all who need some time out…"

Vlad had already pulled the remote he had brought with him from his home out of his suit, and didn't hesitate to press a button on it.

In an instant, the shield around Amity came back on.

The hunters on foot quickly fired their weapons, while the ones on the rockets came at them…

Only to slam right into the shield.

"Human shield," Danny sang, crossing his arms with a grin, while Vlad kept a shield up to protect them against any weapon fire.

"What? How is that possible?" one of the commanders gasped out. "Only the mayor and we have direct access to Amity Park's ghost shield! How did you ghosts infiltrate the system?"

"Ah, yes," Plasmius said. "Well, your brave, clever, and incredibly handsome mayor did _try_ to stop us when we invaded his home. He almost succeeded to defeat us, too, but alas, he's only human. Now, he's just another victim tied up in his own home and I got this," Plasmius teased, wagging the shield's remote at them.

The Guys-in-White stood stun for a moment. Actually, they had stopped firing from how shocked they were. They had never seen any ecto-entities show this level of intelligence and planning. Unfortunately, the hunters own access to the shield system was at headquarters… and they were all out here—on the outside of the shield. They didn't even know a human energy shield was even possible!

"You two vile ghosts will not get away with this! Just wait until we get back in! We are going to turn you both into ecto-particles!" one of the commanders sneered as he punched the shield keeping him and his entire team out of Amity.

But then the second commander readily exclaimed, "Or, better yet, we will rip out your cores _and then_ turn you both into ecto-particles!"

"Yeeeah," Danny replied. "Seriously, the constant 'ripping out your cores' thing is getting annoying. I mean, there's other parts of us that matter, too, you know!"

"Daniel, you're not helping our cause," Vlad told him dryly.

"I'm just sayin! It's getting annoying," Danny replied with a light pout.

Plasmius rolled his eyes before heading away from the enraged hunters, who began to fire again.

Danny gasped as some of the blasts almost hit him, and he quickly took off, too. Catching up to the older hybrid, though, he raised an eyebrow, saying, "And what about you? 'Brave, clever, and incredibly handsome'? _Seriously?"_

"I only stated the truth," Vlad replied with a smirk. "Besides, I had to protect my integrity as 'Mayor Vlad Masters', somehow."

Danny rolled his eyes before he glanced back at the disappearing view of the 'GiW' behind them. "At least we got those Guys-in-White out of the way. Now, we can deal with Iluzisto without anyone getting hurt."

"Yes, and finishing this off at your school's football stadium is the best place we can go to avoid any further damage or risk to any of the citizens," Vlad replied.

"Vladdie, I didn't know you cared," Danny said teasingly.

Plasmius rolled his eyes. "Nice try, Daniel. But, no. I am simply wanting to avoid any more problems as mayor. After all, it is I who will have to deal with the aftermath of this disaster."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever keeps your villain pride intact, Plasmius," Danny answered with a smirk.

Vlad sighed in defeat, and asked himself, "Why do I bother?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Iluzisto had followed the Danny and Vlad clones to the mansion. He still didn't buy their little ploy, so the spirit had taken his own precautions…

Still, he was curious to know why they had led him to the older crossbreed's abode. When he had realized this, Iluzisto had called off his smoke monster illusions and watched as the two-creatures-of-his-interest phased inside.

It had been only two seconds after that when a familiar green shield appeared and covered the large house.

Iluzisto fired an ecto-blast to test out the barrier, and wasn't surprised when his attack was deflected away.

"Strange how something so insignificant can be so annoying," Iluzisto muttered, now remembering the larger shield that had been around Amity Park.

It had certainly made it very difficult for him to get here before. He had not been able to teleport passed it, and nothing, not even his strikes from his now very powerful staff, had been able to penetrate it. Ultimately, he had lost two valuable days because of this infernal shield keeping him outside of Amity Park. He had been fortunate to have found the young crossbreed's portal to at least get here.

He paused in thought on that a moment before chuckling at his own cleverness from the realization: the shield around the town had to have also been the older crossbreed's invention. Certainly so, when there was a smaller, but similar one, around the man's abode. Whatever these shields were made of, they certainly were well-crafted.

Such a clever creature the older crossbreed was. Oddly, that made the spirit want the older crossbreed's core even more. Then again, he was more itching to take the younger one's core. True, the elder one's core was certainly more desirable because it was a more developed and powerful one, but the child's core…

Whoever possessed such a dynamic, still developing core would surely have powerful—and endless— potential. The thought was intoxicating. However as desirable as that was, it was not so much the boy's core that had Iluzisto set on getting to him, first. No, it was what the child represented to the other crossbreed and everyone else—what it would _symbolize_ to kill Danny Phantom.

He would break _them all_ with his death.

In the midst of his pondering, a sudden vision jutted forward in his mind and his eye narrowed in amusement.

"Oh, well, is that not interesting…?" he muttered before focusing back on the shield in front of him. "Nevertheless, I am curious about… all this… And, really, I am in no hurry. _I_ am not the one who is running out of time. If the crossbreeds want to run down the clock—or, should I say, _my Illusionist clock_—then, I will let them…"

Iluzisto thought a moment more and soon recalled when he first came to the older crossbreed's home. The shield had also been erected; and although, Plasmius had been the one to lower it, Iluzisto had figured out a way to get past it.

Iluzisto fired another stronger blast at the shield to further test it and watched as it flickered a bit this time.

He thoughtfully commented, "This shield is clearly not as powerful as the one placed around this pathetic town… which means my staff might be able to penetrate through _this_ one—after all, it had been capable of it even before I gained full power."

Using the sharp end of his staff, Iluzisto let some of the black poison within the tip leak into the shield. Like he expected, the shield began to turn black and dissolve.

Without a thought, Iluzisto floated past the dissolving shield and phased past the mansion's closed door.

"Crossbreeds!" Iluzisto called out in an amused voice as his eye looked around his silent and empty surroundings. "Really, must we play this game? I will find you both regardless of where you hide…"

"Who said we're hiding?" he suddenly heard the younger crossbreed retort from behind him.

Iluzisto's pupil quickly spun around in his 'head' and was shocked to see the boy out in plain view, his arms crossed and a bold smirk on his features.

The spirit slowly turned his body around all the way as his pupil also shifted back to the front of his body.

"Yes, perhaps, you are where we want you to be," the older crossbreed's voice rang from the opposite side, and since Iluzisto was now facing the teen, he did not see the incoming attack, let alone did he have time to avoid it.

A green beam of energy slammed into Iluzisto's back, pushing him forward with a hiss of pain. Still, the spirit managed to keep himself from falling over. Right then, a second green blast came at him from the front. He was only able to catch sight of the younger crossbreed firing it before it hit him in the stomach, and this time, sent him flying back into the nearest wall.

Pushing himself back up with the help of his staff, Iluzisto glared over at the two crossbreeds standing in the center of the foyer and growled at the smug looks on their faces.

"I shall wipe that arrogance off your faces yet!" he sneered, raising a hand to the pair and creating an illusion of a rope intending to trap them.

But much to Iluzisto's surprise, the illusion went right through them, and the crossbreeds didn't hesitate to fire two more sets of blasts at him.

Iluzisto cried out in pain this time with the powerful force that threw him against the wall again. But the spirit thought fast, and slid into stealth mode. As he moved as silent as a breeze around the crossbreeds, he watched as they looked around for him. Iluzisto raised his staff to attack the two from behind, when, abruptly, they disappeared.

Iluzisto gasped, though he stayed in stealth mode. However, now furious and confused by how the crossbreeds were somehow getting the upper hand, he quickly flew deeper into the mansion, searching angrily for them.

Iluzisto rounded a corner into another hallway when he heard whispering from an open door. The spirit quickly turned invisible and slid inside. It had gone quiet, but he glided further into the room, until he noticed a shadow leaking out from behind a couch. Quickly, Iluzisto flew up to get a view from above and was surprised when he discovered one of the younger crossbreed's human friends—the male one—hiding behind a couch with a weapon in hand, clearly waiting for him.

Remaining unseen, Iluzisto's eye curved into an evil grin as he decided to try his _improved_ illusion powers on the human boy.

He quietly floated closer to the boy until he was sure he had a good angle to use his powers effectively. Conjuring up an illusion of a large boa constrictor, he quickly projected it towards the boy, who was still unaware of Iluzisto's presence now behind him. However, the instant the snake appeared and tried to sink its jaws into the boy, the illusion went through Tucker—much like Iluzisto's previous rope illusion had gone through the half-ghosts.

Iluzisto's eye widened in true confusion and disbelief. He didn't understand what was happening! Why were his illusions not touching anyone here? Perhaps before, it might have been a possibility, but not now when his powers were at their peak!

The illusionist spirit had no more time to ponder what was going on, because yet again, a green ecto-blast, though it was one of _several_ rays, came from nowhere and struck him from behind. Instantly, he crashed forward and was pushed out of stealth mode.

Iluzisto grunted, barely noticing the human boy was now gone, and quickly sat up and fired a purple ray at his attacker—who now happened to be Skulker. The spirit, though, was jolted yet again when the hunter also vanished, avoiding the blast.

It took Iluzisto off guard even more; so when the Hunter Ghost reappeared to the left and fired an ecto-blast from one of his weapons, the evil spirit was struck dead on.

Iluzisto recovered quickly, turning intangible to protect himself as he floated back up to his full height. Now more than a little ticked off, the spirit fired several blasts at the hunter, only for the ghost to abruptly disappear again!

**"Enough of your games!** Show yourselves, crossbreeds, or I'll destroy all the Observants before their time is up!" Iluzisto shouted, too impatient at the moment to keep to his plans. The room blurred with his power as his anger momentarily made him lose control of himself, giving in to the sudden irrationality and impulsiveness he was so prone to do.

"You want them? Then you'll have to go through us, first!" Sam suddenly yelled from behind Iluzisto, just before she fired an ecto-blast from a bazooka steadied on her shoulder.

The blast went through the intangible Iluzisto; but his victory was short-lived. Jazz suddenly appeared from the front and fired a strange device at him that instantly electrocuted him in spite of being intangible.

Iluzisto screamed in both anger and pain before he dispersed various illusions toward the girls. But again, the tricks did nothing to them!

Skulker appeared once more and fired several consecutive shots at the spirit, slamming him into the wall so hard that Iluzisto smashed through it, tumbling past the hole he had made in the wall before landing unceremoniously on the floor of another hallway.

Iluzisto's form flickered, something that went unnoticed, since he was now alone in this new hallway. But it wasn't for long, because Skulker suddenly appeared just as Iluzisto got off the ground.

Thinking fast, Iluzisto slipped back into stealth mode and Skulker was forced to hold his attack after losing visual of his target.

Iluzisto watched with growing anger and confusion as the hunter vanished into thin air again. How were they all doing this? And more importantly, why were his illusions not working on them?

Suddenly, Iluzisto heard a faint sound down the hall, sounding much like the younger crossbreed's voice.

"Just go, Vlad. I'll meet you inside," he heard the hurried whisper.

Iluzisto quickly flew stealthily down the hall and got there in time to see the younger crossbreed disappear from sight and the elder one phase into a normal-looking door into some unknown room.

Narrowing his eyes, Iluzisto quickly turned intangible and followed the older crossbreed inside the room. The spirit froze in surprise at what he found.

There, floating with arms crossed were the two crossbreeds, but what was stranger was the room itself.

It was a complete white room with nothing but the door he had just phased through. There was an odd black mirror on one of the walls that stretched across part of its length.

Iluzisto growled, not caring what the room was and focusing on the crossbreeds as he fired two purple beams at them. But the beams just went right through them and slammed into the white wall behind them. His energy strikes were not working on them, either!

Before the spirit could try to figure out how that was even possible, the room suddenly grew a voice of its own.

_"Simulation room activated. Initiating, defense mode."_

Iluzisto gasped as the room changed before his eyes, and several weapons sprouted from the walls and ceilings, while said things turned bright red and the door vanished.

The weapons all fired at once and attacked the spirit mercilessly. Even when he tried to use intangibility and his stealth mode, the room somehow threw barrages especially designed to hurt him even with the use of his defenses.

Iluzisto was slammed into a wall and his red eye pivoted to where Vlad and Danny were still standing; and like his own ecto-blasts, the room's energy beams just went through them. But now, with so many ecto-rays actually moving through them, their forms were blurring, much like his illusions.

It was then that Iluzisto realized the truth.

He had been tricked. Somehow, these were not the real crossbreeds! They were _illusions_ of them!

**"How is this possible?"** Iluzisto screamed in fury as a wave of purple energy exploded out of him, destroying all the weapons in the room at once.

But new weapons replaced them, and they hummed with their power before they released a wave of electrical energy at Iluzisto.

The spirit screamed as his entire body was seized by the attack…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the supposed 'black mirror' was an adjacent room, which happened to be the control room for Vlad's simulation/training room.

"Dude, this room rocks!" Tucker said with a grin as he tried another button and was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of freeze rays attack the evil spirit trapped inside.

Skulker, who was the only other person with the boy, smirked and replied, "I must admit you speak the truth, whelp. My employer has a similar room in his Wisconsin abode, so I imagine he simply transferred the idea to this abode, too. He must have improved it, though, since there are some things here I did not see in his earlier model…"

"Hey, new or not, it's awesome and heh-heh, doing a mean job of ticking Iluzisto off, just like we wanted!" Tucker chuckled with a smirk of his own.

"Absolutely," Skulker said with a smirk before narrowing his eyes a bit and partially-pouting. "And now, whelp, you have had enough entertainment on this round. It is _my_ turn!"

Not at all frightened, the boy grinned before nodding to the ghost and surrendering his control. After all, they both had been doing a great job with keeping the heat on Iluzisto.

Once Iluzisto had come inside, Skulker and Tucker had used the mansion's cameras to watch the evil spirits movements from a safe distance. They also used Plasmius' ghost security system to shoot him with real ecto-blasts and used the holograms to constantly attack and keep Iluzisto confused and frustrated.

Now, they had trapped him in the simulation room, like they had planned…

"Let us hope this weakens him enough for my employer and the whelp to have a chance at defeating him. I am unsure, though, because I am asking the room to give me an energy and strength reading on Iluzisto, which it should be able to do. Yet, it says it cannot retrieve said information," Skulker explained.

"Well, maybe we can keep him here until he wears himself out, and Vlad and Danny won't even have to fight him," Tucker replied, hopeful.

But just when the boy said that, Iluzisto suddenly released another wave of ectoplasmic energy and destroyed yet another set of the room's weapons.

"I am not sure the room has enough spare weapons to outlast him," Skulker answered worriedly.

"Fine, crossbreeds!" they heard Iluzisto sneer as he created a shield over himself to protect him from the room's constant barrage. "If you want to continue to trick me with your little inventions, then I will add a 'little friend' of yours into the mix…"

Skulker and Tucker's eyes widened when they saw Iluzisto raise his staff and black smoke began to leak out of the staff's crystal eyeball.

The black smoke then took the form of an unconscious Justeco.

"Turn it off, Skulker!" Tucker shouted in a panic. "The room's gonna waste Justeco and we can't let that happen!"

The hunter hesitated. He knew if they released Iluzisto now, the spirit would not be weakened enough; but if he didn't, the room would also attack Justeco the moment his form solidified enough to be touched by the weapons.

"Skulker! We can't let him get hurt!" Tucker yelled, pushing the ghost past his hesitation.

"Alright. But we will have to resort back to the projections and keep him here as long as possible," Skulker replied with a reluctant sigh.

He quickly terminated the program, and the moment he did, Iluzisto suddenly laughed and the unconscious Justeco suddenly vanished from existence, revealing it had only been an illusion.

"Oh, crud!" Tucker exclaimed, but it was too late, because Iluzisto quickly vanished out of the deactivated room.

Skulker jumped into action. He turned to the boy next to him and grabbed one of his arms. "Come. We need to reactivate the projections and proceed to the next part of the plan!" He didn't even wait for the boy to respond and just turned them intangible and invisible, then flew them down to Vlad's secret lab.

Once there, they found Sam and Jazz anxiously waiting for them. "Time to go?" the younger girl asked.

"Yeah, time to go!" Tucker answered, and they quickly hurried to Vlad's own model of the specter speeder.

Meanwhile, Skulker quickly activated his link with his employer and then brought his communicator to his mouth, saying, "Plasmius? Can you hear me?"

_"Yes, Skulker. What is happening?"_

"We managed to trick Iluzisto into the simulation room, but I fear he was not weakened enough. You and the whelp better get ready."

_"I copy that, Skulker."_

The hunter terminated the call and quickly moved to the lab's mainframe. He then brought up the house's cameras and found Iluzisto in the corridor.

He instantly commanded the projection system to come on and attack the intruder in the mansion. Skulker smirked, thinking how the holograms were the Ghost Boy's idea; and he had to admit, he was impressed.

But right now wasn't the time to think about how much more appealing his favorite prey was.

Skulker briefly glanced at the kids, saying, "I will lure Iluzisto to you, but do not get caught, whelps. I will catch up as soon as I can."

* * *

His mind awhirl with ire, Iluzisto huffed as he made his way out of the simulation room and through the mansion. And to think, these creatures actually thought they could trick him! And yet, the spirit still couldn't figure out how they were making all these illusions of themselves. True, he had not been to this world for several centuries. And humans had been very backwards then…Maybe the humans had become more sophisticated along the way. Not only that, but the older crossbreed _was _quite cunning… So, he was left to conclude it had to be some clever device the older crossbreed had invented…

And speaking of said invention, Iluzisto was suddenly surrounded by Skulker, Vlad, and Danny and they quickly attacked him with ecto-blasts.

The spirit was ready, though, and he turned intangible to avoid the combined fire power. But as the blasts flew through him, Iluzisto noticed how all the energy beams had been green. He, at least, knew the eldest crossbreed preferred stronger forms of energies; so that must mean that these were merely illusions of the crossbreeds and not really them.

Iluzisto was more than a little annoyed by it all, but if he had not left the house yet, it was because he still did not know where the _real_ crossbreeds were. However, he was long since onto their game, and he knew all he had to do was wait and he would find them…

It needed to be soon, though, because he was beginning to grow unstable with the constant attacks and from all that energy he used in that bizarre room. He chuckled wickedly. Little did they know that he could have just _vanished_ out of that room with no need for them to deactivate its power. Oblivious creatures. No matter, they would learn the truth soon enough…

Iluzisto was suddenly distracted when the entire house began to make an annoying sound. It was soon followed by weapons emerging from the walls at once.

This time, Iluzisto was forced to create a shield as an electrical attack came at him. And he already knew from past experience that intangibility was useless against it.

But feeling his energy waning, he growled, his body flickering again as his energy reserve ran lower and lower. Even though he still had no idea where the crossbreeds were, he knew he had to escape this house before his efforts went to waste.

Forcing the shield outward, Iluzisto destroyed the weapons and quickly flew up to avoid the projections of the crossbreeds and their minions' own shots.

But, suddenly, to the spirit's surprise, a fist came out of nowhere and slammed into his eye as hard as a baseball bat would its round target.

Iluzisto screamed as he was thrown back, just as Skulker regained visibility and landed in front of him.

"What's wrong, Iluzisto? Running low of energy?" the hunter taunted.

Iluzisto snarled but before he could retaliate, the hunter ghost turned intangible and flew through the ceiling, heading out of the mansion.

Gripping the sides of his burning eye, Iluzisto glared murderously at the spot where the hunter had disappeared. However, the sound of weapons charging up around him reminded him of the house's defense system.

Iluzisto had no more energy to waste on fighting the remaining hostile illusions and the house's weapons.

Using a dome-like shield to protect himself from the bombardment, Iluzisto finally phased out of the house. His single eye darted to the left just in time to see Skulker phase into some red-and-white colored ship. The spirit barely made out the young crossbreed's human companions who were within it, too, before said flying contraption took off.

"Feeble inferior creatures!" he sneered. "I will destroy them with my own hands!"

Burning with fury and forgetting everything else at the moment, the evil spirit set his sights on destroying the hunter and those human creatures for tricking him as they had.

However, it was at that moment that Iluzisto froze with a sudden idea and his anger instantly snuffed out.

"At last," he whispered with sudden glee before his eye darted towards the moving speeder and narrowed with wicked intent.

Abruptly, Iluzisto vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, Sam was piloting the speeder and urgently yelled back to Skulker, "Is he following us?"

"I am not sure. I cannot see him through this infernal contraption!" Skulker replied, annoyed, as he continued to move the viewing snake-like camera on the speeder around, trying to find Iluzisto.

Suddenly, Danny's friends and sister screamed, **"Skulker!"**

The hunter whirled around, only to see Iluzisto through the ship's large windshield. The spirit had suddenly appeared right in their path! And before they could do anything, Iluzisto raised his staff and fired a purple ray right at them.

Everyone cried out as the strong blast slammed into the windshield, cracking it; but it also sent the speeder spinning backward uncontrollably.

Skulker gasped, but took action. He flew towards the controls, grabbing them over Sam's hands to regain control of the ship. He managed to get it to stop spinning, but now there was all these alarms going off.

Iluzisto appeared right in front of them again and it was then that they noticed that the spirit's body was flickering and transparent, clearly just out of energy.

But it wasn't _that_ that had them staring at the spirit in horror. It was what that suddenly meant.

"He's just a clone!" Skulker whispered out in dread.

This whole time, they had not been weakening the real Iluzisto; they had just been weakening **_a copy_** of him!

So, where was the real one?

"Nice try, but** I** **AM** the master of illusions!" Iluzisto's duplicate said evilly. "And you all are mere inferior creatures not even worth my efforts. Still, I will be glad to tell the crossbreeds of your demise before I lure them into my own trap and rip out their cores… Good-bye."

The kids and Skulker gasped as Iluzisto quickly raised his staff again and fired all his remaining energy at the ship.

With that, Iluzisto's copy vanished out of existence. But its last attack finally shattered the speeder's front glass and further destroyed the front engine.

**"Whelps!"** Skulker screamed as he lunged forward and protected them from the explosion of glass with his own body.

But that soon didn't matter because the speeder started to spin and descend at a rapid pace.

The kids screamed as they spun, only their belts keeping them from flying out of the destroyed speeder.

Skulker quickly reached forward towards a single button and pressed it. As a result, he heard the three kids scream even louder, but he paid them no mind now, and turned his focus on his other priority.

Ignoring the fact that the speeder was about to slam into the street below, he brought his communicator to his lips and quickly said, "Plasmius! He was just a copy! It's a trap! Do you hear me? Pull back, it's a trap! He—"

But Skulker never finished, for the speeder finally slammed into the ground, instantly exploding on contact.

* * *

**A/N: *sound of muffled yell* Ms. Hyde here since truephan is, ahem, a bit disposed: Well, Vladdie Muse, aren't we the evil ones? We just won't give the readers a break throughout this entire chapter and then we just leave them hanging high and dry? *girlishly giggles* How _perfect_ is that? But not as perfect as hearing the readers' thoughts on the matter—but they had better be good! Otherwise, I'll hold truephan responsible for what I might do! *threateningly points out blue button with her sharp hairpin*. Until next time! **

***sound of even more muffled yells* **

**Ms. Hyde to truephan: Oh, you were asking for that for a while, girl, so keep it shut…Well, hee-hee, I've already done that for you, haven't I? *smiles wickedly as she points more threateningly at the blue 'review' button*.**

**Pearl: Man, Vlad muse liked this ending a little too much. I think he agrees with Ms. Hyde, which isn't all that surprising. Ah, but we do have one more surprise for you. For now, review and then you'll see… *winks***


	34. Running Down the Illusionist Clock, Pt 2

**Pearl: Hello all! SURPRISE! Yes, another chapter just for you all! Call it an apology for a month of no updates! Not to mention, these two chapters are that awaited final showdown between our half-ghosts and Iluzi-sicko! Ha-ha! Couldn't have let you wait anymore for the second part, so here it is! Enjoy! The hybrids will definitely be running down the clock, as you will see by how LONG this chapter is! *winks***

**A/N: truephan here: Hey, there, everybodee! Are you surprised to see us again? Well, we really didn't want to leave you hanging too long, so here is your double-feature. And I'm too tired from fighting Ms. Hyde and Vlad Muse to say any more except to enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom, but this story plot and OCs belongs to us.**

* * *

**Chapter 34: Running Down the Illusionist Clock (Part 2)**

* * *

_"Plasmius? Can you hear me?"_

Vlad and Danny had been flying towards Casper High when they had heard Vlad's communicator on his wrist beep and Skulker's urgent voice coming through it.

The hybrids shared a concerned look, before Plasmius raised his communicator and pressed the talk button. "Yes, Skulker. What is happening?"

_"We managed to trick Iluzisto into the simulation room, but I fear he was not weakened enough. You and the whelp better get ready."_

"I copy that, Skulker," Vlad answered with a frown before terminating the link.

"I guess we will be fighting a stronger Iluzisto than we planned," Danny muttered, having heard Skulker's words.

"We just have to stick with the plan, Daniel," Vlad replied, though there was a heavy frown on his face, too. "We have the power-inhibitor cuffs. We just need to weaken him enough to get it on him."

"But even after we get the cuffs on him, how are we going to capture him?" Danny asked. "We can't use the thermos until he's frozen in time and we can't do that because Justeco was supposed to use Clockwork's Time Staff to do that, remember?"

Plasmius narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "Makes it very complicated, doesn't it? And to add more, I am sure Iluzisto is going to use Justeco against us at the first chance he gets. So, you can bet he will bring Justeco with him."

The older half-ghost paused before adding more thoughtfully, "Still, it might just work to our benefit. If we can get the chance to free Justeco, then we could proceed with our original plan. But it would also mean having to take Iluzisto's staff, so Justeco can will Clockwork's staff enough to thrust that wretched spirit back into their grip. It is certainly a long shot, Daniel. So, we have to be ready and hope we find another way to trap him ourselves."

"Well, it's like you said," Danny agreed before continuing, "We have to work with what we got. For now, let's focus on finding a way to get those cuffs on Iluzisto, and I think that's gonna mean tricking him again some more. At least, long enough for him to drop his guard, and then I could freeze him with my ice powers and get the cuffs on him."

"Good idea, Daniel. And if we can take away the Timeless Magic Orbs—assuming that he did capture Justeco and has his orb, too—then we stand a better chance at defeating him."

Danny nodded; and the two remained silent in thought for the rest of their flight.

As they landed at Casper High's football field, Danny looked around and said, "At least the Guys-in-White did something right and evacuated everyone out of schools and other large buildings, or things would be worse right now."

"They only did so under my orders. It is part of the emergency ghost invasion plans," Vlad answered, also taking in his surroundings, wanting to make sure he was familiar enough with it that he could fight well.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Danny suddenly said with a small chuckle.

"What is?" Vlad asked, turning his attention to the boy.

"That we're back here again, at Casper Stadium, I mean. This was where we first fought together during the whole Pariah Dark thing." Danny paused, and rubbing his neck awkwardly, added, "Well, I guess, technically, it's been the _only_ other time we have fought together…"

Vlad smirked. "You mean the Vortex thing didn't count?"

"Oh, yeah, abandoning me to some weather ghost. Oh, that so counts," Danny answered, slightly annoyed but still smiling mischievously at remembering how miserable he had made Vlad with that whole thing.

And Vlad didn't hesitate to point that out, "Oh, I think you got your revenge on me just fine, dear boy." He then genuinely smiled and added, "And besides,… I would have never abandoned you if I would have had even _the slightest_ uncertainty that you could not handle Vortex on your own."

"Well, this isn't Vortex we're dealing with now, Vlad," Danny said, suddenly serious. "So, don't abandon me this time. You can't. No matter what."

Plasmius was a bit taken aback by the boy's indirect admittance to needing him for this, but he was also a bit curious as to why Danny would think he would abandon him now—when they both knew they needed to combine their strength to defeat Iluzisto.

Sobering up himself, the man answered, "Daniel, I'm not going to let you fight Iluzisto on your own. We are in this together; and besides, I couldn't run if I wanted to. There is that curse still upon me, after all, remember…?" he added, pointing to the brand still on his forehead.

Danny touched the one still on his own head and looked away with a sigh. For some reason, he was suddenly feeling really bad for tricking Plasmius into helping him. Perhaps because they had agreed to trust and be honest with each other, at least to get through this; but Danny knew he had not fully done that yet.

The teen hesitated, but then quietly asked, "What if… there was no curse? …Would you still fight with me?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Because…" Danny began with uncertainty, only to be cut off by Vlad's communicator coming back on.

But there was a lot of static interfering with the transmission…

_"Plas-mius! He…. shh….copy! Shh…. trap! Pull back, it's a shhh….He—"_

"Skulker?" Vlad called when the broken message abruptly stopped. But getting no response, the man raised his communicator closer, yelling, "Skulker! Can you hear me? Answer me!"

But all that replied back was static.

Vlad raised his eyes to Danny, who looked horrified as he began to fear the worse.

"Jazz…. My friends….," he whispered quietly, but then jolted and said, "Something happened, Vlad! We have to go find them!"

"Daniel, wait!" Vlad exclaimed, grabbing the boy's wrist before he could fly off.

"Vlad, they're in trouble!" Danny replied fearfully, completely sure something happened to the others.

"Daniel," the man began, only to gasp when he felt something hot grip his core before it escaped as a red vapor through his mouth.

Danny's eyes widened at seeing this strange mist come from the man's mouth for the first time; but before he could ask, both of the hybrids jerked right away toward the sudden next sound.

"_Oh, no, crossbreeds. It is you both who are in trouble…" _they heard a horribly familiar voice echo around them.

In an instant, a large purple dome of energy grew around them, covering about three-fourths of the stadium and effectively trapping the hybrids within it.

Iluzisto materialized a couple of yards away from them as he smugly said, "Your little allies are gone, crossbreeds. And you two now have nowhere to run. So, you have only two choices: give up and willingly hand me your cores. Or, I'll just take what I want _by force_."

Vlad just stared back at the spirit in disbelief as Skulker's broken words now made sense. The Iluzisto that the hunter and the kids had lured into their trap had just been a clone. The real Iluzisto had been stealthily watching them this whole time!

"How did you…?" Vlad began, but trailed off.

Iluzisto understood the question all the same and laughed. "Come on, crossbreeds. You did not truly believe you could trick me so easily? I must admit, though. I was almost fooled by those copies of yourselves with which you baited me. If it had not been because of the young crossbreed's heroic stunt to protect those human hunters, he would have not used up so much energy, and I would never have seen his form blur. I would have surely fallen for your little decoys, otherwise."

Danny cringed with guilt, but said nothing.

"I then knew you two were up to something," Iluzisto continued. "So, I vanished into stealth mode, leaving behind only a single duplicate of myself and letting you all believe it was me. I decided to play along and my copy followed your own copies back to your mansion. Indeed you creatures are clever. Hmm, to make your own illusions. I am impressed as I am annoyed," Iluzisto added, narrowing his eye a bit.

"Too bad you all failed to realize something very important, crossbreeds," the spirit said, raising his staff and glancing briefly at it in fake contemplation. "My illusions are connected to me as much as if they were my duplicates; therefore, I can _see_ through my illusions as easily as if they were clones if I choose to. That is why it was easy to find both of you—the _real_ ones—after you defeated my shark illusions at the pier. And now, here we are. I, at full strength, and you both trapped under a shield of my own creation. It is no illusion, crossbreeds. You are trapped. So, just give in, and I'll put you both down like good little mongrels…" he finished with a dark curl of his eye.

"We are not animals, you despicable creature!" Vlad hissed before suddenly raising his hands forward and firing a bright red ecto-bolt at the spirit.

Iluzisto was caught off guard by the attack and was sent slamming into his own dome-like shield on the other end.

Vlad quickly looked at Danny and said, "I'll distract him. Find a way to break this shield, Daniel! We barely stand a chance against him if he has us confined like this!"

Danny nodded and quickly flew up towards the top of the dome and began to fire all his energy at it, trying to find a way to break it.

Vlad attempted to teleport out of it, but was not surprised when the shield blocked him from getting past it. Still, it had been worth the attempt. He quickly turned his attention to Iluzisto just as the spirit was getting up.

The evil Observant glared at him as he spat out, "Fine, crossbreeds. We will do things your foolish way."

In an instant, Iluzisto summoned two large vampire bats and they quickly came at Plasmius. But knowing from before how to defeat these illusions, Vlad teleported as soon as they lunged forward, appearing behind them. He quickly fired two strong red ectoblasts and hit both illusions from the back, instantly destroying them.

"A quick learner after all, I see," Iluzisto mocked before he conjured up two more bats and added, "So am I."

The bats quickly lunged at Vlad and the man teleported yet again. But just as he came up from behind, the bats briefly vanished and then reappeared facing the older hybrid.

Before Vlad could process the unexpected move, the creatures opened their mouths and released two strong beams of energy. The man cried out as he was hurled clear across to the other side of the field—or, at least as far as the shield would permit.

Meanwhile, Iluzisto had long since noticed the young crossbreed's doing. Silly creature. He had made the shield with the use of Timeless Magic. It was impossible to destroy, unless countered by Timeless Magic itself.

Nevertheless, it was amusing to see the child try and, more importantly, waste energy. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea at all. Yes, there was a better way to weaken the younger crossbreed…

Raising his staff, Iluzisto created another illusion, this one quickly shaping into a giant spider. It immediately began to crawl up the shield.

Danny had been hammering his ice beam into the shield before following that with a strong ecto-blast. He growled when neither proved effective. Nothing he did to the shield would even put a dent in it!

It soon didn't matter, though, because he then caught sight of a bigger problem in his peripheral vision. His eyes darted towards it in time to see the hissing spider lunge at him.

"Whoa!" Danny exclaimed as the creature reached for his floating form with its hairy legs. They had almost grabbed him, too, but he had jolted back. "Man, I think I liked the dragons better!"

Right then, the spider jumped at him in a second attempt to pin him, but Danny shifted away again. This time, though, the creature reacted more quickly, and violently spewed out a ball of gooey white stuff from its mouth, hitting Danny in the chest with it.

The force behind the sticky webbing had been strong enough to push Danny back and into the side of the shield, where he quickly stuck to it like glue.

Danny gasped as he tried to break free from the steal-like webbing, but he froze when he saw the spider quickly crawling towards him, fangs showing and dripping black poison.

"Oh, crud!" Danny yelped. He quickly squeezed his eyes close, letting his body glow with ice energy. In an instant, the webbing around him froze and he was able to break free just as the spider lunged at him.

Danny darted down to avoid it, but he then made a sharp turn upwards and quickly positioned himself behind the spider. However, just as the teen raised his hands to fire an ecto-ray, the spider suddenly vanished and quickly reappeared to his right, facing him.

Danny gasped when the spider quickly spitted out more webbing at him. It came as a single rope-like stream this time, and wrapped around him several times, pinning his hands to his sides.

The spider seemed to grin evilly as it began to reel in the caught Ghost Boy like a fish on a hook.

Even as the teen struggled against his bindings, his mind was in high gear. How could he get out of this when Iluzisto had just said he could now _see_ through his illusions as if they were actually him? Not only that, but the spirit had clearly wised up about their discovery of how to destroy the illusions, now making it virtually impossible for him and Vlad to get behind the illusions. But then he jolted at that last thought.

Speaking of the fruit loop…

Danny's eyes darted down and quickly saw how Plasmius was having a hard time himself. One of the bats was gone, so the man had somehow managed to at least destroy one of them.

But the last one was giving him grief.

Suddenly feeling a strong yank from his bonds, Danny focused back on his own predicament. He tried to use his ice energy to break free again, but this time, Iluzisto did something to negate them and the energy fizzed out.

_"You and the other freak might have figured out how to break my illusions' visual link,"_ Danny heard the air whisper around him, _"But that hardly matters when I am here_ _negating your every move and keeping my illusions one step ahead of you. So try as you might, little crossbreed, you cannot break free of my illusion now…"_

"Maybe not as a ghost I can't," Danny grunted before he suddenly let his rings pass through him, turning him human. But although the rope-like web binding him had briefly loosened, it still held around his human body.

Danny's eyes widened in horror, as Iluzisto's evil laugh rang through the air.

"Think again, child," the spirit mocked when he suddenly appeared right next to the spider. He moved closer to the alarmed teen as he further said, "I am now powerful enough for my illusions to harm you as human, too. You are not going anywhere."

Danny yelled as the spider reeled him in all the way and grabbed him with two of its sharp legs, his face now inches from its dripping fangs. The teen almost instinctively turned into his ghost form, but forced himself not to when he saw Iluzisto raise his staff, ready to stab him with it the second he did so.

"Come on, crossbreed. It's either my staff or my illusion, which will love to eat you limb by limb…" Iluzisto said darkly.

Danny was too horrified at seeing the close-up view of the spider's fangs and mandibles to do anything but stare at the creature.

**"Iluzisto!"** Vlad suddenly yelled out of nowhere and suddenly came flying at him.

The evil spirit turned his eye on the man just as Plasmius halted and fired a bolt of red energy, slamming Iluzisto back into the shield.

The unexpected and savage attack had been strong, and Iluzisto briefly lost his focus, but it was not enough to disperse his already made illusions. Still, it was all Danny had needed to turn ghost again and use his powers without the spirit's stopping him. Further turning intangible, the teen escaped the spider's sticky rope and its sharp fangs. However, his head jerked in Vlad's direction when he heard the man shout in pain.

Having seen the boy's predicament, the man had been quick to aid him, even when he still had had the bat illusion to worry about. So, it was of no surprise that the creature now got the upper hand on the older half-ghost.

Danny watched as the bat grabbed the man by the shoulders and encased him in its claws. It pulled the man slightly upward as it flapped to a hover in the air before craning its neck down in an attempt to bite into its struggling but firmly captured prey.

"Let go, you horrid projection!" Vlad yelled out angrily, but there was also some fear in his voice.

The teen jolted into action, darting up and moving behind the occupied bat. With a quick but strong ice ray from behind, the bat was instantly destroyed.

However, at that instant, Iluzisto had recovered from Vlad's attack. The spirit let out a furious yell and their surroundings blurred under his power. But that was the least of the hybrids' worry because right after, the illusion of the large spider suddenly exploded into several hundreds of smaller spiders. And they all lunged towards Danny and Vlad.

Gasping in alarm, the two quickly flew down to the ground, but the spiders followed, actually turning the walls of the dome black as they crawled in mass down it even as more slid down little spindles of webbing.

As the creatures landed on the ground and began to encircle them, Danny and Vlad drew closer together, unsure of what to do. There was just too many of these illusions and they had no way of getting around them!

Unless…

"Daniel, do you think you can coat the entire dome with your ice energy?" Vlad asked urgently. "This time I'd like to make that unintentional trick we pulled off at the downtown area _intentional_…"

Danny frowned in confusion a moment. But then he suddenly remembered and smirked before replying, "Buy me ten seconds."

"You got it!" Vlad replied and instantly created six duplicates. However, he further released about thirty shadow clones. It wasn't of any surprise when his copies' attacks on the spiders were ineffective, but the shadow clones served their purpose, which was to act as bait and take the hits for Danny as the boy did his thing.

Meanwhile, the real Plasmius flew around, keeping himself open as a target while also using three of his copies to protect himself. Furthermore, he was sure to use his intangibility and teleportation powers to keep the spiders from touching him.

But then, Iluzisto quickly stepped into the fray. Just as Plasmius reappeared at one spot after teleporting, the evil spirit teleported himself right in front of the man and slammed his staff into his gut, sending Vlad plummeting towards the ground. The three copies that had been trying to protect their creator quickly lunged forward and attacked Iluzisto, keeping him at bay as Vlad recovered.

Now, however, there was nothing protecting Plasmius from the spiders…

By now, Danny had reached the top of the dome and he quickly poured out as much ice energy into it as he could. He barely heard Vlad's copies and shadow clones crying out as they continued to take the hits for the teen. Instead, Danny focused on the ice quickly spreading down the walls of the dome-like shield. In a matter of seconds, the entire shield was coated in ice-energy.

"VLAD!" Danny yelled, looking down towards the man, only to yelp as a spider suddenly tackled the teen, slamming him down toward the ground.

But Plasmius was having his own pest problem with two spiders that had jumped on his back, taking advantage of his compromised position after Iluzisto had pummeled him to the ground.

The man was hissing in pain since the creatures had now eaten through part of his clothing. But hearing the boy's yell, the man knew he needed to act now. However, at that moment, Iluzisto suddenly materialized in front of Plasmius, clearly having done away with the half-ghost's duplicates.

"You need more than some pathetic tricks to take us down!" Plasmius growled darkly. And not giving the spirit any time to react, he spun his cape around him, flinging the spiders off as he vanished within a vortex of hot pink energy.

But the spinning vortex quickly grew in size and turned red, heating up the air around him.

Meanwhile, Danny gasped just as he pulled himself off of the ground and the powerful twister being generated by Vlad began to push him back. But nevertheless, it was doing what it was supposed to do, and that was vaporizing the ice around the dome, making the air not just hotter, but thicker with moisture.

Now that the man's stunt was taking all of his energy and focus, he could no longer maintain his duplicates' forms. More and more of the clones quickly disintegrated as the vortex of energy swelled in size.

Danny hoped it would be worth it.

Iluzisto growled as he floated back with indecision and a bit of apprehension. He did not know the older crossbreed was capable of so much power—even if it should not have surprised him—let alone did the spirit know what to do to stop the heating vortex cocooning the older hybrid.

Iluzisto briefly glanced at the younger crossbreed who was still a large distance away from him. Still, he could see the boy panting, clearly being affected by the hot, barely breathable air being held in by the dome shield.

But when Danny thought he could take no more, Vlad abruptly halted his spinning and teleported next to the teen as the spinning vortex vanished.

"Ice dome, now!" Vlad yelled at the boy.

Danny saw Vlad's body light up with electricity, and the teen instantly knew what the man had meant. With a yelp, the teen covered himself in a protective ice dome-shaped shield just as the man released a wave of electrical energy in all directions.

Iluzisto jolted in alarm, but that was all he was able to do. The moisture in the air instantly conducted and fed the wild energy, like a live, exposed wire. And like what had happened with the Guys-in-White, only at a larger scale, the entire atmosphere exploded with electricity, jolting everything around it.

In an instant, all the spider illusions vanished and Iluzisto screamed as he was riveted by the red electrical storm.

Danny drew in a sharp breath as he felt his ice dome threatening to crack at the energy attacking it from the outside, sounding much like various whips cracking furiously against it. If he weren't in such a dangerous situation, he would have been fascinated with the smaller sparks erupting around his ice shell, which were the dissipation of the built-up static electricity caused by the stronger red current exploding around it. Even so, it was nice to know that ice didn't conduct 'regular' electricity or he would be toast by now, too.

The shield began to crack, though; but fortunately, Plasmius' 'firework' show finally came to a slow stop as all the moisture in the air was used up. Little sparks of energy jumped around the older hybrid's skin as he stood, breathing heavily, but still looking strong as his eyes stayed locked on Iluzisto's fallen form several yards away.

Danny at last lowered his dome and moved closer to Vlad. He gawked for a moment before whispering in awe, "Dude, that was freakin' awesome!"

"I just hope it worked, because I doubt I could pull that off a second time," Vlad answered, slowly regaining control of his breathing.

The two stared silently at Iluzisto for a moment. The spirit was still on the ground and not moving, but his staff was also still in his outstretched hand.

"Do you have the cuffs?" Vlad hesitantly whispered, as if making any sudden movements would bring their current nightmare back to life.

"Yeah. Do you think…?" Danny began, voice also filled with apprehension.

"That attack had to _at the very least_ weakened him," Vlad muttered back.

The two half-ghost looked at each other before they slowly began to approach the evil spirit.

Danny began to reach for the cuffs within his suit while Vlad kept his hands filled with energy, ready to attack.

But just when they had been only feet away, Iluzisto abruptly sat up, his eye snapping open and glowing red with fury.

"Vlad!" Danny instinctively yelled as Iluzisto raised his staff.

But the man had already reacted. The red energy in his hand shot out, knocking the staff away from Iluzisto before he could use it. Danny reacted, too, and used his free hand to quickly fire an ice-beam at the spirit, freezing him completely right after Vlad's hit.

Iluzisto blacked out again; and not wanting to take any more chances, Vlad quickly flew forward and grabbed the evil spirit's fallen staff.

"Daniel, the cuffs!" he then urgently commanded.

Danny quickly nodded and darted over to the frozen Iluzisto. Using intangibility, the teen snapped one cuff on one of Iluzisto's wrist. That seemed to activate the device because the second cuff quickly appeared on its own accord around Iluzisto's other hand.

Danny had to admit, Skulker had some handy devices when they were not being used against him.

In no time, Iluzisto began to come to. When he saw he was encased in ice, however, he growled before a purple aura surrounded his body, which immediately began to attack his cold make-shift cell. The ice hissed and crackled in protest as it quickly melted away.

**"You fools!"** Iluzisto hissed, glaring at Vlad specifically at seeing he had his staff. "Return me my staff or else!"

"I don't think so, you jerk!" Danny growled back.

Vlad kept his hand firmly around the staff, which was still glowing a purple color, and dryly replied, "What the boy said."

The remaining ice shattered off Iluzisto's body. And he didn't hesitate to raise a hand, only to gasp when it was just as quickly forced back down by some unknown force.

The spirit looked down and his eye grew wide when he saw the cuffs around his wrists. They began to glow blue and a link suddenly appeared between the cuffs, forcing Iluzisto wrists next to each other and in front of his body.

The spirit stared at the cuffs restraining him in utter disbelief. But after a silent and tense moment, he suddenly looked up at the crossbreeds, and did something completely unexpected.

He threw his head back and laughed.

"You poor pathetic creatures!" he exclaimed in between his insane laughter. "Is this truly the best you can do?"

Plasmius and Danny narrowed their eyes, but a bad feeling was beginning to form in the pit of their stomachs.

Calming down, Iluzisto turned his smug eye on the hybrids and calmly ordered, "Return me my staff, crossbreeds… _Or else."_

"Or else what?" Danny dared to challenge.

Iluzisto's eye curved upward into a smile, clearly having hoped for the question. "Or else…," he repeated, and looked over at something on the right.

Vlad and Danny followed his gaze and gasped when they saw another Iluzisto standing outside the shield after having melded out of stealth mode. But he wasn't alone. The spirit had a bound Justeco in his grasp!

"Half-ghosts! Do not give him—!" Justeco cried out, but choked into a cry of pain as Iluzisto took out Justeco's very orb and used it against its very master. The Observant Leader's body lit with purple energy.

"No!" Danny yelled. "Stop hurting him!"

Right then, no one noticed that the staff in Vlad's hand suddenly flashed blue.

The Iluzisto outside the shield chuckled and let the bound Justeco drop to ground. Then, the evil spirit inside the shield, said wickedly, "You know, I knew there was a reason why I have not destroyed this fool yet."

Plasmius said nothing. But he was more confused than anything else. He knew for certain now that his and Daniel's ghost sense did not work on Iluzisto anymore. But thanks to his years with ghost powers, Vlad had also learned to feel strength levels. Among other things, it came in handy when dealing with specters that could duplicate. No matter what, the real one always _felt_ stronger than its clones. So, Plasmius could easily tell which of the specters was the real one.

But with Iluzisto… He and his duplicate's strength levels felt the _same_!

And yet, what was just as surprising was that even when he shouldn't be able to tell which of the two Iluzisto was the real one,_something else_ inside Vlad assured him that the real spirit was the one they had been battling—the one outside the shield was the duplicate.

It was that odd feeling—the same one he got when that red smoke would escape through his mouth—that assured him of this. And yet, Plasmius couldn't explain it. Unless… No, it was too unbelievable. Or, was it? Did…Did he possess the ability to _sense spirits?_

Vlad let that hot feeling inside him swell, and the red smoke immediately passed through his lips, wisping more towards the real Iluzisto. It was all the confirmation the older hybrid needed.

"What is the matter, crossbreeds? You appear troubled…," Iluzisto taunted, seeing the growing desperation in the young crossbreed's face. The older one looked surprised about something, though. And the spirit had no idea what that red mist that had just escaped the man's mouth was.

Iluzisto hardly cared, though. He cared about the fact that he had his two pets at a standstill.

But it seemed Plasmius believed otherwise.

"It's over, Iluzisto. You're powerless," Vlad said seriously. It didn't matter if Iluzisto had Justeco over their heads or not. Plasmius refused to give up the staff still in his hand.

"Over?" the cuffed Iluzisto repeated. "Oh, how wrong you are, crossbreed. We have only begun."

Danny and Vlad's eyes widened all over again as the cuffs on Iluzisto wrists began to spark before they suddenly exploded into metallic shards.

"No…," Vlad whispered taking an unconscious step back, while Danny did the same, but still quickly brought energy into his hands, knowing things were rapidly going downhill.

"Though it was marginally amusing, did you believe that you two could weaken me with your little displays of power, let alone hold me with your little toy?" Iluzisto asked, amused. "As strong as you both are, you compare nothing to me, not when I am at full power and have become the Master of all Time and Existence! And fortunately for me, all I need now is your cores to keep me all powerful for all eternity!"

Vlad and Danny glared, but they were clearly unsure of what to do now.

The real Iluzisto pulled out Okulo's orb and studied it before mockingly saying, "I think you both know what this is, yes? After all, it is what Okulo used to brand you, marking you pets as _mine_."

"We don't belong to you, you sick Cyclops!" Danny sneered.

"I beg to differ," Iluzisto replied, squeezing the orb, and the numbers on the half-ghosts' foreheads lit up.

The pair cringed at the burning feeling, but it wasn't bad enough to make them lose their focus. But Vlad now took Danny's lead, and let his energy pour into his free hand.

"And yet, that is not what makes Okulo's orb so unique," Iluzisto continued calmly. "It is its ability to bind any core to it. And once the link is made, the orb commands said core, and therefore, its owner." The evil spirit's eye narrowed as he darkly revealed, "I have bound Justeco's core to this orb. And if I choose, I can kill him in a blink of an eye. So, then, _last time_. Return me my staff," he demanded.

"Vlad… He has Justeco," Danny said softly, knowing they had no choice.

But Plasmius knew that if he returned the staff, not only would Justeco be destroyed, but they and everyone else would, too.

"Do it," Vlad challenged. "We both know he is going to perish anyways."

"What? No!" Danny protested, but the man raised a hand, silencing the teen.

Iluzisto glared, but then chuckled, "Oh, yes. I almost forgot who I was dealing with... Then, how about a threat closer to home..?"

Vlad gasped as the staff in his hand began to glow a deep blue that quickly spread through the man's body.

"Vlad!" Danny yelled when the man cried out and collapsed to his hands and knees, the staff falling out of his hold.

"You see, crossbreeds. I am the staff's master; so even if it is taken from me, **I **still control it!" Iluzisto jeered as he levitated the fallen staff back to his hold.

Danny was frozen as he watched the blue energy still around Vlad's body begin to rapidly age him, similar to how the time spell did to his copy in the cave. And vividly remembering that gruesome image, the teen panicked, screaming, "No! Stop! **Stop it!"**

Iluzisto gasped when, without his willing it so, the blue hue around Plasmius abruptly vanished and he returned back to normal. No! Why had it stopped its attack on the older crossbreed? He had not commanded it to stop!

But Danny didn't notice Iluzisto's confusion and anger. Instead, he quickly kneeled next to Vlad, who groaned as he slowly sat up.

"Remind me not to touch that staff again," the man whispered out.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked quietly, freaked out.

"Enough of this! I will have your cores! **_Right. Now!"_** Iluzisto proclaimed, raising his staff, and a cloud of black smoke exploded out of it. The smoke split into two clouds, one on each side of Iluzisto.

Vlad and Danny paled, recognizing the illusions from before, especially as the clouds formed evil red eyes and sharp teeth.

"Let us see you freaks try your little tricks on _these_ illusions!" Iluzisto said darkly before he sent the cloud-like monsters at the two half-ghosts.

"Oh, apple crumbs!" Vlad cursed.

And Danny anxiously replied, "Yeah, you can say that again!"

* * *

Meanwhile, at another part of Amity, black smoke billowed from the slowly dying fire of where Vlad's speeder had crashed. The completely destroyed ship showed no signs of life. Then again, that had been Iluzisto's intention. Surely, no one could have survived such a crash.

But…

Team Phantom had jettisoned out of the aircraft before it had even crashed to the ground…

Groaning, Jazz blinked back to consciousness. "Uh, what happened?" she asked. But her brain suddenly fed her the answer, and she gasped. "Sam! Tucker!" she yelled, now more alert. She tried to move, only to discover she couldn't.

Eyes now fully focused, Jazz assessed her surroundings and gasped once more when she realized that she was hanging from a tree, her parachute's straps caught on a large limb.

"What the…? Help! Tucker! Sam!" Jazz shouted, too scared to even move now that she could see how high up she was.

Meanwhile, several yards away, Tucker had landed on the ground and had been busy trying to untangle himself from his own parachute. He then found Sam not too far from him and helped her out of the tree she got stuck in.

"Where's, Jazz?" Sam asked when she finally got loose. She was not so high, so she was able to jump down.

"I don't know. I didn't see where she landed," Tucker replied.

"Then, we better go find her," Sam said.

They quickly moved through the gathering of trees, calling out Jazz's name as they went. It was only as they had almost reached the opposite side of the gathering of trees that they heard a faint yelling.

"It's Jazz!" Sam exclaimed, and she and Tucker took off in the direction of the screaming.

They quickly found their friend's sister and gasped when they saw how high up Jazz had been caught.

"Jazz!" Sam yelled up at her.

The older girl quickly looked down and sighed in relief when she saw her brother's friends. "Sam! Tucker! Get me down! I really don't like heights!"

"Don't worry, Jazz! We'll get you down in no time!" Tucker assured her.

But Sam quickly whispered, "How are we going to get her down?"

Tucker grinned sheepishly. "Uh, I don't know. I just said it to keep her from freaking out even more."

Sam rolled her eyes, but then frowned in worry as she looked back up at the other girl. "Maybe I could try to climb up to her…"

"What? No way, Sam!" Tucker protested. "You could fall, and Jazz would have to climb down anyways, and I doubt she knows how!"

"Well, then, what are we supposed to do?" Sam snapped, though mainly because she was upset at the situation. She could easily and safely climb up, but she knew Tucker was right and Jazz wouldn't be able to climb down.

"I…," Tucker paused. "Hey, where's Skulker?"

Sam shook her head, but she tensed as she remembered she never saw the ghost get out of the speeder.

"I don't know, but one thing at a time, Tucker. We have to get Jazz down," Sam said, though she sounded even more troubled.

Tucker nodded and looked around in thought. But, suddenly, it hit him. "I know!" he exclaimed and quickly ran off, adding, "Be right back!"

Sam watched her friend run off in the direction of where they had landed. A few minutes later, he returned, dragging his parachute and the cut off ropes that had been attached to Sam's parachutes.

"Do you still got that Swiss-army knife we used to cut you lose?" Tucker asked as he began to tie the ropes together, making it thicker and longer.

"Well, yeah," Sam said, pulling it out.

"By the way, I don't even want to know why you carry a knife on you," Tucker added.

"Hey, it was birthday gift from my grandmother!" Sam replied defensively. "And besides, it's not just a knife. It has other cool features and uses!"

"Like what?" Tucker asked, tying the ropes together to make it one long piece.

Sam coughed, but replied awkwardly, "Like… picking the lock to my house to sneak back in."

Tucker grinned, and the goth girl quickly said, "Oh, be quiet, Tucker. And give me that! You're doing it wrong!" she grumbled, yanking the rope away from him.

"Oh, right, I forgot you're the 'survival expert'," Tucker teased as he watched Sam secure the knots on the rope. "We gotta get that up to Jazz," he added more seriously.

"I realize that, Tucker. I'm gonna tie the knife at one end and use it as leverage to get it up there," Sam replied, doing just that.

She then took a few steps back and Tucker moved away to give her space. Sam raised the end with the knife above her and began to spin it like a lasso. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she increased the speed, and with a grunt, threw it at the desired branch.

And seeing the end of the rope spin around said branch right below Jazz's feet, Sam grinned and exclaimed, "Ha! And they say girls can't throw!"

Tucker rolled his eyes, but then yelled up at Danny's sister, "Jazz! Can you reach the rope below you?"

Jazz looked down and saw the rope with the knife at the end clinging from a nearby branch. She gulped as she tried to wiggle a bit lower on her harness to get the rope around her foot. It took her a moment and a lot of nervous struggling, but she managed to get the rope around her foot and she began to tug it up towards her.

Once in her hands, it was a matter of looping and shaking the rope enough to get it loose from the branch.

"Now what?" she asked.

"You gotta tie the rope around you and then cut yourself loose!" Sam answered back.

"What?" she exclaimed, her face paling. "What if I fall?"

"That's what the rope's for!" Sam replied. "You need to get yourself on one of the branches, then slowly climb down. We have the other end of the rope. We'll give you some anchorage in case you slip, so you won't fall!"

"I-I don't think I can do that! Can't you guys get help? Like get the fire department?" she yelled back fearfully.

"Jazz, we don't have time for that! We don't know where Skulker is, and Danny's in trouble! Iluzisto tricked us all! And we need to get to Danny before something happens to him!" Sam replied urgently.

Jazz swallowed. But knowing that the younger girl was right, she nodded. With nervous hands, she wrapped the rope around her body a few times and made a strong knot. At least she had learned that much from her adventurous mother.

She then swung herself towards the closest sturdy tree branch and managed to get her footing on it. Wasting no time, she began to cut herself free from her parachute. At last, she finished and then looked down and whimpered at how far she would have to climb down.

"I hate heights!" she whined before she hugged the tree's trunk and began to make her way down. She had made sure to go down at the opposite side of where Sam and Tucker held the rope in case she fell. That way, the branches would grab the rope and hold her weight if she did slip.

After a few nerve-wrecking minutes, with a few small slips, she finally made it low enough for Sam and Tucker to use the rope and tree branch as a pulley to help her down the rest of the way.

Once she reached land, she fell to her knees and whispered, "Thank you! Thank you! I'm not dead!"

Sam and Tucker rolled their eyes, but quickly sobered up as they helped Jazz to her feet.

"We gotta find Skulker," Jazz said, untying herself free from the rope. She looked over past the trees, and saw the smoke raising into the sky not too far away.

"What happened anyways? How did we even make it out of the speeder?" Tucker asked. "I seriously thought that we were goners!"

"Didn't you see it, Tucker?" Sam asked quietly. "Skulker managed to push the eject button on the control panel. He… got us out."

"He saved our lives," Jazz clarified, looking at the younger kids.

The three were quiet for a moment, but then Sam said, "Come on. I'm sure he has to be close by somewhere."

Tucker and Jazz nodded, but they all were sure they never saw Skulker leave the speeder.

It didn't take them long to find the remains of the speeder, now just billowing black smoke. The fire had died out with the moist evening air. It was strange, though, that there were not any firefighters or police around. Then again, there were worst disasters at other parts of Amity right now.

The kids hesitated, but slowly and carefully moved closer to the destroyed speeder.

"Skulker?" Jazz called. She paused and looked around the vicinity, hoping for an answer, but she got none. "Maybe he's somewhere else," she added.

But Sam spotted something familiar partially buried in the debris. She reached down and pulled out a metallic arm—Skulker's arm. The goth girl swallowed thickly and said, "I don't think so, Jazz."

The older girl gasped and covered her mouth.

Tucker was also alarmed, but he turned back and began to look even closer for any signs of the hunter. But now, his search was more desperate. "Skulker, come on, dude! We gotta get to Vlad and Danny!" he called out with a shaky voice.

Sam began to get more frantic, too, as she searched through the debris, only finding bits and pieces of the hunter—but not Skulker himself.

"Can… Can a ghost… die?" Jazz suddenly whispered, her voice cracking.

"What? Of course not!" Sam denied firmly, but she honestly wasn't so sure.

Then, Tucker finally found Skulker's head.

The girls quickly came closer, and they all held their breath as they pried the helmet open.

There was nothing inside.

"He… He's really gone," Jazz whispered, her eyes swelling with tears.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, a distraught and lost expression also on their faces.

The goth girl looked down at the metallic head in Tucker's hand as she felt a wave of sadness and regret fill her. "I was… so unfair to him," she whispered.

"And for one of Danny's crazy evil enemies, he was pretty cool," Tucker added dejectedly. "I mean, he was as much a techno-geek as me! We… We understood each other."

"I feel like I've lost a friend, one I was only starting to get to know. Even if he hunted Danny, he... he was kind. He saved us," Jazz said as she began to cry.

But just when things could not look any bleaker, the trio heard a high-pitched groan.

"Did you hear that?" Sam whispered as she dropped the head in her hand and began to look around, trying to pinpoint the noise.

And hearing it again, Jazz and Tucker joined in and they soon realized it was coming from the back end of the speeder—or, the remains of it, anyways.

The three teens ran to that side and began to pull out the debris. They halted when they instantly spotted something green and glowing right on top of what remained of one of Skulker's newest level nine guns.

And although the gun was clearly destroyed and useless, the green little blob that was Skulker was clinging to it, as if trying to protect it with his body that was six times smaller than the weapon itself.

"Skulker!" Team Phantom exclaimed, and Sam immediately reached forward and pried the little ghost off his gun.

Opening one of his closed eyes, he peeked around his surroundings and asked in his squeaky voice. "Is it over?"

The three kids laughed in relief as Skulker sat up in Sam's hand. Rubbing his aching head, he frowned at them and asked, "What is so funny?"

"Nothing!" Sam replied, a smirk growing on her face.

"Yeah, but we're sorry to say that your weapon didn't make it in spite of all your effort," Tucker added with a grin. "Actually, none of you really made it…"

Skulker quickly flew off Sam's hand and looked around at the damage. And seeing his weapons and body parts all over the place, he placed his hands on his hips and pouted. "Oh, this is just perfect! I liked that new suit! Plasmius _better_ have an extra one!"

But the thought quickly reminded him of what had happened and he looked at the three kids. He had been about to say something, but paused when he finally got a good look at their faces.

The Ghost Boy's sister had drying wet tears streaking down her cheek, and the younger two humans' eyes looked all red and puffy. But that was not all. Aside from the smiles on their faces, they looked immensely relieved about something. In fact, whatever emotional thing they had just gone through, they were still a bit shaken up about it.

Skulker blinked and blurted out, "What is wrong with you, whelps? You all look like someone kicked an earthly puppy!"

"We're just glad you're okay, Skulker," Jazz replied, wiping her face and smiling warmly.

Skulker's eyes widened in realization as he squeaked out, "Oh…" He paused and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yes…" He cleared his throat and suddenly scowled at them. "Well, of course I am fine! I am the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter _and_ a ghost! Takes more than some earthly flying contraption crashing down to get rid of me! Now, enough small talk. We need to find Plasmius and the Ghost Boy! Iluzisto tricked us and clearly has set a trap for them!"

Team Phantom quickly sobered up and nodded.

"Come on," Jazz said. "We have to get to Casper High!"

"On foot?" Tucker asked. "But it's several blocks away! It will take us like half an hour from here!"

"We do not have that kind of time, whelps. Sunset is less than an hour away!" Skulker said.

"So, what are we going to do? Head back to Vlad's house? It would take us the same amount of time, if not longer, to get back there, get a car, and then drive to Casper," Jazz argued.

Sam smirked as the older girl gave her an idea. "Well, who said we have to go back to Vlad's for a car?"

And seeing the girl wave at all the abandoned cars on the side of the road due to the quick evacuation, Jazz gasped and said, "What? We can't highjack a car!"

Sam scoffed. "We're just going to borrow it."

She walked over to the closest car, her friends and Skulker following.

Jazz looked unsure, but knew they had no other choice and quickly took the driver's seat. And while Sam took the passenger seat, Skulker and Tucker got in the back.

"Try not to crash this one, whelps," Skulker said dryly. "I don't see an ejection button on this contraption and I don't have a suit to take the brunt of another accident."

Jazz rolled her eyes and began to search for the keys. "Anyone know how jumpstart a car?" she asked sarcastically.

But to her surprise, Sam suddenly pulled out her Swiss-army knife, and with a grin, said, "Let me do it! I've always wanted to try this!"

"Uh, Sam?" Jazz said, jiggling the keys she found at the side of the car. "I was kidding."

"Oh," Sam replied. "Yeah, I knew that."

"Seriously, Sam. I said it once and I'll say it again, you scare me sometimes," Tucker said with a shake of his head.

"Oh, be quiet," Sam grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Whelps?" Skulker suddenly said, getting the trio's attention.

"What?"

"How about you **all** be quiet and just get moving?" Skulker replied dryly.

"Oh, right!" Jazz said, and quickly turned the car on. But she grinned at how much 'like them' Skulker had just sounded.

* * *

After realizing that it really was impossible to break the visual link with the cloud-like illusions, especially when the things now had eyes in the front _and_ back of them, Vlad and Danny began to do their best to avoid the monsters.

But they were also very aware that Iluzisto was trying to split them up. It was the only explanation for the continuous attempts the smoke monsters made to get in between them. Still, the half-ghosts were not letting that happen!

At least together they could watch each other's back. Vlad had also been teleporting them whenever the clouds managed to pin them somewhere. But after a while, the clouds 'wised-up' and the half-ghosts were forced to get even more creative.

Luckily, Danny got an idea.

Danny began to use his own ecto-energy in one hand and his ice energy in the other. The teen then combined them together, effectively making steam as he and Vlad skirted around, avoiding the monstrous clouds.

It took only a moment for Danny to create enough of it to build a cloud of fog around them. Vlad and he then turned intangible to blend in with the mounting fog bellowing out around them.

As a result, Iluzisto's illusions were becoming confused as it became harder and harder for them to pinpoint their targets. In fact, they couldn't really make them out in the thick fog. So, although they continued to chase around the moving vapor cloud, the illusions— and therefore, Iluzisto—had no chance of getting a direct hit on the half-ghosts.

It was aggravating Iluzisto. In fact, he was itching to just strike and take their cores already; but every time he tried to get to either one of the crossbreeds, the other intervened and stopped him! It was making it virtually impossible for him to get an opening to _even try!_But he was sure the pair could not keep this up forever. Actually, it was best if he just remained patient and let them waste energy. It would just make it easier for him to get that opening and successfully remove their cores in the end…

Unfortunately, the spirit was right.

The half-ghosts were sweating and their glows were a little dim from all the flying, teleporting, and energy usage. They had been fleeing from the smoke monsters for almost fifteen solid minutes now.

The two paused to catch their breath, only able to afford the break because their intangible bodies were hidden amongst the fog surrounding them.

"Daniel. We can't keep this up forever," Vlad finally said, and the two cringed when one of the monsters lunged forward. It hit nothing but fog, but the creature had been inches from where they were floating.

Danny felt his head spin from all the ice and ecto-energy he had been producing to keep up their cover. But with a sigh, he stopped using his energy and replied, "I know, but what are we gonna do with these illusions? We can't even get near Iluzisto, wherever he is, since he's vanished into stealth mode again before I made all of this fog!"

But for once, Vlad really did not know what to do. With the cuffs gone, they had no way of slowing Iluzisto down enough to even try to trap him. And clearly, touching the staff was bad news.

Everything in the man told him that they needed to retreat.

But they had no means of doing that, either. Whatever this shield was made of, it was indestructible.

"Unless…," Vlad muttered to himself, his eyes darting over to where he had seen the unconscious Justeco and the Iluzisto copy holding Justeco's Timeless Orb. "We can get a hold of whatever is keeping the shield intact."

"What?" Danny asked, looking in the direction Vlad was.

"It's Justeco's orb, Daniel. It has to be," Vlad answered, and Danny could almost see the gears in the man's head turning. "That orb has to be what's keeping this shield intact. That's why our energies cannot break through it. The shield is made of Timeless Magic!" The man paused and his eyes narrowed in understanding. "That's why he created a copy of himself outside of the shield. Not only to keep Justeco out of our reach, but to keep Justeco's orb, _the source keeping this shield up_, away from us!"

"Then what are we…?" Danny began, but never finished.

Iluzisto must have grown impatient again or wised up, because the clouds suddenly stopped trying to blindly attack. Instead, the two lined up and began to suck the air in, quickly absorbing the fog and finally doing away with the hybrids temporary hideout.

But it didn't stop there. Now seeing the hybrids in full view, the illusions drew in air at an even faster rate, creating a powerful vacuum to pull them in.

"Daniel!" Vlad exclaimed and shoved the boy out of the air current's path. But the man was not quick enough to pull himself out of the path and he was quickly gripped within its strong suction.

Plasmius thought fast, though, and he teleported out of there before he could be sucked in by one of the smoke monsters.

But Iluzisto reacted just as quickly.

As soon as Vlad reappeared, the second smoke monster also teleported and appeared right next to him. The older hybrid didn't even have time to react, this time.

"NO!" Danny yelled as the smoke monster opened its jaws and engulfed Vlad.

Danny instinctively lunged forward. But he didn't get very far, for at that instant, Iluzisto finally stepped in, slipping out of stealth mode. The boy just barely caught a glimpse of the evil spirit before he saw Iluzisto's staff coming right at him!

The boy pulled back at the last second and avoided the strike but Iluzisto blindly yet quickly back-swung his staff.

Suddenly, however, the staff glowed blue and inexplicably veered slightly away from the boy.

Iluzisto, however, hadn't seen that and only growled when he could tell that the boy had managed to dodge his second attempt.

He would make sure that the boy wouldn't be that lucky in his next round.

The spirit instantly vanished and then reappeared just inches in front of the boy before actually slamming his powerful, angry fist into the Danny's jaw.

Danny yelled as he ricocheted off of the blow and plummeted to the ground.

Iluzisto's eye curved smugly, satisfied that at last he had been able to separate the two crossbreeds. He glanced over at his cloud-like illusion holding the elder one trapped within, and chuckled when he saw the illusion lighting up with all sorts of energy colors. Clearly, the man was throwing a tantrum in there.

Iluzisto waved a hand towards the cloud and it instantly turned more tangible just as Plasmius attempted to use his electrical energy to escape. As a result, there was a muffled scream of pain from within as the bolts of energy reflected back at its wielder, much like bullets ricocheting within a bullet-proof room.

"That should make him behave while I deal with his weaker counterpart," Iluzisto said evilly before turning his attention to the young crossbreed. His eye only curled with even more malice.

Danny groaned on the ground, feeling his head spin wildly and his jaw burning from the brutal hit Iluzisto's fist had dealt him. In fact, he could taste ectoplasm in his mouth and spit it out.

That's when he heard Vlad's painful screams.

Eyes snapping back into focus, Danny looked up in time to see what was happening to the obviously trapped Plasmius. He gasped in alarm, reflexively pulling himself up in an effort to try to reach the man.

Suddenly, however, Iluzisto appeared just a yard in front of him and Danny knew he was in as much trouble now. Nevertheless, Danny quickly staggered to his feet and attempted to fire an ecto-blast at the spirit, only for it to fizzle out of existence.

"Poor, weak, defenseless child…," Iluzisto taunted, slowly floating closer to Danny, who backed away from him. And seeing the fear in the teen's eyes, the evil spirit took his sweet time, savoring it and gloating, "I almost feel bad that I have to kill you. _Almost_."

Iluzisto narrowed his eye as he darkly added, "As much as I cannot stand your arrogant counterpart, I particularly despise you more. How a pathetic and ignorant creature like yourself has fought me for this long is beyond plausible! And yet you have. And you still refuse to give in! But you know what angers me more? Do you know what makes me hate you _more?"_ …It is that because of **you** that the other crossbreed refuses to yield, too!"

"I could have long since broken the other crossbreed," Iluzisto sneered, still hedging closer to the boy while Danny continued to back away. "But somehow, you fuel him into fighting me as strongly as you do. But not only him. You give everything and everyone that comes in contact with you hope—**foolish hope! **Even the cowardly Observants who are about to be sent into Oblivion, have hope—hope in some _pathetic and powerless child_ to save them! **_Why? _It's sickening!**"

A gust of angry wind abruptly appeared with the spirit's shout, and Danny was shoved back, finally colliding into the shield behind him. He now had nowhere to go now. Iluzisto paused, too, but still raised his staff at the boy. Danny gasped in fear before he felt his courage stir. He narrowed his eyes and glared coldly and defiantly at the evil spirit.

"Well, it ends now," Iluzisto assured him, calming down a bit but still sounding as dark as ever. "I will not let you take away my true victory and revenge. I am going to kill you, Danny Phantom. And in turn, destroy once-and-for-all everyone's sickening hope with it! And the first hope I will see fade from those arrogant eyes of his will be of the other crossbreed as I let him see me rip out your core. I will break him with your death!"

Danny glanced up and his eyes widened when the cloud-like illusion melded into a floating cell, with Vlad inside.

The man was now in human form on his hands and knees, clearly in pain and worn out. But when he realized he was not in pitch darkness anymore, he raised his blue eyes and gasped when he saw Iluzisto cornering Danny.

"Daniel!" Vlad yelled as he struggled to his feet and quickly gripped the bars in front of him, trying to break them.

Danny frowned in worry before looking back at Iluzisto. The spirit was using his illusion powers to block his mind from using any of his powers and he was now pinned against the shield.

Danny swallowed hard at the irony: once more, escape was only an illusion. Wait. No, it wasn't! He suddenly turned _human_ before the spirit could stop him.

"Go ahead, then. Kill me," Danny finally said boldly. "But you are not getting my core."

Iluzisto narrowed his eye before keeping his cold, steel gaze locked on the boy. Immediately afterward, he slammed his staff into the boy's chest to prevent him from squirming away again. But the spirit frowned when he met resistance. He growled in frustration as he pushed harder on the staff before he dug his long, sharp fingernails into the boy's shoulder. "Oh, I am getting your core, you little freak. Even if I have to torture you until you give in!"

Danny screamed, but then he narrowed his eyes as they flared green with anger. "Don't get your hopes up, you one-eyed putrid jerk!"

Iluzisto grounded his fingernails deeper into the boy, but then he suddenly pulled them out at a sudden thought and floated back from the teen.

Danny panted as he gripped his bleeding shoulder, but stared up at Iluzisto in sudden confusion.

"You know, you are right," Iluzisto said calmly. "Torture has never worked well with you. I forget sometimes that as weak as you are, you are quite brave and… heroic…"

Danny frowned, not liking the spirit's tone, especially when he was for some strange reason complimenting him.

Iluzisto eye curved into a smile. "I do not need to _make_ you give me your core, do I? Not when you are going to _willingly_ hand it over to me. That is what heroes do, is it not?" Iluzisto taunted. "Well, then, what will it be, _hero_?"

"What are you talking about?" Danny spat back.

A sudden scream coming from Justeco seemed to answer him, and Danny gasped as he turned his eyes to the Iluzisto copy who had his hand inside the Observant Leader's chest.

Vlad's eyes widened when he saw the dirty card Iluzisto was using against the boy, and suddenly furious, his eyes turned a bright red as he gripped harder on the bars in front of him, yelling, "You sick demented monster! I swear if you go through with this, I'll rip out **your **core!"

"Easy, Vlad Plasmius. You will get your turn," Iluzisto teased, briefly looking up at the other trapped half-ghost.

Vlad's eyes widened in alarm at seeing the indecision in Danny's face. Without thinking, he desperately begged, "Daniel, don't do this! He's going to destroy Justeco anyways. Do not play into this!"

"Tick-tock, little hero," Iluzisto sneered at the boy. "Are you really going to watch me rip out poor Justeco's core? Or… will you be a good little hero and make the ultimate sacrifice?"

Danny lowered his eyes. He knew Vlad was right, but he just couldn't let Iluzisto waste Justeco.

The teen took a deep breath before he glared brazenly at Iluzisto, "You think you've won, but hope doesn't die with one person, Iluzisto. And I hope Vlad does rip out your core for this!"

But with those words, the teen turned into Phantom, and Iluzisto smirked. "So pathetic."

Danny screamed in anguish as Iluzisto suddenly reached into him and gripped his core. But the teen quickly grabbed the hand and began to pull back. He knew it _was _useless, but he wasn't going to lose his core and life without a fight!

Though his mind was now awhirl with pain even amidst his struggle with the evil spirit, Danny couldn't understand why Iluzisto wasn't just yanking out his core. Instead, his core was being jolted _intermittently_. But he could also feel his heart literally skipping a beat with each shot being pumped into his ghostly system. Not that this surprised the weakening boy, since he knew his heart was connected to his ghostly core and was also suffering the effects of this attack. Even still, Danny was in so much pain right now that he didn't care to know that Iluzisto was actually trying to stun his ghostly core long enough to pull it out without damaging the delicate organ. After all, the spirit needed the core in prime condition if he was going to merge it with his own.

Meanwhile, Vlad also screamed in terror with the boy's cries of pain.

Suddenly panicked, the man felt his strength renewed and his entire body began to light up with ghost energy, even when he was human.

"Let him go, Iluzisto!" Vlad shouted. But then shaking in sudden fury, he squeezed his eyes close and yelled, "I said, let him GO!"

The energy that had been building within the man's human body, suddenly exploded out, and in an instant, the illusion-made prison was destroyed out of existence by the energy.

Now free, Vlad gasped as he fell. But with his core fully active in human form and thanks to his experience, the man didn't even have to waste the effort of turning into his ghost form.

With pink energy glowing around him, the man levitated, instantly halting his descent. But he was not out of the frying pan, yet. The second smoke monster growled and lunged at the human man from behind. But Vlad quickly whirled around and instinctively fired an ecto-blast at the second cloud-like monster.

To Vlad's further surprise, the illusion was slammed back, as if it were tangible, and then vanished out of existence!

"What in the…?" Vlad began in disbelief, when it suddenly hit him. He had just discovered the best defense against Iluzisto's illusions!

But there was no time to celebrate that, and the man quickly looked down at Iluzisto who still had the boy pinned against the shield and his gruesome hand inside the boy's chest!

But the evil spirit, who had thought he had finally jolted the younger crossbreed's core enough to stun it, instantly froze when he saw what the elder one did to his illusions. It was absolutely shocking! How had the creature broken through and destroyed those illusions?

Plasmius quickly flew down, but seeing the man charge up his hands with energy, Iluzisto snapped out of it and sneered, "Not another move, freak!"

And to make his threat clear, he squeezed the core in his hold harder and Danny screamed in sheer agony. The teen then slumped forward, clearly on the verge of passing out.

But right after, Danny felt something jolt his foggy mind…And for some odd reason, he just knew that his friends and sister were calling him.

"Danny!" Sam, Tucker, and Jazz yelled, finally arriving at the scene along with Skulker, but not close enough for Iluzisto to have noticed yet.

However, Team Phantom and Skulker soon noticed the half-ghosts were not the only ones is serious trouble.

Jazz's eyes widened and she gagged her gasp when she spied another Iluzisto holding onto Justeco farther down and just outside of the enclosed football field!

"Ohmigosh!" she hurriedly whispered to the others before she pointed and continued, "There are _two _Iluzistos and one of them has Justeco over there!"

Her companions immediately looked to where the red-head was pointing and their eyes also widened in anguish. Their eyes shifted back at the other Iluzisto who had Danny within his grip before they looked at the Iluzisto holding Justeco.

Meanwhile, Vlad raised his hands up in surrender and quickly said, "Alright. You win. Let the boy go, Iluzisto. You said it yourself: the boy is pathetic and weak. You do not need his core... M-Mine will suffice. With it, you will be able to regenerate your powers and do everything a half-ghost can do. You do not need his. Take mine. I am more powerful than the boy will ever be!"

"You might be right," Iluzisto reflected with a smirk. "But why would I waste the chance to break you with his death?"

Vlad's eyes widened with sheer horror; but it was Danny's friends and sister who voiced it, as they screamed, "DANNY!"

As if renewed by their haunting voices, Danny could feel a sudden, faint pulse within his ghostly core. A tiny spark of cold energy had somehow been able to evade Iluzisto's assault. He clung to that hope, digging deeper into it as he had never done before. And as if he had breathed life into a dying ember, his core shuddered. And not even a heartbeat later, he felt a rush before his core was almost ablaze with cold energy.

Danny's eyes snapped into focus and he gripped the arm still embedded in his chest. Charged with energy and now livid with defiance and anger, he pulled back with even more strength than before as he yelled, **"Get out of me!"**

Iluzisto jolted at feeling his hand being jerked all of the sudden. He looked at the boy in shock. How could this be? His core was…was fully stunned! But now, inexplicably, the evil spirit felt his hand still gripping the boy's core growing more and more painful and numb by the second, as if it were being attacked by ice daggers. And…and what was this? This could not be happening, either! Somehow, the core was _hardening_ and now he was losing his grip on it as surely as if he were trying to hold onto a slippery piece of ice!

Now enraged that the boy must have somehow been able to create some kind of _ice shield_ around his core, Iluzisto growled as his hand sloughed off of it. But the evil spirit was not to be outdone. He just as quickly sent another, stronger round of his ecto-energy straight into Danny, hoping to stun the boy's core once and for all and then yank it out in one clean movement.

Danny gasped in pain as the strong blow slammed into his core just as if it were a giant ice pick. Another one soon followed and Danny's head spun. He just knew that the next one would surely breach his ice shield and leave his core open for the taking…

But at this point, both Danny and Iluzisto had forgotten one very important detail...

Now hearted by the boy's fight _and unintentional distraction_, Vlad quickly turned into Plasmius and flew forward. He tackled Iluzisto in the next instant, pushing him away from Danny. The boy cried out in pain as his now shocked core was abruptly released. He fell to the ground, turning human from the agony.

Meanwhile, Iluzisto and Plasmius tussled on the ground, trying to physically overpower the other. In fact, Iluzisto's copy just outside the shield was flickering and weakening with its creator's lack of focus as he fought to subdue the older crossbreed. But then Vlad managed to kick Iluzisto's staff away from him. However, getting fed up, the evil spirit yanked the man towards him and phased his hand into his chest, gripping his core.

Vlad screamed in pain, but he quickly summoned his electrical powers, and his very core shocked Iluzisto mercilessly.

The spirit howled in both fury and anger as he was forced to pull away from the man. But he quickly pulled out Okulo's orb and shot it right into Plasmius' core.

Vlad cried out even louder and convulsed as the orb took control of his core.

**_"Stop!"_** Iluzisto then commanded and the man ceased all movement except for his labored breathing.

Iluzisto got off the ground and summoned his staff back to his side. He looked back at his paralyzed and frightened victim before he aimed the orb to him again and ordered, _"Get up."_

Plasmius grunted as his ghostly body moved on its own accord.

"I am sick of you," Iluzisto sneered in his face before ordering, _"Hand me your core."_

Plasmius's eyes widened as one of his own hands turned intangible and penetrated his own chest.

"No!" he gasped out, as he struggled to get control of his body. But even as he fell to his knees, he could feel his hand squeezing his core harder, while shocking it at the same time. He knew it wouldn't take long to stun his core, and he wasn't sure if he could resist the orb's power commanding him to pull out his own core. All he knew was that the pain was indescribable!

In the meantime, Team Phantom and Skulker had been torn with indecision during the entire time. They continued to bat their gaze between the two Iluzistos and what they were doing, feeling more and more helpless at what they were witnessing.

However, just when Vlad had tackled Iluzisto and Danny was struggling to recover, Sam gasped, "Look at the Iluzisto holding Justeco! He's fading!"

Skulker suddenly growled in anger, "It is a copy! And it's weakening for some reason!"

"But what can we do?" Jazz cried out in anguish.

"Yeah, we don't have any weapons!" Tucker added.

Right then, Iluzisto got the upper hand on Plasmius, but the real Iluzisto was so furious that he's weakened copy was still flickering. And yet, it was still holding onto Justeco's core! And clearly, by the sound of his weakening cries, the once-Head-Observant could take no more!

The hunter frowned with uncertainty; now would be the time to attack this spirit clone. But he did not have anything to really hurt the copy with.

Wait.

He still had his ghost powers!

Still, his weak ecto-blasts were not going to make the copy release Justeco's core. He needed something more effective. But what…? It suddenly hit the hunter, except that it was very unappealing.

"Plasmius better give me a raise for this!" Skulker grumbled, knowing he had no other choice. He then turned intangible and suddenly flew right into Iluzisto's copy.

The copy instantly lit up with Skulker's green energy and it began to scream as the smaller ghost attempted to overshadow it. But in their struggles, the already weakened duplicate was forced to release Justeco who slumped to the ground, unconscious…

In all the while, Danny was panting on his hands and knees, trying to recover. His head was still spinning and his chest was hurting so badly from that close call.

"Danny!" he heard his friends and sister call again after they had run to where he had ended up.

He turned to look at them. They were now right at the dome next to him, their hands placed against the thing keeping them from helping their friend and brother.

He placed his hand right back against the shield, so glad to see they were safe. But then he squeezed his eyes close and opened them with another emotion.

"H-Help Justeco," he told them weakly as he forced himself to wobble to his feet.

"But you need help, too!" Sam yelled back desperately.

"But we can't get through this shield! Not even my PDA can break through it!" Tucker added.

However, at that moment, Vlad's sudden scream resonated through the area, and Danny saw what was happening.

"No!" he whispered out and quickly tried to turn ghost. But the pain in his core left him gasping for air as he dropped back to his knees.

But refusing to let Iluzisto waste Vlad, Danny ignored the fact that he couldn't turn ghost and ran at the spirit.

He barely heard his sister and friends' cries of alarm and fear for him.

However, the boy was slow on his weakened human feet. So, Iluzisto saw him coming almost instantly.

"He just does not know when to quit," Iluzisto sneered in disgust before he aimed at his staff at the teen, planning to blast him away with it.

Seeing that he would not be able to avoid the attack, Danny reflexively gasped, "No!"

To Iluzisto's sudden surprise, his staff's purple glow was abruptly overcome by a blue glow. And then the energy forming for a blast abruptly fizzed out.

Confused yet thankful that the spirit suddenly looked stunned, Danny skirted past him. He then tackled Vlad to the ground, which broke the link between Okulo's orb and Vlad's core. Plasmius instantly pulled out his hand out of his chest and turned human.

"What is this?" Iluzisto hissed in alarm, not really caring right now about the crossbreeds as he tried to figure out why his staff was malfunctioning. And it wasn't the first time it did so, either!

"Oh, that was unpleasant," Vlad panted out, knowing that if even a second more had passed his resistance would have collapse and he would have ripped out his core! He shuddered as he sat up and gripped his chest. But then he saw the boy and he anxiously asked, "Are you alright?"

Danny rubbed his own chest and replied, "Yeah, just a little shell-shocked, I think." Danny then raised one of his hands and summoned energy. He was happy to see his core was slowly responding again, which meant he would be able to turn ghost soon.

"He managed to use Okulo's orb to put a spell around my core, Daniel. I cannot turn ghost again, or I am done for," Vlad said fearfully, trying to slow his pants.

"Not unless we get that orb away from him," Danny replied, his eyes narrowing in determination.

The boy's words joggled Vlad's memory and he hurriedly said, "Daniel, I know how we can outsmart Iluzisto's illusions! Clearly, they can now be used against humans and ghosts! But, they are practically useless against half-ghosts!"

"What? But he's been kicking our butts with them for a while now!" Danny replied, confused.

"No, I mean, the illusions do not work when we are _both_," Vlad said quickly, though he glanced at Iluzisto who still seemed to be focused on his staff for some reason. "I broke through his prison illusion and got rid of those cloud-like monsters because I was using my ghost powers _while human_! Do you understand? If we are in a mid-morph stage, which is what happens when our cores are fully active and our bodies are still human, then we can destroy them! And it's possible we might even be immune to them—at least to some extent!"

Danny's eyes widened in understanding; but right then, Iluzisto finally turned his attention back on them.

He stared between the two half-ghosts, a calculating look now in his eye. He had been too cautious in testing these two and had allowed them to get the upper hand. Now it was time to change his strategy of attack. True, he was not being too successful in separating them physically, but there were other things about them he _could_ sever.

"I do not understand you crossbreeds," Iluzisto muttered, a bit of uncertainty in his voice. "Why do you defend each other so fiercely? Are you not enemies? I saw enough of your timeline in the trial to know that together, all you bring about is destruction. You cannot hope to defeat me, not when you are _destined_ to fail in each other's presence. Or, have you forgotten that creature within Clockwork's abode? Is he not testament of your combined failure?"

Danny and Vlad glared back, but then the older hybrid boldly answered, "Or maybe he is a testament of the amount of power we hold _together_. The Observants knew this and so do you. That's why you and your race _fear_ us. You know we are capable of overpowering and defeating you!"

Iluzisto chuckled as an evil idea came to his mind with the man's words. "You hope in vain, Vlad Plasmius. Even if by some slim chance you two could defeat me today, the reality is that it will change nothing. The boy will return to his life. He will _never_ be yours. He will never care for you like you care for him."

Danny glanced at Vlad with uncertainty, especially when the man refused to look at him. What was Iluzisto trying to do?

Vlad frowned. He knew Iluzisto's intention with all his words. And although they jolted his heart because he knew they were true, the man refused to show it and scoffed with indifference. "You are picking the wrong person to play these mind games with, Iluzisto," Vlad said coolly.

Iluzisto's eye curved into a wicked smirk. "And who says I am playing mind games with _you_?"

Iluzisto looked at Danny and added, "Is that not right, little crossbreed? We both know the truth. You do not care for this man, in fact, you cannot even trust him. And why would you? He never has helped you out of the kindness of his heart … To think, you had to resort to something as desperate as a lie to get him to help you now…"

Danny's eyes widened in alarm. How… How did Iluzisto know about that?

Iluzisto gleamed with smugness. "What? Did you think I do not know your dark secret, child? You would be surprised all I got out of Justeco with the help of Okulo's orb…"

Vlad frowned in confusion and looked at Danny. "What is he talking about?"

"Yes, what could I _possibly_ be talking about?" The evil spirit interrupted with a mocking voice. "Perhaps you are the one to pity, Vlad Plasmius. You do not even know whom you have placed your hope and trust in. Then again, I cannot blame you. The boy seems so harmless. Who would ever suspect he is capable of conniving and manipulating others as well as you?"

"Stop it!" Danny abruptly snapped. "That's not true!"

"Then, tell the other crossbreed the truth," Iluzisto challenged, having too much fun with this, especially when he knew he was on the verge of accomplishing his purpose.

Danny looked back at Vlad. And seeing the wary but expectant look on his face, the teen could take no more, and helplessly whispered, "I-I… I had to find a way for you to help me, Vlad."

"Indeed he did," the evil spirit interrupted again. "After all, what could persuade a selfish man more than believing his own life is at stake?" Iluzisto said smugly.

But Vlad still did not understand and Danny didn't know what to say, because he knew Iluzisto was just going to twist everything!

"Ironic, is it not?" Iluzisto continued off-handedly. "Here I tricked Justeco into placing upon you crossbreeds the Timeless Magic Spell, so that you would be weakened when I came for you. I was somewhat upset when I later discovered Justeco reached you in time and _undid the curse_, letting you _both_ recover and join together to 'defeat me.'…"

Vlad's eyes widened in realization, but Iluzisto quickly continued with an amused voice, "That is the ironic part. I am now thankful Justeco undid the spell, since it is thanks to that fact that I can say the young crossbreed tricked you into willingly fighting alongside him now. That is the _real_ truth. Open your eyes, Vlad Plasmius. And look at the real illusion before you: the child who you are intent on defending from me has led you without an ounce of remorse to your demise."

Though the spirit knew he had them both in every sense now, he was willing to wait a few more moments to relish what he knew would happen next. After all, he had learned _a lot_ about these two from his dealings with them in his prison —and still relished torturing them now.

Vlad could not even think of a retort to Iluzisto's scalding words. But still unable to believe the truth, he slowly turned his eyes to Danny and anyone could see that his incredulity and something more vulnerable was hidden behind them…

"There is no deathly curse on me? You… lied…. _You tricked me?"_

"You wouldn't have helped me otherwise!" Danny exclaimed back. "You gave me no other choice!"

Vlad's eyes suddenly flashed red with rage. "Really? I gave you no other choice but to dangle my life as some worthless bait to do your bidding?" He hissed back.

"What? That's not what I—!" Danny began to protest, but was cut off.

"Curses, Daniel!" Vlad exclaimed, completely ticked off. "Do you **_ever_** think anything through?"

"Look, Vlad," Danny growled, growing frustrated with the man's last words. "If I made up that lie, it's because I had to! I asked you to help me on good terms, and you turned me down! It was all I could do!"

"Did it ever occur to you that if I turned you down the first time, it was because I was furious with the Observants?" Vlad growled back. "Did it _ever occur_ to you that I would have ultimately helped you without the need of your little trick, not because I care about the Observants, but because I care about _you_?"

"Well, you have a lame way of showing it, Plasmius!" Danny snapped back.

Vlad's hands suddenly fisted at his sides. "You are probably right, and clearly, it's also a waste of my time to _pretend_ to care! And you know what else? You were also right about one other thing: we will **always** be enemies. Because clearly we cannot trust each other enough to ever be truly honest with one another!"

Danny just stared back at the man, his words hurting more than they should have.

"Tsk. Do not be so hard on the boy, Vlad Plasmius," Iluzisto teased, jumping back into the argument. All was almost ripe. Not only that, he admittedly loved how the crossbreeds so easily forgot about everything around them when they fought. "You really did give him no choice but to betray you. Really, just how many times have you done the same?"

Danny and Vlad quickly glared at the spirit, and suddenly more furious with the spirit, the two quickly raised their hands and fired a strong ecto-blast at him.

Iluzisto tried to block it with his staff, but to his surprise, the rapid combined energy was so strong that it threw him back all the same.

Iluzisto hissed as he quickly got back up. That was enough to shake the smugness out of him. He then yielded to his more sadistic side as he growled, "Not in the mood for any more discussion? Fine. Then how about you both do what you do best?"

Danny and Vlad jolted when twenty illusions of each of themselves appeared around them.

_"Fight yourselves,_ crossbreeds," Iluzisto said evilly.

Returning to mid-morph, Vlad quickly raised a shield as a perfect image of Danny Phantom threw an energy blast at him. The force hit the shield and shook it. And even though the man now had leverage against the illusions in his mid-morph state, he now knew they could still hurt him if he let his guard down. And seeing, the other nineteen illusions of the Ghost Boy come at him, the man began to move back, dropping his shield and switching into attack mode.

Meanwhile, Danny turned into his ghost form and flew away from the twenty Plasmiuses now chasing after him. He put some distance between himself and the illusions before turning on his back and firing a beam of energy at the closest one. But when it just went right through the illusion, the teen's eyes widened as he remembered what Vlad had told him earlier.

"Mid-morph, dude…" Danny muttered, chiding himself.

He quickly concentrated as he recalled that one time in the Ghost Zone that he had somehow managed to be ghost and human at the same time. And recalling that and the feeling of manipulating his transformation rings from all the times he had had to repair his core, the boy let his rings pass over him.

He instantly turned human and quickly inspected himself. Under the situation, he couldn't say he was pleased, but he could tell that his ghostly core was still fully active and he was in mid-morph because he could see his black bangs, his ghost suit remained on his body and his skin still had a ghostly white hue around it.

"Evil puberty all over again," Danny muttered before halting completely and firing at the closest illusion of Plasmius again.

This time, the blast hit the illusion and it dispersed. Danny quickly began shooting more rays at the incoming illusions. As he fought on, he soon learned that although the illusions were capable of hurting him if they got a hit him from the front, they could not affect him from behind—while he was facing away from them. It was very much like what had happened at the pier again; except this time, Danny could hit the illusions from anywhere and destroy them. This certainly leveled the playing field!

But the half-ghosts were not the only ones to see what was happening.

Iluzisto's eye narrowed in displeasure as he watched the crossbreeds quickly wiping out his illusions. So, they had found yet another loophole against his illusions. And it was very visible how they were doing it. Somehow, these creatures were able to be both human and ghost at once. Their unique status made them all but immune to his illusions!

Iluzisto quickly pulled out Okulo's orb and attempted to use it to take control of the unsuspecting older crossbreed's core. But nothing happened! He didn't understand it! They looked human, but they were glowing and moving like ghosts. Their cores seemed active, but they were untouchable! Iluzisto was having a hard time even feeling their energy levels, which meant he could not take hold of their cores as they were. No, this wouldn't do! He needed them to return to their complete ghost forms! But he _also_ needed them further weakened! And he now knew from his recent attempts to take their cores that it was not as easy as he had thought. Their cores almost fought back on their own accord, like an immune system. He needed to stun the cores long enough to pull them out; and to do that, Iluzisto needed to drain the crossbreeds of as much energy as possible!

It was time for more direct attacks, and now that he had managed to split up the crossbreeds in more ways than one, there would be no more resistance from them and this would end quickly.

Iluzisto suddenly began to glow as he made ten copies of himself, five going towards Danny and the remaining five towards Vlad.

Meanwhile, outside the shield, Team Phantom was still trying to get past it, but with no luck. All they could do was watch, as their friend and brother fought on.

But Skulker was having another kind of struggle, not too far from Sam, Jazz, and Tucker. He was still trying to keep control of Iluzisto's copy. But it was just too strong, and in his weaker true form, his strength was reaching its end.

"Whelps!" Skulker suddenly exclaimed from within the Iluzisto copy. And getting their attention, he hurriedly warned, "You all need to get away! I cannot hold him any longer!"

But the kids refused to move. They were not about to flee and leave Danny or Skulker alone, even if they were powerless to help either right now.

Skulker grunted just before the Iluzisto copy pushed him out, sending him careening away. The little green blob slammed into the ground, instantly falling unconscious.

**"Skulker!"** Jazz exclaimed; but she and Danny's friends froze when Iluzisto's copy fixed his glare on them.

"It seems I will have to vaporize you feeble varmints to assure myself of your demise!" he hissed darkly, raising his duplicated staff at them.

The kids took a step back, knowing all they could do when they were weaponless was wait for the attack.

But it never came.

"Leave… Leave them alone," Justeco suddenly whispered.

Iluzisto's clone turned around and gasped when he saw Justeco was conscious and free from his bindings. Iluzisto quickly realized that in his struggle with Skulker, he must have lost his focus completely, and the bindings on Justeco had faded away.

But in spite of being too weak to levitate now, Justeco had somehow crawled towards the orb—_his orb_—that the copy had dropped while he had been overshadowed, and it was now in Justeco's outstretched hand.

The fake Iluzisto could do nothing as Justeco's orb shot out a blue energy beam and instantly destroyed it.

"Justecto!" the kids exclaimed and ran over to him, quickly helping him to sit up and lean against the shield.

But then Tucker jolted and hurriedly said, "Hold on. Let me go check on Skulker!"

The boy ran over to the small ghost blob and smiled when he saw the hunter coming back to his senses.

Scooping him up, Tucker said, "You know, for a little dude, you're pretty tough, Skulker."

Skulker gripped his spinning head as he glared up at the boy, replying, "Whelp, if you ever call me 'little' again, I will skin you alive as soon as I get back in my suit!"

Tucker chuckled, knowing the ghost didn't mean it. "Yeah, I'll make a note of that."

He then took them back over to where Justeco and the girls were, saying, "He's okay."

Sam and Jazz briefly smiled at Skulker, but then they turned their attention back to Justeco.

"So, you're saying this shield is made by Timeless Magic, and only Timeless Magic can break through it?" Jazz repeated, going back to what they had been talking about before Tucker and Skulker had come.

Justeco closed his eye as his form flickered again, but he nodded and weakly replied, "Yes, he created it with my orb. And… I am too weak to dispel something so strong and large."

"Well, can't we use your orb?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Only spirits can will Timeless Magic," Skulker replied for Justeco.

"Then…," Jazz said dejectedly. "We can't help Danny."

"And they don't seem to be doing too well anymore. What happened?" Tucker asked as he saw Danny and Vlad on opposite sides of the dome, now being pummeled by Iluzisto's copies. All they had seen was that Iluzisto had stopped attacking for a moment and was talking to them about something. They had been too far for the kids to hear what; but whatever it was, it had upset Danny and Vlad by the looks on their faces….

"They… They must fight _together_," Justeco whispered weakly. He slightly paused at his next thought but immediately acted upon it. He groaned as he began to struggle to turn to face the shield.

"What are you doing, Justeco?" Sam asked, though she helped him move all the same.

Justeco's form continued to flicker in and out of existence as he raised his orb against the shield, saying, "My orb… Vlad Plasmius… He can… use it. I must… get it to him."

"Wait. I thought only spirits can use Timeless Magic!" Tucker exclaimed, now confused.

But he wasn't the only one, because Skulker and the girls looked equally as shocked.

"You must trust me…," Justeco whispered, his eye closing as he fought to stay conscious.

The kids shared a look with Skulker, who nodded and quickly flew up. He moved as close to the shield as possible, trying to get his employer's attention. But it was hard when the man was so focused on his current battle.

All Team Phantom could then do was watch as things continued to get worse as the sun slowly began to creep down behind Casper High…

* * *

Vlad groaned as another Iluzisto clone came from nowhere and hit him with an ecto-blast in the stomach, dropping him to his knees.

True, using his mid-morph status gave him an advantage over Iluzisto's illusions. In fact, he had destroyed all the 'Danny illusions'. But it left him vulnerable to Iluzisto's real attacks. And to his misfortune, he could not even risk turning back into his full ghost form, or risk Iluzisto taking control of him with Okulo's orb.

And then it would be all over.

His spinning head focused when he heard another of Danny's cries from somewhere. He then frowned when he noticed that the boy had turned back into his full ghost form and was getting blasted by a couple of Iluzisto's clones. Not that he could really blame Daniel. After all, he had also already found out _the hard way_ that fighting in their mid-morph state was only effective against the spirit's _illusions_—and _not_ his clones. And that was because of what Iluzisto had already told them: that unlike his illusions, Iluzisto's clones were so powerful that they were essentially _equal_ to the original. So, that meant that both he and Daniel would be able to best withstand the Iluzisto copies' more powerful and _very real_ blows when they were in their _full_ ghost forms.

But that also meant that now that the boy was in full ghost form, his energy rays were merely shooting through the two remaining illusions of Plasmius that Daniel had yet been able to destroy. And then, of course, the illusions were able to return effective fire back at the boy.

He and Daniel really had gotten themselves into a 'lose-lose' situation. They were quickly running out of energy and Iluzisto was as strong as ever.

Vlad realized right then that that had been Iluzisto plan all along: to wear them out until they couldn't even kick anymore as he took their cores. But in spite of seeing the inevitable closing in on him and the boy, Vlad refused to give in.

Feeling more than seeing the real Iluzisto come at him, Vlad teleported, only to be intercepted by one of Iluzisto's copies. The clone blasted him from behind, throwing him back to the ground.

Meanwhile, Danny cried out as he was slammed face first into the shield by one of the Plasmius illusions. It was actually more upsetting to him to be getting his butt kicked by illusions of the guy he was supposed to be fighting alongside with. Worse, he also had to keep an eye on Iluzisto's copies, which continued to try and capture him now that he was in full ghost form—to ripe out his core, no doubt!

But Danny now understood what Iluzisto had done. He had split Vlad and him up to get the upper hand, because it was true what Justeco proclaimed all along!

They **could** defeat Iluzisto—_but only_ **together!**

And Iluzisto knew it, too, and was afraid, which was why he had used that cheap move to get Vlad and him to fight! And now Danny wished he had told Vlad the truth all along…

Still, he had to push those thoughts aside. Feeling that he was unable to take any more hits, Danny concentrated and turned back to his mid-morph stage and fired several blasts, destroying the remaining Plasmius illusions.

But having already figured out that the half-ghosts were more vulnerable to their direct attacks in this mid-morph form, Iluzisto's copies did not hesitate to take advantage of that and quickly came at the teen with even more force.

Danny was hit by an ecto-blast in the chest, which jolted not just his core, but his very heart with pain. Still, he got right back up, feeling his anger fuel his stubbornness. Danny quickly retorted with several energy blasts, hitting anything that had a smirking eyeball as a head.

"Such a feisty creature you are," one of the copies teased.

"Shut it, you creep!" Danny growled back, firing at the Iluzisto that had said that.

But even when that one was shoved away, another continued, "But I cannot help to notice that under all that anger and determination is an even stronger sense of guilt."

Danny hissed like an angry mamba when another copy snuck up behind him and wrenched his arms behind him. "Let go of me!" he yelled furiously.

Of course, his demand was ignored, and the same copy that had been speaking before continued, "Not that I blame you. To think, you two were so close to defeating me, only for your silly little lie to bring it all crumbling down. It must be a blow to your heroic pride to know that you are the one _solely_ responsible for the demise of not only you and the other crossbreed, but soon of the Observants and the rest of this town."

"Yeah, keep talking, creep! I'm not done yet!" Danny snarled back, as he struggled to escape.

"But that is where you are wrong, crossbreed. You are done. And so is the other crossbreed. You have both lost. Observe," Iluzisto said, waving his staff towards the setting sun. "The Observants will be no more in a matter of minutes. Face it, child. You failed all because of one. Single. Lie."

Danny glowered, but the pain of his guilt in his blue eyes was too great to mask. Still, he refused to give in as he retorted, "Maybe you're right, but… I'm going to kick your butt for as long as I can!"

Danny suddenly morphed completely again and took a massive intake of air, before screaming with all his emotional distress. The sound instantly turned tangible as his Ghostly Wail slammed into all the Iluzisto copies, destroying them in an instant.

But Danny didn't stop there. He quickly flew towards where Vlad was struggling with the other duplicates and let loose another wail.

Vlad, having heard and seen the first wail, had already been alerted to the teen's bold but risky move. So, the man didn't even wait for Danny to release the second wail before trying to dart out of the way. But much to the man's dismay—though he couldn't say that he was surprised—the boy's acoustical power still clipped him and sent him hurtling to the ground.

But this also wasn't the first time Iluzisto had seen the younger crossbreed use this particular attack. In fact, the spirit remembered all too well the brunt force of it when he had been subjected to this powerful force the day he had captured these two crossbreeds.

Unfortunately for the spirit, however, he had been too close to the boy when he released his second wail and Iluzisto was sent hurling back. All the clones also began to puff out of existence the moment the powerful ecto-waves hit them. But just before the last clone could be hit, it reacted and fired an ecto-blast at the Ghost Boy. The last copy was destroyed just as the beam struck the boy in the stomach.

Danny yelped as he was thrown back and slammed into the ground, instantly turning human and passing out.

"Daniel!" Vlad gasped as he struggled to his feet.

But then he glanced over at Iluzisto, who seemed to be having a hard time recovering from this last round of might. Still, the spirit was far from being down for the count. The man looked back at the younger hybrid, now more worried that he hadn't yet recovered. The older hybrid was certain he and the teen couldn't take anymore. And for once, Vlad didn't know what to do. In fact, losing this fight was no longer a possibility: it was a reality. He had assured the boy so fervently that neither of them would lose their lives today, and now, it seemed inevitable. It frightened the man more than he ever thought possible.

"Plasmius!"

The man turned his attention towards the sound and saw Skulker's blob form floating outside the shield. The hunter had finally been able to get close enough to his employer to get his attention.

"Skulker?" he questioned, finally really noticing that his ally was there.

"Justeco's orb! He says you can use it!" the hunter quickly exclaimed.

Vlad turned his eyes to Justeco, who was still on the ground against the shield but now facing him. But then the man's eyes darted toward Iluzisto. The spirit was now up and glaring murderously in Danny's direction. The older hybrid hesitated, the emotional part of him wanting to go to the boy and protect him to the very end. But his logic told him he needed another plan in order to survive, but that meant briefly leaving Danny to the hands of Iluzisto.

**"Vlad!"** Skulker abruptly yelled.

Vlad jolted at hearing his ally uncharacteristically use his first name and looked at Skulker. And for the first time, Vlad saw unhidden worry on his ally's face: the Ghost Hunter was afraid for him.

It was all the older hybrid needed to snap out of his emotional distress and do what he needed to do.

He glanced one last time at Iluzisto, and making sure the spirit was focused on Danny, Vlad, still in mid-morph mode, flew over to where Justeco was.

Placing a hand on the shield, Plasmius said with great urgency, "Justeco, you must get this shield down!"

But the spirit shook his head and weakly said, "I cannot. But you… you can. You _know_ you can."

Vlad's eyes widened as the spirit used whatever strength he had left to create a small opening with his orb. He then pushed the orb inside just before the shield closed back up.

Vlad grabbed the orb, seeing it turn red with his power.

"Vlad," Justeco said, surprising the man, but getting his attention all the same. "Stand and fight… _together_."

Everyone gasped as Justeco suddenly passed out, his body now slowly breaking up.

"No!" Jazz cried out in distress and helplessness.

"Vlad!" Sam said firmly and desperately, "You have to do something! Help Danny! Help Justeco!"

Vlad frowned at the kids before looking at Skulker and seeing that unhidden troubled expression on his face.

The older hybrid slowly lowered his gaze at the orb in his hand. He knew they were all right. Things were more dire than ever. There was no more room for mistakes or petty fights with the boy.

Daniel and he needed to stop Iluzisto _now._ And there was only one way to do it.

They had to do it _together_.

Vlad's eyes narrowed in determination. Suddenly, however, his concentration was interrupted when an ecto-blast slammed into his back and thrust him into the actual shield. But he had somehow managed to tighten his grip around the orb.

The kids and Skulker cried out in alarm, but they could do nothing.

Iluzisto growled, angry at himself even as he shot the older crossbreed. He had been so focused on getting his revenge on the unconscious younger crossbreed, he had almost missed seeing the man not only suddenly near the feeble humans and ghost on the outside the shield, but also speaking with them! And Justeco was also near them all! And even though Iluzisto could tell that Justeco was just about to disintegrate, he would not risk having the ex-Head Observant attempting to help the crossbreeds even at his end. Not now, when Iluzisto was nearly triumphant!

But what the evil spirit didn't know was that he _had_ just missed seeing Justeco speaking with the man, and the fact that the other Observant had given Plasmius his orb.

Meanwhile, Vlad's head spun so badly with the savage attack that he thought he was going to pass out. But he concentrated on the pain to keep himself focused, especially when he suddenly felt a cold arm wrap itself around his neck and yank him off the shield.

"Come here, you freak!" Iluzisto hissed in his ear.

Vlad coughed as the choke hold tightened, barely letting him breathe. But the man thought fast and quickly shoved one of his elbows into Iluzisto's chest—or, tried to.

The spirit reacted and turned his chest and abdomen intangible before he slammed his staff into the back of the man's head while still maintaining his choke hold.

His head now spinning wildly from that blow and the pressure around his neck, Vlad almost lost his grip on the orb—_the orb!_

But even as he realized that he was rapidly losing consciousness and Iluzisto was now holding him so tightly that he could not breathe, the man's brain screamed at him to use the orb! He instantly resisted the spirit even more, trying to pull the orb up enough. But in the next instant, he felt his strength failing as quickly as his depleted oxygen reserve. Nevertheless, he tried even harder to resist that dark curtain as it began to fall over his eyes, even while also realizing that wielding the orb would not be possible at this moment. But he wasn't ready to give in and now was more worried about losing the orb! Instinctively and with his last ounce of strength, he struggled to do the next best thing: he pulled the orb upward and shoved it into one of his pants pockets. And right after he did, he could no longer resist Iluzisto.

Suddenly, however, for some reason, Iluzisto let go! The man violently coughed but then began to gulp in air even when he could then feel Iluzisto's cold and rough hands harshly yank his hands behind his back. But right now he could do nothing about it, especially when Iluzisto used real ghost energy to bind his hands behind him, while holding him down.

But with his anger and pride instantly rekindling, Vlad's eyes flashed red. "Let go of me, you wretch!" he growled as he began to charge energy though his body. He didn't care how weak he was! He wasn't submitting to this loathsome creature just yet!

Too bad Iluzisto was having none of that.

"You are certainly resilient. _This_ should take care of that,…." the spirit sneered as he increased his hold around the older crossbreed neck again and quickly siphoned off energy from him using his absorbing powers. He took enough energy from Plasmius to weaken him further and stop him from getting any more ideas.

Vlad groaned out loud this time as his head spun horribly, vaguely aware that Iluzisto was even pulling him somewhere. That is, until the spirit suddenly removed his arm from around his neck and then thrust him right at Danny's unmoving form.

Vlad gasped as he fell on top of the teen, who finally moaned into consciousness from the sudden painful weight on top of him.

"Foolish creatures. All your efforts have been in vain," Iluzisto hissed down at the helpless half-ghosts, watching as the older one managed to get off the younger one in spite that the man's hands were still bound behind his back.

"All you have done is delay your fate and make me **really** angry," Iluzisto growled just as he raised his hand and violently thrust a beam into Danny and then Vlad.

The two hybrids gasped and fell over in pain as the air was ripped right out of their lungs.

Eyes squeezed close with both physical and emotional pain, Vlad attempted to get his mind to work through it. He needed to think! But everything was unraveling so quickly that trying to come up with something was like trying to learn to swim when you were already drowning!

Why? Why had he let Iluzisto split him and the boy up and get the upper hand? That mistake had them on the verge of losing… more than their lives.

Even as Danny was trying to pull in enough air back into his lungs, the pain was enough to jolt his mind fully. He looked at Vlad with blurry eyes and gasped with a pant when the older hybrid looked as horrible as the teen himself felt—both physically and conscious-wise.

"V-Vlad," he called hoarsely to the man. And seeing the other hybrid's eyes slowly open to look at him, the boy added, "I'm sorry."

"How sweet…," Iluzisto suddenly interrupted. "Saying your good-byes? I suppose I understand. But… I've grown impatient and have toyed with you more than long enough."

Danny yelped as Iluzisto suddenly reached forward and grabbed him by the hair. Instinctively, the boy's hands latched onto the hand in his hair as he was wrenched to his feet. In spite of the pain, the teen's eyes turned green with hate, even when Iluzisto lowered the sharp end of his staff against his neck.

"You first, since I made a promise to your elder counterpart," Iluzisto said darkly; and because he was human, Iluzisto had no problem using his illusion powers to make the boy suffer.

Danny gasped as he saw his feet slowly freeze over and then begin to crawl up his body.

"What is wrong, little mutt? I thought you liked the cold," Iluzisto taunted; but he knew how vulnerable humans were to extreme conditions. And with the boy having an ice core, it would instinctively trigger his body to turn ghost in order to withstand what it naturally produced… Or, at least, that was the plan.

"No!" Danny grunted in both pain and frustration when he felt his core begin to twitch as the ice crawled higher and higher over his body. All his being was pleading for him to morph and push away the coldness, much like he had needed to when his ice powers first woke.

But he knew if he morphed, Iluzisto was going to waste him!

Meanwhile, seeing what was happening, Vlad struggled to get his hands free, but it was useless with his own physical strength. Iluzisto had really left him with very little energy with that blasted ability of his to take other's energies! And although he could also feel his core quickly regenerating his lost energy, it wasn't going to be quick enough to help the boy!

But then…

The orb. He had to get the orb! It was the only card they had left!

Vlad leaned to his side and curled his body as he struggled to get his hands close to his pocket. Fingers just barely stroked the bulge that was the orb, but he still began to push against it to get it to come out. All the while, his eyes continued to dart back to Iluzisto and Danny, feeling his desperation threatening to break his focus and panic. But when he saw the ice reach the boy's chest and the teen cry out, the man forced himself to look away before he lost it.

Nevertheless, more than ever, the man was glad Iluzisto's mindset was so ghost-like. When presented with his obsession for power, the creature developed tunnel-vision, focusing solely on that want. It was the main reason why Iluzisto wouldn't take his eye off the young hybrid. That, and the spirit was convinced the older one was completely helpless.

Vlad was about to prove him sorely wrong. Or, he hoped, anyways.

"_Blast_!" the man thought in irritation and frustration when the orb refused to bulge. _"I never thought I would ever feel as fat as Jack!"_

The orb was now just peeking out of his pocket. And when he saw a dull glow coming from behind him every time his fingers brushed against the orb, he suddenly got an even better idea. Switching tactics, Vlad fought to get the energy-bonds around his wrist closer to the orb.

"Come on!" he quietly grunted when he actually felt the temperature rise and felt the vibration near his wrists. The orb must have activated! "Break… Break it!" he pleaded.

And in an instant, the orb shot out a beam and broke the binds around the man's wrists.

Vlad froze in disbelief, only to be driven by sudden hope.

Meanwhile, Danny was at his strength's end as he fought against his transformation rings. It was horrible! It felt like he was back in Vlad's mid-morph pod during the whole cloning thing—only worse!

Finally, his tired body couldn't take anymore, and with a reluctant cry, Danny's body morphed, quickly dispelling the 'supposed' ice around his body just as he reached mid-morph. Much as he tried, he was unable to control his transformation from returning him to his full ghost form.

Iluzisto hardly cared that the boy had done away with his illusion, and instead, he yanked the teen closer to his staff and hissed in delight, "I am going to _carve out_ your core."

Danny attempted to change back, but Iluzisto had had the foresight to use his illusion powers to negate such an attempt. He was not letting anything stop him from taking the boy's core!

"No! Don't!" Danny cried out when Iluzisto angled his staff to deliver his fatal blow.

**"Iluzisto!"**

The spirit's eye darted towards the older hybrid, as if finally remembering his existence. In fact, Iluzisto jolted when the man changed into Plasmius and then aim a hand at him. He had not seen that coming.

"You want the boy's core? You'll have to destroy me, first!" Vlad challenged before firing a bright red ecto-bolt at the spirit.

Iluzisto was forced to let go of the teen to evade the attack, and ignoring the thunderous clap as the bolt hit the shield somewhere behind him, the spirit quickly pulled out Okulo's core. The foolish man had just sealed his doom by turning into his full ghost form!

But just as Iluzisto aimed Okulo's orb, Vlad raised the pulsing red orb hidden in his own hand, having already predicted the evil spirit's move. With a growl, Plasmius fired a ray of blue Timeless Magic right at Iluzisto's extended hand.

The spirit yelled when the ray struck true and Okulo's orb was thrown out of his hand. In an instant, it flew through the air before hitting the ground and shattering into a million pieces.

Iluzisto froze in shock as he stared at the remains of Okulo's orb. But then his eye slowly moved to the older crossbreed, watching as the brand on his forehead faded away with the orb's destruction.

Danny also noticed this and placed a hand on his forehead, touching the spot where his brand was, feeling as it also disappeared.

But the teen was shocked, too, at how Vlad had just destroyed Okulo's orb. He had done it with Justeco's orb! But how was that possible? He thought only Justeco could wield that orb! Not only that, Danny vividly remembered when _he_ had touched the orb that one time in Vlad's living room. It had dimmed with his touch. But with Plasmius' touching it, it was glowing a bright red! And if that wasn't enough, there was also that red smoke pouring out of Vlad's mouth again. Danny had no idea what to make of it all!

But Iluzisto finally voiced his own disbelief.

"How…? Only spirits can will Timeless Magic!" the evil spirit exclaimed.

"I guess I'm the exception to that rule," Vlad sneered before releasing another beam from the orb, this time, hitting the spirit right in the chest.

For the first time, Iluzisto actually screamed in pure agony as he was thrown back. But the man didn't stop there and he quickly fired another round through the orb at the fallen spirit, who gasped as he felt himself actually weakening.

However, knowing he couldn't take anymore Timeless Magic attacks, Iluzisto quickly reached for his staff. And just as a third ray came at him, the spirit fired a time ray.

The two similar forces collided, and the result was an instant explosion so strong that Vlad was thrown off his feet and the orb flew out of his hand.

"No!" the man yelled as the orb shattered on the ground, much like Okulo's orb.

He didn't see the shield begin to flicker in and out of existence with the destruction of Justeco's orb. But Danny did.

With a gasp, Danny quickly flew towards Vlad and pulled him up to a stand, saying, "Now's our chance, Vlad! We can beat him back!"

Plasmius looked over at Iluzisto, who was struggling to get back up. Daniel was right, but they had just lost Justeco's orb—the only thing that seemed to have a real effect on Iluzisto! So, how were they going to defeat this creature without it?

_"Stand and fight… **together**."_

Vlad's eyes suddenly narrowed with determination as Justeco's words echoed in his brain. Now he understood.

"You up for a bit of that 'teamwork' you love so much?" the man quipped with a smirk.

Danny grinned and replied determinedly, "Heck, yeah!"

"But first," Vlad added, his smirk still apparent as he suddenly willed his transformation rings and then turned _human_.

Danny frowned in confusion until he saw Vlad immediately reactivate his transformation rings until he was holding them steady in mid-morph until a glow surrounded him.

Now Danny knew that Vlad was recharging his core and his energy. The boy immediately followed suit, not only readying his core, but also digging deeper into what he called his inner strength.

The two half-ghosts turned ghost again, now ready for the final battle!

As if they instinctively knew what to do, the boy quickly began to make an ice-sphere as Vlad stepped closer and placed his hand over it, feeding it with electrical energy which quickly melted the inside of the sphere—but only just enough. That thin layer of liquid actually then began to boil a bit as the man's energy connected with the the ionic properties in the water and surged in power. Nevertheless, the bucking energy remained contained with the encasing of ice that Danny kept building.

Just then, Iluzisto finally was able to get up. He glared viciously over at the crossbreeds and groaned slightly in pain before producing two copies of himself.

However, oddly feeling the awakening of the spirit's two duplicates, Plasmius quickly moved in front of Danny, hiding him from Iluzisto's view and therefore also the vibrant energy orb now ready in the boy's hands.

"You know," the older hybrid began casually, eyes locked on the evil spirit, "—only cheap magicians steal someone else's tricks."

But Iluzisto was too angry to talk anymore, and he sent his copies forward to attack. Vlad reacted, too, though, and fired two ecto-beams at Iluzisto. As he expected, the spirit flew up to avoid the twin force.

And that was Danny's cue.

"Hey!" Danny called out, quickly floating up from behind the older hybrid, his hands held high above his head, holding the combined sphere of ice and electricity. "The cheesehead's right. You should learn to be more original… LIKE US!"

Not having expected the sudden attack from the younger crossbreed, let alone one of this magnitude, Iluzisto could only gasp as the combined force hit him right in the chest. The explosion immediately froze him just as his body was invaded by a strong electrical current, which instantly jolted him mercilessly from within.

Waves of energy poured out of Iluzisto as he dropped to the ground, screaming as the melting coldness encasing his body only fueled the electricity pulsating through his body. The attack left him so unfocused that his copies instantly vanished before they could do anything.

But the hybrids didn't give the spirit time to recover. Planting their feet firmly on the ground and lining up next to each other, Vlad and Danny's hands brightened with their energy.

They glanced briefly at each other, oddly feeling in sync. They locked their eyes on their foe and fired their energy at him at the exact same time.

Compact, contained red energy and wild, raw green energy twirled and twisted around each other as they shot forward, looking briefly like the dance of ying-yang before they merged and the now lone beam darkened into a shade of blue. But in the next instant, just before the massive power struck Iluzisto, the energy changed colors again, but it was something neither half-ghost had ever thought possible.

A flash of bright white light suddenly exploded out of the still churning combined energy before it turned gold and engulfed Iluzisto.

The evil spirit screamed even louder in pain as his body ignited with the golden energy. And in spite of being shocked by what they were creating, the hybrids held their ground and continued to pour out their energy, watching in awe as it continued to turn gold in color and peel away Iluzisto's strength and power.

Unable to take anymore, the spirit at last dropped to his side, the staff falling from his hold.

Danny and Vlad instantly halted their attack. But not wanting to take another chance, the teen quickly soared over to the staff. He remembered full well what had happened to Vlad after he had touched it, so Danny coated it in ice, grabbed it, and flew back over to Vlad.

Right then, the shield finally flickered out of existence. But Team Phantom and Skulker stood stunned and in awe at what they had just witnessed.

All the while, Iluzisto moaned as he struggled to even sit up. What had those creatures done to him? He had never felt anything so powerful and weakening as their last attacks!

"It's no use, Iluzisto," Vlad muttered, eyes narrowed. "You are out of energy. And unlike us, your core cannot regenerate your lost power. In other words, you're finished."

Iluzisto chuckled weakly as he finally managed to sit up and focus his blood-shot eye on the hybrids. "Fools," he replied hoarsely. "You think you have won? No, you have not won anything. You are too late to save the Observants!"

Danny's eyes darted to Justeco, and seeing his form barely there, he looked up at the sky.

The sun had gone down!

"No. No, no, no!" Danny cried out in anguish. And beyond logic, he yelled, "Stop!", as if _that_ would command the last beam of sunlight to freeze.

Oddly, Iluzisto's staff flashed blue within the boy's hold in spite of it being frozen; but then just as suddenly, Justeco vanished completely.

"NO!" Danny screamed, while his sister and friends, who had been next to the Observant leader, gasped. He was gone!

Iluzisto laughed. "You lose, crossbreeds! Without the Observants, all Existence now belongs to me! Behold, **Iluzisto the Insidious!** You might have weakened me for the moment, but you cannot destroy me for I am no ghost. I just need to return to my realm to recover and I will be back as strong as ever and finish what I started. You will never be rid of me!""

Vlad's eyebrows creased with worry, because he knew the spirit was right. They had no means of containing Iluzisto without the Observants around and they had no way of destroying him because he was a spirit.

And seeing that the crossbreeds had fallen speechless, Iluzisto just laughed harder. "You also forget one other thing, crossbreeds…. I might be out of energy, but I still have one last card to play… _Staff, come to me."_

Danny gasped as the frozen staff in his hand began to shake and glow purple just as it tried to pry itself out of the boy's hands.

"No!" Danny grunted, fighting against the invisible pull.

All of the sudden, however, the staff began to glow blue again.

And seeing what was happening, Iluzisto's eye widened, finally realizing why the staff kept malfunctioning around the younger crossbreed. He growled at the thought. No matter! It was **still** his staff!

"I said, **come!"** Iluzisto ordered more fiercely.

Danny cried out when he was yanked forward as the staff struggled to escape his grip. And suddenly, purple energy appeared alongside of the blue aura and surged around the staff, quickly cracking the ice around it.

"Daniel!" Vlad yelled in alarm. "Let it go!"

"No, I'm not letting him get this back! It… It isn't his!" Danny suddenly yelled, just before the ice shattered completely and the purple and blue energy exploded outward, engulfing the boy within it.

"NO!" Vlad screamed before charging his energy and aiming at the Observant, only to see the spirit suddenly vanish.

"Plasmius! Behind you!" Skulker yelled out.

But it was too late. Just as Vlad whirled around, Iluzisto delivered a devastating blow to the side of the man's head with his remaining energy.

As Plasmius fell to his knees in pain, Iluzisto then turned back to Danny, who was still struggling with the staff.

"Staff, I command you to come to me NOW!" Iluzisto yelled.

But the blue and purple energy around the staff only whirled faster and Danny screamed as he felt his body weakening with the overwhelming forces circling around him. And yet, it was strange. Instead of attacking him, it felt like the two forces were attacking _each other_, and he was just caught in the middle of it!

Suddenly, as if the blue energy had devoured the purple energy, the staff exploded in an even brighter blueness. A terrifying ripping sound echoed in the air not even a heartbeat later as Clockwork's time staff and Iluzisto's staff abruptly pulled away from each other, emerging as separate staffs once more.

Danny screamed as he was sent flying back with Clockwork's staff in his hand, while Iluzisto's own staff flew right at the evil spirit before he caught it in his hand.

Iluzisto's eye turned bright red in anger. Incredibly, the little freak had managed to separate the staffs! He would surely pay for that!

Iluzisto aimed his own staff at the recovering boy, ready to deliver a paralyzing blow.

But Vlad, who had managed to get to his knees, reached forward, and grabbed the spirit's tail. He used his remaining energy to send a jolt of energy into the evil spirit.

Iluzisto yelled in pain, but quickly slammed the end of his staff into the man's gut.

The man wheezed as he struggled to get away from the impending danger, but he never managed it. And suddenly, he felt something even worse than the forceful loss of air slice through his stomach…

Danny was just recovering and getting to his feet when he heard Vlad's scream resonate through the air.

The boy's eyes darted to his direction, only for them to widened in horror as he saw Iluzisto push the sharp end of his staff deeper into the man's stomach before yanking it back out.

"Do not move," Iluzisto muttered darkly at the fallen older crossbreed before turning away and focusing back on the younger one.

"VLAD!" Danny exclaimed, seeing a puddle of green blood forming around the man. But the teen froze again when Iluzisto abruptly appeared a few feet from him.

The boy quickly readied himself into a fight stance, Clockwork's staff clutched in one of his hands.

Iluzisto narrowed his eyes at the boy, though there was some wariness behind his anger as he noticed how the child's body was glowing with the staff's blue energy.

"Give that to me," the spirit ordered menacingly.

"Forget it, pal! This isn't yours. It belongs to Clockwork!" Danny replied firmly, his free hand filling with ghost energy.

"Clockwork is destroyed! I am now that staff's master!" Iluzisto hissed back.

Danny's eyes widened with that claim, but he grew furious. "You're lying!" he yelled, firing an ecto-blast with his free hand.

Iluzisto, however, evaded it, and raised his own staff to retaliate.

The teen gasped and raised his hands up, having no time to evade the attack, let alone do anything to protect himself. But to his surprise, the staff in his hand shot out a blue beam of energy and it collided with Iluzisto's staff's own purple energy.

The impact sent both opponents back, but while Iluzisto managed to hold his ground, Danny tripped and fell, the staff accidently slipping out of his hand.

"Danny!" Sam, Tucker, and Jazz screamed.

And unable to stand by helplessly anymore, they rushed forward against their better judgment.

And it was indeed a mistake. Iluzisto had heard more than seen their approach, and he quickly turned his staff at the kids and fired.

"NO!" Danny screamed in horror as the beam engulfed his friends and sister before it exploded!

But when the smoke cleared, Iluzisto gasped when he saw a green dome covering the humans, thanks to a little green ghost hovering over them.

"Whelps, I don't know how many more times I can keep doing this!" Skulker grunted, knowing it wasn't the first time the kids put themselves in danger like this and he had to fly into the fray.

Now beyond livid, Iluzisto fired another ray, and this time, Skulker's shield buckled. They were all thrown back.

In the meantime, Danny jumped to his feet, and flew at top speed at Iluzisto, only for the spirit to sharply turn towards him. The teen realized his mistake a second before Iluzisto lunged forward and phased his hand into his chest.

Danny screamed as he felt the force of a steel vice grip his core.

The boy's cries of alarm and pain jolted Vlad a distance away. He glanced over at what was happening through blurry eyes, while holding a hand to his bleeding stomach. Thankfully, he was still in ghost form, so the deep wound was already healing. The problem was that he was so weak that he was struggling with his body's need to turn human. But he could not revert back with a wound this deep, or he would surely bleed to death.

But he also knew Daniel was in serious trouble. So, in spite of the threat of his own demise, Vlad struggled onto his hands and knees. It was truly astounding when the man then got to his feet, clutching his wound. He took a couple of steps forward before his weakened and injured body overcame his willpower.

Plasmius collapsed to his knees with a small cry of pain. His black rings appeared, but with a hiss, he pushed them back. He couldn't help Daniel. Iluzisto was going to kill him!

The thought alone threatened to break the man, and his eyes lowered to the ground in helplessness. But it was then that he saw something. He was right in front of the remains of Okulo's orb…

The man reached forward in some sort of desperation, but froze in shock when the instant he touched the shard remains, they began to glow red… and draw together….

Meanwhile, Iluzisto ignored the fact that the boy was still glowing blue in spite of the staff being on the ground. Instead, he drew closer and hissed in his ear, "Your time is up, Ghost Boy. And this time, there is no one left to save you from me… Not your human companions. Not the other freak whom I will finish off as soon as I am done with you. And certainly, not that meddling pest Clockwork in spite of his clever little trick!"

Danny's breathing picked up as Iluzisto's last words joggled his mind. Why hadn't he realized it before? All this time, Iluzisto was unable to use Clockwork's staff's power against him! Not only that, the staff reacted to him but did not harm him, especially when he didn't _want _it to hurt him! Clockwork's staff… it was somehow obeying him!

Danny whimpered as he felt the spirit painfully jolt his core into submission. But the pain he felt was also an emotional one at his next thought, the memory of what happened in the trial room… the last time he had seen Clockwork…

_With the sound of the Council's shouts and gasps around him, Danny jumped into action and charged right at… Clockwork._

_But seeing his intentions, the Time Spirit raised his staff in a horizontal position in front of him to block the young hybrid just as the boy reached him with his fist drawn back._

_The teen growled at the block, knowing he could not punch the spirit anymore as he had wanted. But he quickly reacted and instead gripped the staff placed in between him and the Time Spirit._

_"I see you are angry with me," Clockwork said calmly, though he held the staff steadily between them._

_"That's an understatement, you jerk!" Danny snapped back before yanking the staff towards him, trying to take it from the Time Master._

_"I do what I must… Allow me to prove it to you," Clockwork answered before his staff suddenly began to glow blue, and then he and Danny also lit up with blue energy…_

Danny's eyes widened as everything made sense! But another tug at his core jolted him to reality and he cried out again. Clearly, Iluzisto was taking his time, wanting to draw out his death as slowly and painfully as possible.

Iluzisto's eye glowed with triumph, loving the terrified look on the younger crossbreed's face. They both knew that the boy's core was now stunned enough that all spirit now had to do was pull it out in one quick movement and it would be over. So, it was just icing on the cake as he rubbed in, "You failed, you little freak. You failed the other crossbreed, your little town, your world, and the Observants."

Iluzisto suddenly glanced back towards Vlad, who had managed to pull himself up into a sitting position, cradling his wound. There were sparks of black energy curling around his mid-section as he fought to stay in ghost form.

"Daniel," the man whispered, his eyes wide with helplessness.

"Strong together…?" Iluzisto questioned with a chuckle before turning his dark glare on the boy in his hold and finishing, "Not so much as _foolish_."

"Y-Yeah?" Danny choked out. "Well, we still… k-kicked your butt!"

"Feeble creature with your pitiful hope! Do you _still_ think you have a chance of escaping your fate?" Iluzisto growled.

"Y-Yeah, because I realized something," Danny said, "Thanks to… Clockwork… I got one last escape card left…"

"And what could that _possibly_ be?" Iluzisto asked, rolling his pupil. This creature was obviously grasping at air. It was pathetic.

"It's his staff…," Danny replied, and his eyes narrowed as he said, "And it's more powerful than yours!"

Iluzisto gasped when Clockwork's staff abruptly appeared to his right, floating on its own accord—or more like on Danny's mental command now that he knew he could control it. It immediately tilted forward and fired a bright blue beam at the spirit.

The Master of illusions cried out as the beam wrenched him away from Danny, who turned intangible to prevent his core from being ripped out in the process.

But feeling the lingering pain, Danny gasped and gripped his chest, just barely staying on his feet.

Iluzisto quickly growled as he sat up and grabbed his own staff lying beside him. "No, Clockwork's staff is _mine!_ **I control it now!"**

"Actually, jerk, **I **control it," Danny replied back firmly, walking over to the floating staff and grabbing it. "You never did, because Clockwork gave me control of it way before you took it from him! It only obeyed you because I didn't know that until now—because I didn't command it otherwise. Well, I am commanding it now, and _I won't let you_ use it for evil!"

"Then, I will destroy it along with you!" Iluzisto screamed, and shot a strong bolt of energy from his staff at Clockwork's staff. Danny yelled as he was thrown back and lost his grip on the staff just as the purple energy engulfed it.

However, to Iluzisto's surprise, his purple energy was suddenly consumed by the Time Staff before it turned a dark angry blue.

"Iluzisto!" Danny yelled in warning from where he sat on the ground. The teen just knew that the time staff's ominous pulsation could not be good!

But it was too late.

As if a dam suddenly burst, the mounting energy exploded out into a single beam, hitting Iluzisto right in the chest. The time energy instantly engulfed him and penetrated his core. The evil spirit instantly screamed.

However, sensing its master's peril, Iluzisto's own staff seemed to glow purple with rage as it quickly used its own power to counter the blue energy trying to hurt its master.

But seeing what had been happening from where he sat a distance away, Plasmius narrowed his eyes and raised a weak, shaking hand, determine to use his own trump card he had managed to get a hold of a moment ago...

"No you don't," the man panted out darkly before a bright yet strange blue beam of energy shot forward and hit Iluzisto's staff, vaporizing it in an instant.

Iluzisto only had time to gasp at his staff's destruction before the blue energy surrounding Clockwork's staff began to tear at him. Suddenly, ugly craters and boils began to explode all over the evil Observant's body as the creature screamed in agony.

However, in spite of the staff's relentless attack, Iluzisto, still stirred by all the evil and hate within him, rebounded. He immediately raised up his hands and poured out his own purple ectoplasmic energy in defense. Though he meant only to destroy Clockwork's staff, his beams fired in all directions since he really couldn't control his power so well while being bombarded.

Danny gasped, shocked at what was happening. Clockwork's staff _was destroying_ the spirit! He was about to command the staff to stop when one of Iluzisto's wild beams slammed into him, knocking the wind out of him while stunning him at the same time.

The Time Staff's attack on Iluzisto instantly intensified, as if furious at the evil spirit for accidently hurting its 'master'.

The boy fell, his head spinning too wildly to even remember why he had ended up on the ground. But by the time the boy had recovered enough to get back up, it was too late.

To his dismay, Iluzisto was consumed by the Time Staff's power in the next instant until there was nothing left of the spirit but black ashes; and that soon also faded out of existence.

For a long moment, the boy just stared in shock, the silence now deafening.

But when the realization that this was over finally sank in, Danny felt the weight of his exhaustion hit him full force. But more than that, he suddenly felt tears brimming under his eyes at the immense relief, and in some ways, also grief and remorse at the same time. After all, he had never been responsible for another being's destruction before… It was a… terrible feeling, even if a part of him understood that he had tried to prevent it, only for…fate to decide the outcome.

But his emotions could wait. He needed to make sure everyone was okay, first. He first glanced over to his friends and sister. They were sitting on their bottoms, looking completely floored and a bit tussled, but otherwise, okay.

Danny slowly made his way over to where Vlad was, and he saw the man's wound had stopped bleeding, which meant it would heal eventually. Still, the man held both his hands against his stomach for some odd reason. But, really, the teen wasn't all that worried. He knew Vlad would survive; but he was also thankful for the man's last bit of help in the end. Danny didn't know where Plasmius had gotten enough energy to destroy Iluzisto's staff like that, but his timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Even more relieved, the teen finally gave into his weak body a bit. He let his transformation rings wash over him before he dropped to his knees in front of the older hybrid.

The two just stared at each other for a long second, seeing just utter tiredness and relief in each other's eyes.

But then the teen smiled weakly at the man, muttering, "You look like crud."

Plasmius would have rolled his eyes if he had the energy for it. Instead, he replied quietly, "You should talk, you little rat. You do not look any better."

But there was something else on Danny's mind, and he opened his mouth to voice it to his arch-enemy, only to be interrupted.

"Danny!" he suddenly heard his friends and sister yell as they came up from behind him and threw themselves at him in a group hug.

"Ouch! Take it easy!" Danny gasped out, and his friends and sister eased up a bit with sheepish smiles.

But he just smiled back at them, letting them know he was still really happy to see them.

Skulker had also gone over to the hybrids but flew closer to his employer, who raised an eyebrow at his ally's tiny form.

The hunter smiled in spite of himself, but then quickly crossed his arms and pointedly said, "You owe me a new suit."

Vlad chuckled, replying, "What happened to the one I gave you?"

Skulker coughed before reluctantly confessing, "It got destroyed along with your flying contraption."

"Then, you own me a new ship," Vlad quipped back with a weak smirk.

Skulker pouted, but then their eyes shifted to Danny when he suddenly spoke up.

"What's gonna happen to everything with the Observants gone?" Danny questioned sadly. He lowered his gaze as he added, "I promised Justeco and Konsilisto I would save them all… And, I couldn't. I couldn't stop Iluzisto in time. And now… now they're… gone. Iluzisto was right. I failed."

"You did not fail, Danny," a new, but familiar, voice echoed calmly from behind the group.

Everyone gasped as they twisted around toward the voice.

It was Clockwork, floating there in his eldest form!

"**Clockwork!** You're… alive!" Danny exclaimed, and finding some lingering strength, he ran over to the time spirit and wrapped his arms around him without a second thought.

Clockwork was a bit surprised with the sudden affection; but then he smirked and placed a hand on the boy's back, saying, "You know, technically I am not—"

"You know what I mean!" Danny interrupted, already knowing how the spirit was going to poke fun at his 'being alive' comment.

Clockwork chuckled and mischievously said, "I am quite resourceful, Danny. Even without my staff, I got a few good tricks up my sleeve—at least good enough to deceive a spirit like Iluzisto."

Danny just gripped the time spirit harder. He was so immensely relieved to know Clockwork wasn't gone like Iluzisto had told him that he didn't see that Clockwork was not changing forms, nor did he see the odd frown that had formed on Vlad's features at seeing the obvious affection the teen had for the spirit.

_"You hope in vain, Vlad Plasmius. …He will never be yours. He will never care for you like you care for him."_

Vlad suddenly realized how true Iluzisto's words had been…

"Clockwork, I'm so sorry about everything!" Danny suddenly said, pulling away. "I should have trusted you! I should have known you had a reason to do everything you did! I'm sorry!"

"Calm down, Danny," Clockwork said with a warm smile. "I could not have expected you to think anything but the worse when that was exactly what it seemed. But I told you before, I do what I must. You know protecting the timeline is my responsibility, but… if I can, I like to help you from time-to-time, even if it is not in a direct way…"

The Master of Time frowned a bit as he then added, "But I must apologize, too, for everything I put you through. You see, Iluzisto was a problem that I could not resolve. Only you, Danny—you and Vlad Masters—through your unique powers and combined strength could have defeated Iluzisto. And… you did."

Danny smiled as he looked over at the floating Time Staff. But then, his face fell as he quietly added, "But I wasn't able to stop Iluzisto being destroyed. I never wanted that! And what's worse… I wasn't able to save the Observants, Clockwork."

"Did you not hear me?" Clockwork replied. "I said you did not fail Justeco, or the other Observants, for that matter."

Danny quickly looked up, but Sam, Jazz, and Tucker, who had also been watching and listening, replied before the ghost teen could.

"But we saw Justeco fade away!" Jazz said.

"Yeah, he just vanished just after the sun set," Sam added, while Tucker soberly nodded.

"The Time Spell was placed upon the Observants through my staff," Clockwork explained. "As you said, Danny, it only obeyed Iluzisto because its master—_you_, for the moment—had not told it otherwise. But the moment you came into contact with the staff, it began to obey you, even when you did not realize it at first. Iluzisto could not hurt you with it because it could not attack its true master. And the Time Spell over the Observants never came to fruition because…"

"—I didn't want it to! I told it to stop!" Danny exclaimed. "You mean…?"

Clockwork nodded. "Yes, all the Observants are fine. They vanished out of _my own_ doing. The spell and their being in the timeline did weaken them significantly. They needed to return to the Realm Beyond Time to recover, which is why I transported them back soon after you halted the spell."

Danny and Team Phantom grinned in relief.

"However," Clockwork said with a smirk, "Aside from talking to you, I also physically came here to pick up… two things…. Do you think I could have my staff back now, Danny?"

The teen blinked, but then smiled sheepishly, realizing he was still glowing blue. "Oh, right!" He raised his hand and called the staff to him.

Danny frowned at it before looking at Clockwork and asking, "So, do I, uh, just give it to you?"

"Unless you want my job…," Clockwork replied with another knowing smirk.

"Uh, pass!" Danny quickly said and handed the staff over to Clockwork.

The instant the time spirit placed his hand on it, Danny gasped as the blue hue around his body faded away and lit up Clockwork's body. The Master of Time instantly began to change forms again.

"Never thought I'd be happy to see you doing that again!" Danny quipped with a small chuckle.

"To be honest, I missed it," Clockwork answered with a grin; but then he floated away towards a certain area.

"What are you…?" Danny began when he saw Clockwork stop and point his staff down at the ground.

"Just picking up that 'other thing'," Clockwork replied.

Danny's eyes widened when he finally realized Clockwork was aiming his staff at the remains of Justeco's orb.

"Justeco might want this back," Clockwork replied before the pieces began to glow blue and suddenly rejoined together and formed back into Justeco's blue orb.

"I thought it had been destroyed," Danny said, confused.

Clockwork levitated the orb into his hand before turning to the teen and replying, "The only way you can destroy a timeless object is with another timeless object. A simple fall will only break it, but as you can see, it easily reforms back to its original state. "

"Well, then, where's Okulo's orb?" Sam asked with a frown.

"I see no evidence of another orb," Clockwork replied, though he didn't even glance around.

Danny shrugged. "Well, Vlad did shoot Okulo's orb out of Iluzisto's hand using Justeco's orb, so he probably did destroy it. You did destroy it, right… Vla—?" But the boy fell short when he glanced over to the older hybrid, only to find him gone.

"Vlad?" Danny asked, looking around the area.

"He's gone, Danny," Jazz said after looking around herself and not seeing any sight of the man.

"And… so is Skulker," Tucker muttered with a small disappointed frown.

Danny's eyebrows creased, feeling a bit hurt that the man would just leave like that. But… they had already done what had been needed to be done. And Vlad had been previously upset with him for tricking him.

Maybe he still was, so didn't care to stick around any longer than necessary…

Danny suddenly felt sad again, but he was distracted by Clockwork.

"I must go," the time spirit said, putting Justeco's orb in within his robe. His staff then began to glow a brighter blue as a portal started to form.

"Wait!" Danny quickly said, capturing the spirit's attention.

"Yes?" Clockwork asked calmly.

Danny rubbed his neck as he looked around a bit before asking, "So… did I really… _destroy_ Iluzisto?" And since Clockwork hadn't commented on it before, he also said once again, " I-I didn't mean to."

"Yes, he is gone," the Time Master replied, answering only his question.

Danny nodded and looked away. He had never wasted anything before, not even a ghost, and he kind of felt bad—and even a bit guilty. Even though he was glad to see Iluzisto gone, he did not want to be responsible for letting it happen.

"But it wasn't you," Clockwork suddenly added, as if guessing the boy's thoughts. "In spite of the fact that the Time Staff does obey its master, it also has an ingrained 'sense of duty'."

"A what?" Tucker blurted out, confused.

Clockwork smiled a bit. "It means that it understands that it exists to protect both its master and his cause. For the moment, Danny, you were its master, so it had a duty to protect you. Iluzisto not only attempted to destroy you, but he was also endangering Time and Existence. So, my Time Staff did what it does best: it eliminates threats against Time."

Danny and the other kids nodded in understanding; but then remembering something Vlad had said to him, the Ghost Boy replied, "I thought spirits couldn't be 'eliminated'. Oh, and Iluzisto said timeless artifacts—or whatever they're called—like your stuff and Justeco's orb, can only be used by spirits. So, then, if this is all true, then how was Vlad able to use Justeco's orb? How as_ I_ able to use your staff? And how was Iluzisto eliminated when everyone says you can't 'waste' a spirit?"

This time, Clockwork smiled secretly and replied, "There is always at least one exception to any rule, Danny… Remember that."

Danny opened his mouth to question the time spirit, especially when that didn't even answer his questions. But the time spirit cut him off, saying, "I will see you all soon…"

And with that, Clockwork quickly vanished with the spin of a clock hand.

Danny and the other kids just stared at the spot where the spirit had been before they slowly turned to look at each other.

"I am so tired," Danny suddenly said with a deep sigh.

Sam, Jazz, and Tucker all chuckled, but nodded their agreement. Of course, they were not as beat up as Danny, but they were also exhausted.

"I guess now all that's left is damage control," Jazz muttered, looking around.

Danny suddenly cringed as he thought of all the mess Iluzisto had caused—and his and Vlad's houses were not the exception.

"Oh, great. Repair duty. I think I rather go back to fighting a psychotic power-hungry spirit!" Danny grumbled.

But as soon as he said that, they all looked at each other and laughed—all their relief and happiness sounding in it.

"Come on, let's go home," Jazz said, putting an arm around her brother's waist to help him walk.

"Thanks, Jazz," he replied as they made their way to the nearby car.

"If it's okay with you, dude, we need to get home. We got some worried parents to report to," Tucker interrupted.

"Oh, yeah. We need to get home," Sam agreed with a worried frown. But then she paused and looked at Danny, "Will you be okay?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I'm just gonna sleep for the next couple of weeks. I'll be fine."

"I'll drive you," Jazz said to Sam and Tucker, and they got into the car.

"Hey, at least you're not Vlad," Tucker suddenly spoke up with a smirk. "He's gonna have his work cut out for him for at least a few weeks with the mess Iluzisto caused around here!"

"Heh. Yeah," Danny replied weakly. But when his friend had mentioned the man, it reminded him of, well, _Vlad._

But not wanting to think about that, he focused back on his friends and sister. Danny buckled his seat belt while Jazz turned on the car. It was only then that the Ghost Boy paused, realizing something. "Wait a minute. Whose car is this?"

Jazz blushed as she looked at Sam and Tucker through the rearview mirror.

"It's a rental," Sam quickly replied with an innocent smile.

* * *

**A/N: truephan here: Well, I don't know about y'all but I AM BEAT! And, of course, glad that Iluzisto was destroyed in the end. Couldn't have happened to a nicer, egotistical, evil MANIAC! Iluzisto the Insidious! PFFT! He just couldn't see or believe that he was no match for our two halfas! Hope you liked this climax. But, heh, don't worry, there is still a little left to go! Until next time, wonderful readers!**

**Pearl: I second Truephan! This chapter has left me utterly exhausted, but as relieved to have it finally posted as everyone is with Iluzisto's demise! But, hey, it was worth the effort. I really enjoyed writing this finale! Iluzisto definitely proved to be one tough cookie to beat, but he should have known better than to try to go up against our powerful halfas, especially when they were kicking butt together! Ha! But now, it's over and we have the hybrids at an odd angle with each other. Anyone noticed Vladdie's jealousy of Clockwork when Danny hugged him? Heh-heh! I guess you will all have to wait and see how this all resolves in the next chapter, which is the epilogue. Yes, we have reached the end of this story. Amazing, isn't it? But no tears just yet! We have a few more twist and surprises left for you all before we close this fanfic book! Until then, let us know what you thought of this final fight! *winks* Ta for now!**


	35. Chapter 35: Epilogue

**truephan here: Well, dear readers, looks like we're just about to end this wild ride of a story and I'm going to have to send Ms. Hyde back to where she came for a while and—**

**Ms. Hyde: Wait a minute, dearie! If anyone's needing to go, it's you! I still want all this evilness to continue! **

**truephan: Well, of course you do, Ms. Hyde. But all good things come to an end and...**

**Ms. Hyde: And that's where all the evil things take over! Okay, then, dearie, in that case, let's get this over with!**

**truephan: Ah, that's not what I meant, Ms. Hyde! Ah, oh. Never mind. Let's just get on with the epilogue and we'll see you down below, everyone. Enjoy!**

**Vlad muse: Oh, so, do I finally get to talk for this story? How typical Pearl would leave me until the end.**

**Pearl: *grins* Oh, come on, Vlad muse. Don't you know the best is saved for last?**

**Vlad muse: *glares* Do not try to butter me up, girl. You have been ignoring me now that you have Truephan and her insane muse to help you. Well, it is time for the readers to know that I am the true mastermind behind this story—as I am for the rest. **

**Pearl: Hey, Truephan and Ms. Hyde also have right to equal credit!**

**Vlad muse: Poppycock. Those two are merely 'helpers'.**

**Pearl: Would you stop saying lies, and get on with it?**

**Vlad muse: *smirks* Living an illusion, then? Very well. *clears throat* I, Vlad muse, would like to welcome you all and present the epilogue of this great story. Dare to believe it…. *winks and vanishes***

**Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom; but this plot is our own.**

* * *

**Seeing is disBelieving—****Epilogue**

* * *

A few days had passed since Iluzisto had been defeated and destroyed, but the Amity Park mayor—more than anyone else—was still cleaning up the mess.

Vlad sighed tiredly as he finally got off the phone with the city's construction department. They were still making repairs, but at least it was all progressing as normal. The overall cost of damage was a few million.

But all the tedious work Vlad was doing was also costing him several headaches and constant late nights at City Hall for the past days.

At least he was home today. Things were well enough now that he could take care of most of his mayoral responsibilities at his mansion.

And speaking of which, it was a relief that at least his home was now repaired. He still had to replace the furniture and décor, but at least his house wasn't being invaded by the repair crew he hired anymore.

His ghostly employees were returning today, too, which meant no more takeout. George would see to it that he finally got a good home cooked meal. After all he endured at the hands of Iluzisto while in that wretched prison; Vlad was certainly never taking for granted his ghostly chef's cooking.

Slowly, yes; but things were returning back to normal.

And yet, Vlad wasn't sure if things would ever _truly_ return to normal—at least when it came to his relationship with Daniel.

There was a part of him that had grown to respect and appreciate the boy more after all they had endured together. But another part of him just wanted nothing to do with him. And if he ever saw him again it would be too soon.

He kept telling himself that he was angry with Daniel for tricking him and betraying his trust like he had. But deep down he knew he was more hurt with the fact that the boy had no problem returning to his old life, as if nothing had happened between them.

Vlad frowned. Then again, he had just taken off without a word after they destroyed Iluzisto. But why wouldn't he? The last thing he had wanted to see that day was proof of how right Iluzisto had been about Daniel.

Would… he never really have the boy at his side? It seemed nothing he did—not even his willingness to trust and work with Daniel—was enough to win him over…

Plasmius suddenly glared. Well, then fine! If Daniel wanted an arch-enemy instead of a mentor and father, then that's what he would get. It was the brat's lost after all. Vlad had plenty of other things to invest his time on!

An evil smirk curled the man's lip. Besides, he couldn't say he came out empty-handed in all this…

Turning away from the unfinished papers on his desk, Vlad suddenly stood from his desk and morphed into Plasmius. In a blink of an eye, he was gone from his study and appeared in his lab.

But when he got there, he immediately spotted his ally working on something on one of his workbenches.

"Skulker?" he asked, surprised to see the hunter when he had not called for him.

Skulker paused in what he was doing, and said "Plasmius! There you are! I was about to go find you, but I just could not wait, and… Look what I recovered!"

Vlad raised an eyebrow when the hunter lifted up what looked like scraps of glowing metal. "I didn't know you liked to dig through junkyards, Skulker…"

"What? This is not junk!" Skulker protested. "This, as you humans say, is gold!"

"Uh-huh…," Vlad replied skeptically, though he moved closer to inspect what was in Skulker's hands. But still not seeing what the big deal was, the man shook his head and said, "Skulker, really, this is junk."

"It is not!" the hunter defended again. "I recovered this from the remains of your ship! I know you said to get rid of it all because it was useless, but it is a good thing I did not!"

Vlad smirked. "Oh, so you were sorting through garbage."

Skulker glared this time, but his employer rolled his eyes and said more tersely, "Alright, fine, what is it?"

The hunter's face lit up again and said, "This, Plasmius, is the remains of the level nine weapons the Ghost Boy's helpers took from the Realm Beyond Time!"

Vlad looked back down at the pieces of metal and finally saw that they were indeed remains of weapons. Still, he replied, "Alright, but they are completely destroyed, Skulker. How is that of any use to you—and more importantly, me?"

Skulker rolled his eyes before placing the scraps on the table. He quickly picked up a very small laser that was right next to it and began to cut through the metal.

Vlad raised an eyebrow, but just watched closely. Soon, the hunter pulled out a glowing purple cube from within one of the destroyed weapons and the man suddenly understood.

"The energy sources are intact," the man muttered in surprise.

Skulker smirked. "Precisely. With this, we can take any normal weapon and turn it into a level-nine weapon strong enough to harm even spirits! And the best part is that there are two of them: one for me, and one for you."

Skulker handed over the glowing cube to his employer, who accepted it and studied it intently. The hunter then turned his focus back on the other destroyed weapon and began to cut it open to remove the second cube.

"Quite a find indeed," Vlad said, nodding in approval. But then he paused and said curiously, "I'm surprised you are giving me one. I would think you would keep them both to 'test on the Ghost Boy'."

Skulker, who had just removed the second cube, tensed for some reason at the mention of Danny. But then he looked back at his employer and replied, "Well, you did give me a second suit. I figured I owed you something for it."

Plasmius smiled. "Yes, well, you are lucky I still had the proto-type for that new suit and that it only needed a few more adjustments to be as good as the completed version."

"Adjustments that I have already made and even perfected!" Skulker answered smugly. He lifted the second energy-source in his hand to eye level and added, "And with this, I will have the ultimate upgrade…"

"You know…," Vlad said thoughtfully. "I think I already know what I will use this energy-source for… I have added some improvements to my second stimulation room… but this might just be what I need to finish said improvements…" But then the man paused and abruptly added, "Just do not think that this means you still do not owe me a new ship."

Skulker quickly looked at his employer and scowled. Still, he grumbled out, "I am aware of that. But you have not given me the blueprints yet, remember?"

"Ah, yes," Vlad replied and turned around, heading for a file cabinet at the far wall. He opened a drawer and then searched through it, asking, "Just how fast can you have this done for me, Skulker? I need to check on my space station and—"

"Time-out!"

Everything abruptly froze and Clockwork then appeared in a spin of a clock face. His child form looked between the two frozen ghosts in the lab before he smirked at the older half-ghost.

He floated over to him, placed a medallion around his neck, and then floated back a bit, his form turning into an adult.

"—it is urgent that I—," Vlad abruptly gasped when a hot sensation curled around his core and then exited through his mouth. In an instant, the man whirled around and tensed at the sight of Clockwork.

"You…," Vlad said quietly, clearly surprised. But then he tensed even more when he felt the weight of a foreign object around his neck and looked down at the medallion. He then quickly glanced up and looked over at Skulker, seeing how he and everything else was frozen.

Well, this certainly was bizarre.

"I see you are recovered from your…last encounter with Iluzisto," Clockwork suddenly said in his usual calm voice.

Plasmius' surprise melded into a deep frown as he focused back on the spirit. "Yes… no thanks to you, Time Master. Then again, it should not surprise me since you have such an… _abstract_ way of helping. "

Clockwork melded into a child and just the slightest smirk curled around his lip as he asked, "Is that a compliment?"

Vlad quickly narrowed his eyes and growled, "What do you think?" He scoffed suddenly and added, "You are such a hypocrite, Time Master. You defy the Observants, proclaiming they are short-sighted and their ways are not your ways; when in reality, you are just like them—if not worse."

The man raised an accusing finger as he further said, "You treat everyone in the timeline like pieces on a chessboard, manipulating them to your will!"

"You would recognize such arts of manipulation, wouldn't you?" Clockwork replied, raising an eyebrow.

Vlad lowered his hand and answered angrily, "At least I do not mask it for something else. I admit I use and manipulate others. But you, you make others that are naïve—like Daniel—believe you are 'helping' and that you are doing what's best for the 'timeline'. Well, I do not buy it, Time Master!" He paused only a moment before he hissed, "All this with Iluzisto, you _planned_ it out. From the very beginning—from being our prosecutor to forcing Daniel and I to do _your_ dirty work— because we both know you were powerless against Iluzisto, which is why you used us to get rid of him for you! Iluzisto might have been sadistic, but you practice a whole other level of sadism! You, Clockwork, are downright evil!"

The time spirit said nothing at first, and just watched the fuming billionaire. But as his form changed into his elder form, Clockwork turned his eyes thoughtfully on his time staff. There was another moment of silence before he spoke again. His voice was actually a bit careful in tone when he finally said, "I wonder… are you truly upset with me because of my ways of doing my job and for how I handled this situation with Iluzisto… Or…" Clockwork looked directly at Plasmius, and finished, "—is it that you are upset that the boy looks to me as his mentor and guardian instead of looking to you as such…?"

Plasmius' eyes widened, and for a moment, he opened his mouth to argue the fact, but nothing came out.

"I suppose it's understandable," Clockwork continued causally. "You both do share a connection; it is only natural for you to feel… enmity towards my relationship with Danny."

This time, Vlad finally reacted and snapped back, "I am not envious of you, Time Master, if that is what you mean! The boy only cares for you because he has not seen your true colors—ones which I will personally make sure he sees someday soon!"

"That almost sounds like a threat," Clockwork remarked, turning into a child and frowning.

Plasmius suddenly smirked. "Take it as you want. After all, I defeated one spirit… I could surely defeat a second, especially when you have nothing I have not already been able to destroy…"

Clockwork knew the man referred to destroying Iluzisto's power staff and implying that he could do the same to his own. The man could not be any more wrong, but the spirit decided to keep that to himself. Instead, he replied, "You possess that unique ability to sense spirits and wield… timeless magic. That makes you a threat to any spirit… But… _I am_ the Master of Time, so anything you could possibly plan… I have already seen, Vlad Plasmius…." Clockwork said with a smirk of his own.

Vlad glared again and growled, "Then, you would know that this is where I am going to tell you to get out of my house before I lose my patience with you and make good on my threat sooner than later!"

"Do you not want to know the reason I am here?" Clockwork calmly asked nevertheless.

"No, I do not, because I am sure I do not care!" Vlad answered back.

"The Observants have requested both yours and your ally's presence at the Realm Beyond Time. They would like to publicly thank you for your… help," Clockwork said all the same.

Plasmius rolled his eyes. "What are you playing at, Time Master? You already know what my answer to that is. I couldn't care less for their gratitude, let alone see them. So, why are you _really_ here?"

Surprisingly, Clockwork chuckled. "Forgive me, you remind me of someone…"

Vlad frowned, masking his confusion.

But then Clockwork nodded and smiled calmly, "Alright. My real reason for being here is to extend _my own_ gratitude. You could have chosen to leave the boy to the dark fate Iluzisto had planned for him; but you did not. You protected him and aided him, like a guardian and mentor should. But you also helped him save the time stream and all existence. You understood that Iluzisto was too great a threat and that he needed to be eliminated. It was thanks to your intervention that my staff was able to overcome the boy's own noble desire to not cause Iluzisto's demise, and do what it needed to do. I did not force you to do what you did, _Vlad_. It was always your choice. And you choose justly. So, thank you."

Plasmius just stared back at the time spirit, his expression unreadable. But then he crossed his arms and coolly answered, "Nice speech. But I do not care for your gratitude, either."

Clockwork unexpectedly smiled at that. "I know… that is why I have given you something tangible to show my gratitude. After all, if the Observants knew I am letting you keep Okulo's orb, I would never hear the end of it…"

Vlad tensed, and seeing it, Clockwork added, "Did you not think I would know how you used Okulo's orb to destroy Iluzisto's staff? I am the Master of Time, Vlad. Of course I know. But… I will not interfere with your choices; though, I recommend you use the orb… wisely."

"Yes, of course. I will consider your words of wisdom," Vlad answered sarcastically.

"Then consider these next words," Clockwork replied, ignoring his sarcasm. "If you wish to win Danny over, reconsider your approach with him. You are still in time to rectify your path in the time stream. I truly hope you can make that ultimate right choice for the sake of yourself."

Before Vlad could reply to that, Clockwork levitated the medallion off him and his was frozen back in time.

"Time in."

Vlad gasped and looked around, only to find the time spirit was gone.

"Wait," Skulker abruptly said confused, pointing at Vlad. "How did you get from there to… there?"

Plasmius scowled to himself and muttered, "Blast it! I hate spirits!"

* * *

The entire Observant race had finally recovered thanks to the healing properties of the Timeless Magic embedded throughout the Realm Beyond Time.

Justeco had been reunited with his healed brother, including having had thanked the Ancients so many times that the Ancients had to literally throw the prattling Head Observant out of their realm. This time, however, Justeco had not taken offense or insult with the Ancients for their rather rude parting. After all, he had changed in more ways than one…

For one, though he was healed, his near extinction by the hands of Iluzisto had left one scar on his ghostly body. It was the first small crater he had gotten, the one near the top of his large eye. And, really, he was glad it remained and, in a way, would treasure for the rest of eternity. For it would be a constant reminder of what he and his race went through and what kind of leader he would have to be from now on.

As the Head Observant glanced around the large room to where he had called all of his race, his eye glistened in satisfaction. No other Observant had succumbed saved the ones they knew were lost. They had atoned for their many sins of the past, including the one that almost had destroyed them…And now all was in proper order once again. Justeco sighed, suddenly realizing the irony as well. For—as Clockwork was so fond of pointing out time after time in the past— the Observants had also been given a _second_ chance…and the _choice_ of becoming a truly honorable race…

And now it was time to do the proper thing and call for this hearing. It was time to recognize those who had made all of this possible. In fact, the entire assembly was waiting to see if those summoned would honor their request…

As soon as Clockwork returned with them, that is…

Justeco's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he caught sight of a group of Observants and guards gathering tightly in the center of the room. Whatever had them so interested was reeling more and more Observants and guards in.

The Head Observant floated over to investigate.

"…So, there I was! Trapped inside this small cell—eye-to-eye with the angry half-ghosts!" Spektanto exclaimed, a thick book in hand which he was waving around. "And even when I was sure that any wrong word I spoke might bring their wrath upon me, I was determined to defend my unstable clients all the same! After all, I knew all along they were innocent!"

"So, what happened next?" one of guards whispered in awe.

"Next! Oh, it was the best part!" the one-eyed lawyer proclaimed proudly. "But I… I cannot tell you. You must purchase my book, _My Harrowing Adventures with the Infamous Half-Ghosts—a Journal of Brilliant Defensive Tactics._ In fact, it is only 'Book One' of four. I am still working on writing up the last two. But you will not be sorry to own such a historical and accurate account of my most harrowing experiences in the Observants' greatest trial! It is an exclusive on what really happened and how I saved us all by saving the half-ghosts with my brilliant lawyer skills!"

Suddenly, everyone was raising their hands to have a copy of the book; and Spektanto somehow began to pull books magically right out of the book in his hand. "Do not worry! There is enough for everyone!"

However, Justeco suddenly intervened and said with an irritated voice, "Spektanto, what are you doing?"

The High Tribune finally understood why Spektanto had always been constantly writing during the whole trial with the half-ghosts. In fact, Justeco was even told the lawyer had been writing while trapped in that cave.

If Justeco had not questioned Spektanto's sanity before, he was certainly questioning it now. Honestly. Who writes a book in the middle of a chaotic situation? And a fabrication at that?

At the mention of his name, the lawyer froze and quickly looked at his leader. "High Tribune!" He chuckled sheepishly and quickly asked, "Would you like 'part one' of my book…?"

Justeco narrowed his eye a bit, showing he was not amused. Suddenly, however, before any other Observant could notice, Justeco spied Danny and his sister and friends entering the room in the near distance.

The head Observant rolled his pupil at Spektanto; and instead of saying what he had been about to say, he instead replied dryly, "No, thank you. And we will discuss this at a later time."

He then floated past him and the crowd, who quickly focused back on Spektanto as he continued to hand out copies of his book.

Justeco just pushed aside the incident, having more pressing matters at the moment. He was pleased to see the young half-ghost and his human companions, but then sighed a bit when he didn't see anyone else. Not that it surprised him. He knew the older half-ghost and his ally would not have wanted to attend, and probably never forgive him and his race for what they put them through, especially Vlad Plasmius.

But part of Justeco had hoped that the older half-ghost and his ally would have come, which was why he had also asked Clockwork to personally extend his invitation to Vlad Plasmius and his ally. Oddly, though, Clockwork was not currently present, either…

Nevertheless, the Head Observant didn't want to have any of the other Observants know right now that his 'guests' had arrived, especially when a sudden thought had crossed his mind. Motioning to Konsilisto to keep the other Observants occupied, he discretely flew over to the ghost teen and his friends and quietly said, "I am glad to observe that you and your loved ones wished to return here, Danny Phantom. And my thanks are in order once more." But before Danny could respond, the High Tribune asked, "Where is Clockwork?"

Danny shrugged, replying, "I don't know. First, what must have been one of your messengers came and said to be prepared without any explanation before he vanished. And then the next thing I knew, Clockwork just appeared in my room, told me you wanted 'our audience' and then he teleported us here. He then said he would meet us later. I didn't even get a chance to even ask where he was going. Heh. That's Clockwork for you," the ghost teen added with a small smile.

Justeco's eye curved a bit with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "Indeed. No matter. I am sure he will show up eventually." The Observant Leader's voice sobered a bit and his eye narrowed as he then seriously said, "But, please, Danny Phantom, may I have a moment of your time alone before I call everything to order? I will have a guard escort your company to their seats."

Danny glanced at his sister and friends, bewildered—and even nervous— by the request, especially when Clockwork had not explained anything when he and his friends and sister had been whisked away to the Realm Beyond Time, and then left them to be escorted the rest of the way by the Tribune's guards. They had been sped here in so much haste he could swear that his head was still spinning.

Not only that, coming and then being here again so soon also had him nervous, especially after everything. After all, only two days had passed since Iluzisto's defeat and demise. True, Justeco had sent a rather terse message of thanks to him shortly after Iluzisto was destroyed, but that was all. But, he had not seen or heard anything else about the Observants since then until Clockwork had arrived. And the fact that Clockwork wasn't here wasn't a bit reassuring, either. So, he had no idea if the Observants had really changed at all—though, of course, he hoped they had.

But when his sister and friends silently nodded in encouragement, Danny nodded in agreement back to Justeco and followed the Observant to a small nearby vacant room.

Once Justeco was satisfied that this room would sufficiently give them privacy and a barrier to any listening ears, he turned around to face the young hybrid.

All of the sudden, however, the Tribune lost his nerve and there was silence between the two.

Danny frowned this time in apprehension. Wasn't it _Justeco's_idea to come here? Maybe there was more bad news?

But the boy's facial change goaded the High Tribune out of his hesitation. He finally said, "On behalf of all the Observants, once again I would like to extend our utmost appreciation to you, your friends—and to Vlad Plasmius—for all that you did for us. And speaking of the older half-ghost, I am disappointed that he and his ally did not accept our invitation."

"Well," Danny began with a bit of sadness and regret in his voice, "I have to say that I'm not surprised. After all, we didn't part on exactly friendly terms. He found out about that lie about the curse and that almost cost everyone's lives. So, I'm sure his original feelings about you and the others—and even me—are back to square one; and that was that he wanted nothing to do with you and would never have agreed to help you."

Danny frowned right after he said that last part. Maybe that wasn't really totally true. Or maybe it was. The man had told him he would have changed his mind only to help _him_…Still, that thought still didn't satisfy him. But then, his musings were interrupted by the spirit.

"I cannot say that I blame him in many ways, Danny Phantom. It will continue to haunt us for several more of your human years all that has transpired here, and especially what we put you through in order for us to realize what fools we have been."

The two were silent for a brief period before Justeco sighed and said, "Even so, we cannot extend enough appreciation for all that both of you have done for us, young half-ghost."

Silently relieved—yet still a little worried why the Observant Head was bringing up his thanks again when he had done that more than what was needed—Danny hesitantly replied, "Uh, you're welcome."

Once more there was an awkward silence between the two.

Danny was even more uncertain about this little meeting now that there really wasn't anything he didn't already know. What more needed to be said? But then, he frowned in worry again when he saw the next change in the Observant's eye.

Justeco had suddenly narrowed his eye in all seriousness before adding with a tone of voice that was just as threatening, "But I must warn you, young half-ghost…"

Danny's eyes widened in slight fear.

But then, the boy relaxed a little when he could see a suddenly mischievous twinkle peeking out of the Tribune's eye just before the Observant added, "We will _still_ be watching you…with interest, Danny Phantom."

Rubbing the back of his neck in both embarrassment and nervousness, Danny slightly chuckled, "Well, I hope I give you 'hours of entertainment'—uh, the _good_ kind, that is."

"No doubt," Justeco said with a slight glint in his eye. But then, he grew more serious again and almost in a hush, said, "There is something else, young half-ghost…"

Danny looked at him squarely, his throat tightening slightly once again. But he kept silent.

Justeco continued, "And, uh, though I know it will be hard— and I do regret that it probably will be—I hope you will be able to try to forget about all this business with Iluzisto and, of course, that mess of a trial. I will do my best to make sure that we Observants will be more proper with our duties in the future."

Danny relaxed a bit and said, "I admit that I wasn't exactly thrilled about coming back here, especially when your messenger—and even Clockwork—was so, well, abrupt. But now that you've told me all of this, I will try to….forget about all of this. And, uhm, I hope you forget about it, too. As long as we both understand each other, I don't think you should worry about it too much. I'm not."

Justeco's eye expressed slight amazement before he said, "I am honored and really not surprised by your gesture. But I am more honored at being able to finally get to know the real you, instead of a version of you conjured up by my own perceptions and misjudgments."

The Head Observant's eye soften a bit before he replied, "I thank you again and do apologize about the messenger….It seems that our ways are still our ways until we learn to be more…open to other ways."

Danny smiled a bit and felt more relieved again.

But the Tribune wasn't giving the boy any indication that they were through and could return to the others. In fact, there was that awkward silence once more.

Danny grew edgy again, but didn't want to seem rude when it was obvious that Justeco had something else on his mind.

But the spirit was still silent.

Finally, Danny felt he should say something when Justeco finally said in some hesitation, "And one more thing, Danny Phantom…"

"Yes?" Danny replied, now getting anxious again from the tone in the spirit's voice.

Justeco cleared his throat, himself now clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed about what he wanted to say. "When you see Clockwork…"

He paused again. "Uh, will you please, uh, _not_ tell him how much _involved_ my brother and I were in this entire affair; especially how we, uhm, were _actively_ involved in getting our race rescued? I am already embarrassed enough to admit that he already has too much evidence to hold over us."

Now relieved as well as amused by the spirit's request, Danny's eyes widened before he narrowed them playfully and wryly gasping, "What? You want me to cheat?"

Both mirth and understanding showed from the Observant's eye when he saw through the young ghost's act. With a similar wryness in his tone that still was able to convey that it appeared that they were now in 'cahoots' with each other, he replied, "Well, I do now believe that there are twists and turns in that parade about which that Clockwork is always talking." Then suddenly, he actually winked at the boy!

Danny's face lit up in surprise at his own memory of what Justeco just said. And how that was almost exactly what Clockwork had said to him when the Time Master had saved his family and friends from that awful _Nasty Burger_ explosion! He knew exactly what Justeco meant.

Danny then smiled and replied, "Well, maybe we can just think of this negotiation as a truce, then, okay?" He silently cringed. He **didn't** just say that, _did he_? That was almost exactly what Vlad had said to him when he had agreed to help him defeat Iluzisto. Mortified, he quickly threw that thought away.

"Thank you, Danny Phantom!" the Tribune said before nodding and then turning to leave the room.

Danny silently followed him and then rejoined his friends.

"Hey, Danny!" Tucker suddenly beamed, waving a book at him. "Look what your lawyer gave me! It's a story about you!"

The Ghost Boy blinked, and suddenly remembering all the scribbling Spektanto had done throughout his trial, the teen quickly put it together.

Danny faced-palmed, muttering, "A lawyer who's really a writer. Of course."

Meanwhile, Justeco, had moved to another part of the room. And then he finally saw whom he next wanted to speak with. Now that his business with the young half-ghost was completed, Justeco could now get on with his other business before he could call the meeting to order. And that other business was with… Clockwork, who had finally arrived. As he neared the Time Master, Justeco spied Konsilisto, and he motioned for his brother to join him.

Konsilisto immediately obliged him and flew to his brother's side as the two of them continued to make their way through the crowd.

Not too long after searching the crowd in earnest, the two Observants finally saw the Time Master's staff in the near distance. They headed in that direction and once they caught view of Clockwork, they could see that the time spirit had his back to them.

But this time, the High Tribune was not surprised when the adult form of Clockwork suddenly jerked around even before the Observants were within speaking distance. Still, Justeco casually said, "So, Clockwork, I see that you are in one piece, now that you have your Time Staff back. No worse for the wear?"

The young Clockwork showed no hint of emotion in his face or his voice as he replied, "No. And I might ask the same thing about you, Justeco." Then turning slightly to the Observant at the Tribune's side, he added, "And Konsilisto, as well, of course."

Konsilisto nodded politely back but said nothing.

Then Justeco continued, "And I was wondering, Clockwork…"

"Yes?"

Justeco hesitated slightly before saying, "Just how did you get your Time Staff back? The last I knew of it was that Iluzisto had it within his power and now somehow it is mysteriously back into yours…There have been some unusual reports of something extraordinary happening during that battle with Iluzisto that involved your Time Staff."

"Oh?" the now old time ghost uttered with that same non-committal tone in his voice and lack of expression in his face. "I merely thought that Iluzisto had pushed the wrong button. After all, I know that he was not the master of the Time Staff. No one really is. It just allows me...certain…privileges."

"I see," Justeco replied, his own tone hinting at being aware of that same underlying meaning. The old rascal would never admit to anything. He then added, "Well, then, that is most fortunate, is it not?"

"Yes," the adult form of Clockwork simply said, "Is that all?"

Thinking of still another suspicion he had on his mind, the Tribune added, "No. I have something else I wish to discuss with you, Time Master."

Clockwork said nothing to that.

Justeco continued, "Now that Iluzisto has been destroyed, we are able to be at a more leisurely position to discuss this entire event, do you not think? After all, we both know that the half-ghosts could only have defeated and not destroyed Iluzisto."

This time old man Clockwork sighed with slight annoyance, "Luck is a strange phenomenon. Still, I really do not have time to discuss this. I have to get back to…"

But Justeco interrupted him, "Yes, yes, I know, Clockwork. I might have anticipated that remark. But I will be brief."

This time, one of the time ghost's eyebrows hitched very slightly in surprise. A short conversation would be a definite first for the usually long-winded Observant.

Justeco saw that tiny reaction but ignored it as he pressed on, "I would like to tell you about a most curious thing that happened to Konsilisto and me when we were prisoners in the cave."

"Oh?" Clockwork replied without a hint of emotion as he melded from his young into his adult version.

Justeco's eye narrowed, searching for any shred of evidence that would suggest that the Time Master was in-the-know about this. He was _certain_ that Clockwork knew and had some role in it! Still, he continued, "When we were in such dire straits, we uttered the desire to know of the future. We were even saying, uh, things that were… atypical of us. And then suddenly and mysteriously, we found that we had a key to our cell door in our possession! Can you imagine? And would you mind venturing a guess for an explanation for that?"

Again, neither Clockwork's now very mature face nor his voice betrayed his true reaction as he calmly replied, "I never guess. But since I see you are pressing the issue, I would suppose that Iluzisto was sloppy again. He had been in the past, as you know."

The Tribune, of course, wasn't satisfied with the Time Master's answer. He really wanted Clockwork to just come out with it and tell him that he had been the one who…"

But his thoughts were interrupted by Clockwork. "Or perhaps…." the Time Spirit slowly began, the tiniest of upward movement forming on the corner of his mouth. "…things aren't set in stone as you had previously believed…"

"All right, Clockwork," Justeco said, getting a little exasperated at all his cryptic words. "And I suppose that you want me to believe that you never knew what would happen in the future of all these events or the circumstances that could alter that future?"

"I cannot tell you what to believe," the oldest form of the time ghost said, evading the question. But then, he suddenly countered back, "So, then, what did you do when you found that your cell door was unlocked?"

The Tribune's eye widened in surprise. The sly dog was twisting things around again! But then his eye betrayed its little impish glint as he innocently replied, "Why, Time Master, do you not know the answer to that? You _know_ how _passive_ we Observants are!"

Once more, young Clockwork's side of his mouth hitched ever so slightly, though he couldn't help but think, _"Touché, Master Tribune!"_

Clearing his throat a little, Justeco continued, "Ahem. Well, there is another bit a business we need to sort out."

One of Clockwork's eyebrows arched upward in slight surprise. But then, he silently groaned in annoyance but said nothing.

_"Ah-ha!"_ Justeco thought. _"Maybe this time it is my turn to catch you off guard!" _Instead, the Tribune said, "On behalf of the Observants, I wish to discuss the terms of our business arrangement."

"In what way?" the adult Clockwork replied, now growing suspicious.

"I would like to dissolve our contract."

This time, Clockwork couldn't hide that his eyes had widened a bit in surprise. Still, he quickly countered that with his standard poker face and muted answer.

Justeco continued, "And, instead, I wish for you to become an advisor to us…as friends."

The youngest form of Clockwork then said, "But what about Konsilisto?"

Turning to his brother a little before winking at him, Justeco replied, "Oh, he will always be my personal advisor. He can't help but be meddling into everything. You know how he is."

His brother's eye conveyed slight annoyance, but he knew that his brother had been teasing him and he made no comment.

Justeco then said, "But what we both—and all the Observants—will need is an unbiased opinion that will help us see things more clearly when our passion for the ideals sometimes, uh, blinds our lone eyes, if you know what I mean….So, what say you, Time Master?"

"I will consider it," old man Clockwork replied, but said no more.

Though a bit disappointed that the time spirit didn't jump at his offer, Justeco added with restraint, "Of course. I understand. But still, there is one final matter I feel a duty to discuss."

Clockwork groaned to himself again. He should have known that whenever he spoke with Justeco, it was _never_ brief. He finally said with a hint of exasperation in his voice, "Yes?"

Justeco's eye narrowed slightly in annoyance but answered, "There is the matter about…Danny Phantom."

The adult Clockwork frowned slightly at the Observant's words. Now what?

"I must say that I am now quite impressed with the youngling," the Tribune began. "His actions make us all think that we did the right thing when we appointed you his mentor. I am sure that you had something to do with his success in this matter all along."

But the youngest form of the time ghost tersely replied, "I assure you. His success was all his own."

"Yes, I do agree. But I still think you would not have fulfilled your duties as his mentor unless you could somehow find a way to help the boy…."

"Why, Master Tribune," the eldest Clockwork innocently interrupted him, "Are you saying that I **cheated**? You _know how much_ my employers used to frown upon that!"

Justeco's eye widened in surprise before it glistened with a smidgeon of triumph and satisfaction, "Quite right, Time Master…"

But before the Observant could say anymore, Clockwork interjected, "Pardon me, Master Tribune. But if you'll excuse me, I really must be going now. You know that Time waits for no one!"

Though disappointed slightly again that the Master of Time _and_ Manipulation didn't want to further discuss the issue, Justeco gave in and said, "Of course, Clockwork. Until next time, then."

Young Clockwork smirked a little and then without another word, turned to go.

But as the Time Master left, Justeco continued on that train of mind, "Yes, until next time, my friend…"

Suddenly, Justeco felt a blow to his arm. "Ow!" he cried, turning to his attacker.

"Always _meddling_?" Konsilisto finally said in a feigned huff. "I would rather be a busybody than a bombastic blowhard!"

Justeco merely chuckled and replied, "Quite right, brother. Quite right!"

* * *

Later that day, Danny and Team Phantom were back at their _own_ 'realm': Amity Park. The gathering at the Realm Beyond Time had been the most… weird—alright, no, it had been the most _boring_—celebration they had been to.

For the most part, the Observants had just talked and talked. Then, the rest of the time, they had floated around. There wasn't even any food! The most exciting part of the whole thing had been when Justeco had made a public speech about what had happened and how grateful they were towards the half-ghosts for their help.

Out of Team Phantom, Tucker, in particular, had been disappointed about the whole thing. Sam, however, was slightly irritated by it all; and Jazz was fascinated. Danny, though he had been pretty bored, had just shrugged it off. It was not his way of 'celebrating', but whatever. To each his own. And besides, it was the thought that counted. The Observants wanted to show their gratitude and they had done so in the best way they knew how: _by talking._

But with that now over, Danny, Jazz, Sam and Tucker all lazily lay spewed over the furniture in the basement of Sam's house. They had just finished a marathon of several videos of all the movies that they had not meant to miss in the past but had because of all those ghost distractions. And now they were content just to be as passive as Sam's plants, vegetating with their dazed eyes still full with the memory of those great movies and their stomachs overloaded with junk food.

"Man, that was great!" Tucker finally blurted out. "When's the next snack—and movie, of course?"

The other three merely stared at him in disbelief, but they didn't say anything or budge an inch. They couldn't.

Tucker frowned at their lack of enthusiasm and went to the snack area. He quickly helped himself to a large bowl of popcorn.

Just the smell of it so near to them made the other three teens groan.

Not at all affected by their reaction, Tucker beamed, "Oh, well. More for me—" But he quickly corrected himself when he heard his friends groan again. "I mean, _all_ for me!"

His friends rolled their eyes before moaning again.

"And start 'em up again! I can't wait to catch the parts I missed the first time around!" the bespectacled boy announced with a little too much gusto for his friends.

"Movie theater's closed," Sam grumbled through her annoyed, gritted teeth.

But that didn't faze her friend in the least. Popping a huge handful of popcorn in his mouth and talking in spite of the large lump in his mouth, Tucker insisted, "Oh, c'mon, guys! These movies rocked! And I'm sure that seeing them again is way better than seeing all those lame reruns that Clockwork showed you during your trial, Danny!"

Not amused, Danny's eyes flared green a moment before he growled, "Don't remind me!"

"And these movies haven't got a thing to do with that viewing globe, Tucker," Sam said, clearly irritated. "You know that Clockwork's thing is a time thing about real things that happened in time."

"Hey, I know! Then maybe it would be way cool to watch ourselves on the viewing globe watching these movies again!" Tucker flippantly, yet excitedly, said.

All three of his friends glared at him this time.

The dark-skinned boy cringed a bit, but he was still undaunted. "Aw, c'mon, guys! Don't you want to see these movies a second time?"

"_No_ time," Sam tersely said.

"For the second time, I'll pass!" Jazz quipped.

"Just one more time!" Tucker whined.

"How many times do we have to say 'no', Tuck?" Danny sighed in exasperation, before wincing from the feelings in his overstuffed stomach.

"Yeah," Sam growled. "Don't want to see a viewing globe about time. Don't want to see the movies another time. Got it? So let's just end it, okay?"

"Yeah, guys, let's not waste any more time arguing, okay?" Jazz piped in.

"Okay," they all agreed.

There was silence and then Danny finally said, "Well, it was about time!"

Three sets of groans answered him back, but then Sam added, "Hey, speaking of 'time', did you see Clockwork at the Observants' celebration?"

"If you could have called it that!" Tucker grumbled. "How can you celebrate without food? Now, Frostbite and his people—_they_ know how to throw a real party!"

Danny rolled his eyes, but that reminded him how he needed to visit Frostbite soon, so he could thank him again and also let him know everything got resolved…

"_Anyways_," Sam suddenly said with an annoyed look at Tucker. "Did you see him, Danny?"

"Who?" the ghost teen asked, pulling out of his thoughts. But then remembering, he said, "Oh, uh, no, actually. I mean, I saw him briefly when we first got there, but then I never saw him. But that's Clockwork for you. He's there one minute and gone the next."

"Huh. And he never did explain to you how you were able to use his staff when you're not a spirit, right?" Sam asked with a frown.

Danny shrugged. "Nope. But that's okay. I'm sure he has his reasons. But I still don't get how Vlad was able to use Justeco's orb, either."

"Well, it's a good thing he could, Danny," Jazz answered. "If not, Okulo's orb would have never been destroyed."

"Yeah, dude! You would have had a tattoo on your forehead for the rest of your life!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Ugh. Don't remind me!' Danny muttered.

"You know what else was weird?" Sam added in thought. "Just how did Vlad destroy Iluzisto's staff at the last second, especially when he was as weak as he was?"

"Well, it was a blue ecto-blast," Danny said, "So, he was definitely weak. But, yeah, it was strange that he was able to destroy it. Justeco said a timeless object, like Iluzisto staff, can only be destroyed by another timeless object. And the only other timeless objects there had been the… "

"Had been what, Danny? The orbs?" Jazz asked, confused by how her brother abruptly froze and stopped talking.

But the Ghost Boy didn't answer as something clicked in his head. He quickly replayed a certain scene in his fight with Iluzisto, and he instantly knew it was true. Why had he not realized it before? Vlad could control timeless magic. The beam that destroyed Iluzisto's staff was _blue_. And Clockwork said…

_"The only way you can destroy a timeless object is with another timeless object. A simple fall will only break the orb, but as you can see, it easily reforms back to its original state. "_

_"Well, then, where's Okulo's orb?" Sam asked with a frown._

_"I see no evidence of another orb," Clockwork replied._

Okulo's orb vanished! No, it didn't vanish, Vlad had—

Danny suddenly jumped to his feet, exclaiming, "Oh, crud!"

"Danny!" his friends and sister exclaimed.

But the Ghost Boy just morphed into Phantom, and hastily said, "Sorry, guys! I gotta go! I'll explain later, okay?"

And before Team Phantom could say anything, Danny turned intangible and flew out of Sam's house.

His eyes narrowed as he picked up speed through the night sky, heading straight for a certain half-ghost millionaire's home. ..Of course. He should have known Vlad would find a way to take advantage of even this situation.

Danny scoffed. And here he had been feeling bad for tricking Vlad. He was such an idiot! The only one being duped was him this whole time!

Well, then, it was time to settle scores!

* * *

Having finished showering, Vlad slipped a towel around his waist and walked over to his large bathroom mirror. He frowned as he inspected his bruised abdomen. He had to admit, Iluzisto stabbing him was the worst injury he had ever sustained. Usually, shallow wounds disappeared in an hour, and deeper wounds could take from a day to a few.

He was sure this particular wound would be gone in another day. After all, it was just bruised now. Still, he could have died from it, if he had not been able to remain in ghost form.

And all to protect Daniel from Iluzisto.

He really had been giving a lot of thought to everything that happened with the young hybrid and that insane spirit. Somehow, Clockwork's words were still ringing in his ear from this morning…

And as he stared at his fading stab wound, he had to admit that he really suffered through a lot just for that deceitful boy. It was quite out of character of him to put someone before himself. But then maybe that gave testimony of how important the young half-ghost was to him.

And, yes, he was still resentful towards Daniel for his betrayal, but all things considered, he should also be proud. After all, the child had thrown aside his moral ethics, and manipulated him to do his bidding…

Like father, like son.

Vlad grinned at the thought. It seemed nothing Daniel did could deter him for very long from his desire to have the boy as his own. Yes, he would have to be severely punished for his lie and deceit. After all, that was intolerable for a son to do to his father—or, in his case, he's soon-to-be father.

But it was nice to see the teenager learning from him. In fact, in spite of the horror it had been to be at the mercy of Iluzisto in the prison, something good had come out of it; and that was that Daniel had relied solely on him and had allowed him to teach and guide him.

They had made the perfect team. And the amount of power they held individually was nothing compared to the amount of power they held _together_.

He had only heard of gold energy—or, sometimes called, synchronized energy. He had thought it was only a myth. After all, to have two such different ghost energies merge perfectly was all but an impossibility—like grabbing two random pieces from two different puzzles and connecting them perfectly.

And yet, he had witnessed that impossibility a few days ago.

If he had wanted Daniel at his side before, he wanted the boy all the more now. No, he _had_ to have him.

"Hmm…," Vlad said, his smile still on his face. "Perhaps you were onto something after all, Time Master. Yes, I do wish to win the boy over, and perhaps, it is indeed time for a change…"

As the wheels in the man's brilliant mind turned, he quickly stepped out of the bathroom and finished getting dressed. He had been about to go to bed, but with such a delicious plot forming in his mind, how could he possibly sleep now?

However, something else interrupted his thoughts…

Vlad gasped as a puff of red smoke escaped his mouth, and he quickly tensed in anger. "Curses! When will these infernal creatures leave me be?"

The man morphed into Plasmius and teleported to where he was feeling the spirit's presence at. He still wasn't use to this 'spirit sense' and he wasn't sure if he ever would. It was so much different than his internal sense. Perhaps this was how Daniel's visible ghost sense felt for him. It certainly was annoying.

Vlad pushed aside the thought when he appeared in his lab and found Justeco floating there.

"You need to leave right now," the older hybrid growled menacingly. "I think having to put up with one spirit is enough for a day!"

Justeco's eye widened. "One spirit? Who—?" The head Observant suddenly rolled his pupil, realizing who had been meddling again. "Of course," he muttered dryly, but then focused back on the older half-ghost. "Forgive me, Vlad Plasmius. It was just necessary for me to come and—"

"Thank me?" Vlad finished for him.

"Yes," Justeco replied. "You did not attend the ceremony, though I understand why; but I felt obligated to come see you and tell you how grateful the Observants and I are for all you did for us."

"I did nothing for you," Plasmius answered coolly. "In fact, I am a bit disappointed that you all did not perish. It would have served you right."

Justeco's eye widened, but then he lowered it. "I see. But… I suppose you are right. And nothing I could do would ever be enough to compensate for everything Iluzisto and the High Council put you and the young half-ghost through. But…" The spirit looked at him and said seriously. "I am sorry. And we have learned from our mistakes. And… we will _always_ be grateful to you and the boy for saving us—even if in your case, it was not intentional."

"Well, perhaps there is one thing you could do for me…," Vlad casually added. "It will not undo all you have done, but… it is fair…"

"As long as it is reasonable, then, I will do anything you ask me," Justeco answered.

"I want the Observants and Clockwork—_especially, Clockwork_— to keep out of my life and Daniel's," Vlad suddenly said seriously. "We are not your puppets. We have the right to make our own path, and you all have _no right_ to interfere! I want you all to leave us be!" Vlad said firmly.

Justeco sighed. "It is our duty to watch over the timeline and those in it, Vlad Plasmius. And when it comes to such powerful beings such as you and the other half-ghost, we sometimes are forced to interfere for the good of Existence. Nevertheless, I now understand you both are not puppets or some unimportant part in a parade; that you _do_ have the right to make your own choices and choose how to live your lives. So, as long as you and he do not do anything that will bring about the destruction of Existence, you have my word we will leave you and him be. I cannot guarantee much from Clockwork. He has always been his own boss, even when we were his superiors. However, I will try my best to have him stay away as well."

Justeco paused, but then his eye narrowed the slightest bit. "Now, allow me to warn _you_, Vlad Plasmius. If you step into the Observants' territory to cause trouble, we will respond with hostility. Consider us at a truce, so do not do anything to break that. It is my responsibility, after all, to protect my kind and our way of life—so to speak."

Plasmius studied the spirit for a moment, but then a small smirk curled his lips. "Ah, spoken like a true leader. Very well. I think your warning is reasonable, and I will bear it in mind. And you need not worry, my interests are far from the Realm Beyond Time—right now, anyways," he added evilly.

Justeco knew he should be bothered by the comment, but instead, his eye curved a bit in amusement as he said helplessly, "It seems not much has changed, then."

But before Vlad could answer, something—or someone—got his attention.

"VLAD!"

Justeco shook his head, answering himself, "Indeed." And then vanished.

Vlad looked back at the spirit, but seeing him gone, the man just briefly frowned.

"PLASMIUS, SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Such a loud little thing, isn't he?" Vlad muttered with annoyance. But by the angry voice, he knew his visitor was ticked off.

Plasmius grinned. "Could it be he finally figured it out…?" The older hybrid chuckled before he teleported to the main hall leading to the front of the house.

The boy was in ghost form, so he was easy to find. Still, not wanting to give the boy the impression that he was threatened by him or that he wanted to fight, Vlad turned human.

He then walked the rest of the way to the foyer.

"FRUIT LOOP! DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" Danny yelled as he stood in the center of the foyer with fisted hands.

"You realize it is past ten at night?" Vlad causally voiced as he finally turned the corner and appeared in the foyer. "_Good_ children should be in bed by now…"

"Whatever, Plasmius," Danny dismissed before he extended a hand and demanded, "Hand it over."

Vlad almost grinned when his suspicions had been confirmed. "Hand what over, Daniel? What are you pouting about now?" he asked calmly.

"Don't play dumb with me, Vlad!" Danny snapped. "You know I'm talking about Okulo's orb! That isn't yours!"

Vlad looked at him without an inflection on his face and just as relaxed answered, "The orb was destroyed, Daniel. I do not understand why you think I have it…"

Danny suddenly growled and passed a hand through his hair, grumbling, "I swear, Vlad, you can be so… You didn't destroy it!" he abruptly yelled at him. "I remember the fight, Plasmius! You used Justeco's orb, but the timeless beam hit Iluzisto's hand—not the orb! And everyone knows Timeless objects can't be destroyed unless with another timeless object! Now, take that and the fact that the orb's remains were mysteriously gone when you _suddenly_ left, and the truth is obvious: you have the orb!" the teen accused.

Vlad smiled this time. "Ah, Daniel. You are so paranoid."

"No, I'm not!" Danny protested. "You have it! You even used it to destroy Iluzisto's staff at the end! There is no way you could have done that with just your own energy—not matter how powerful you think you are!"

"I am more powerful than you could ever imagine," Vlad replied, almost sinisterly.

Danny hesitated, but then firmly said, "Give me the orb, Vlad. I mean it."

Vlad crossed his arms and asked casually, "If I had it, why would I hand it over, hmm?"

"Darn it!" Danny exclaimed. "I should have known you would take advantage of all this somehow! I trusted you and you just—"

"Lied to you?" Vlad abruptly interrupted. He then moved closer to the teen and got in his face, adding, "Or, was it that I tricked and deceived you? Did I betray your trust, little badger? Hmm…. That sounds all so familiar, _doesn't it?"_

Danny just stared back in silence.

"It's no fun to be at the receiving end, is it, Daniel?" Vlad asked darkly. "So, then, call us even."

"I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" Danny muttered back, though he remained frozen.

Vlad smiled before he slowly moved his face away from the boy's own. "Oh, you know what I want, Daniel. And your showing me how more like me you are each day only makes me more sure of that want. And you know what else?"

The man began to circle the teen, and Danny just watched him, like a mouse watches a circling hawk.

"I think deep down you _want_ to be like me. You want to join me. I am your forbidden apple, little badger, and it allures you so much. That's why you jumped at the chance to fight alongside me and have me guide you throughout the entire ordeal with Iluzisto. It's such a small sample, though, and yet, you still fell in awe of it. Hmm. Yes. I now have no doubt of it. But you know what?"

Vlad suddenly stopped in front of the teen and placed a hand on his head almost affectionately, "You _will_ take that delicious bite out of your own free will, Daniel. I am hoping it will be sooner than later, but you _will_ give in to the temptation I am for you."

Danny suddenly jerked away from the man. "It's so like you to twist everything," he answered with a mixture of anger and disappointment.

"Oh, Daniel. I do not need to twist the truth, for it is the truth," Vlad answered back. "Honestly, you cannot say you could not have done any of this without me—I won't even deny this fact holds true on my end, as well. I do not understand why you delay the inevitable. Think about it. Think about all you did that you would not have done in this week, if it had not been for me. You even got your first taste of _destruction_. It feels good to know an enemy as dangerous as Iluzisto will never bother you again, doesn't it?"

Danny's eyes widened, but he quickly defended, "What? No! I didn't waste him! It was the staff!"

Vlad smiled. "Oh, you naïve boy. Is that what Clockwork told you? Come on, Daniel. He planned all this from the beginning. He gave you the staff because he knew he couldn't destroy Iluzisto—he needed _you_ to do it. Of course, I did give you a bit of a push by destroying Iluzisto's staff, but all the same… it was all you, little badger. You're finally coming out of your shell. You are growing, my son… You should be proud… I am."

Danny shook his head. "No, I didn't destroy him! I—"

"It's okay, little badger," Vlad almost cooed, placing a hand on the boy's tense shoulder. "The first time is always hard."

Danny closed his eyes, trying to gain control of his emotions. And he forced himself to, as he said, "I am not letting you play these mind games with me, Plasmius."

The teen stepped away from the man and said, "I am thankful for your help. Yeah, I couldn't have done any of this without you. So, I'll always be grateful for you helping me, because you didn't have to. But I'm not letting you take advantage of that gratitude more than you already have. Think what you want, but I'm warning you now. If you use the orb for your evil schemes, you will be seeing me here _sooner_ than later—but to kick your butt, Plasmius!"

Danny didn't even wait for a response. He turned intangible and flew out of Vlad's house.

Vlad just smiled at the empty spot for a moment; but then he morphed and teleported back to his lab. He moved to a small vault hidden in the back of his lab.

With a fingerprint and a combination code later, he opened the box and pulled out…. Okulo's orb.

Plasmius grinned as he watched the orb turn a bright red under his touch. "I am not sure about evil schemes, Daniel, but I have a _wickedly good_ plan in mind just for you, my little badger. You will bite that forbidden apple on your own, but I will make sure it is _very soon_…"

The older hybrid's laugh echoed through the lab, as the orb flashed between red and blue…

* * *

**truephan here: Heh-heh, I see that you made it down here! Awesome! Of course, we want your thoughts about all of this but first, let us let you in on a little secret. Were you curious as to how we came up with all of the Realm Beyond Time's characters' names? Well, we're going to tell you right now! They were all a translation of an English name into Esperanto! Here is the rundown for ya:**

**_Esperanto Meanings of the Major Characters' Names_**

**_Iluzisto=_**** Esperanto word meaning "Illusion"**

**_Justeco_****=Esperanto word meaning "Judge"**

**_Konsilisto _****= "Counselor"**

**_Kvargvid_****= "Four Heads"**

**_Okulo_**** = "Eye"**

**_Spektanto_**** = "Viewer"**

**_Antovid_****= (partial Esperanto for "Seer". The full translation is _pli anto vid)_**

**_Minor Characters_**

**_Trupo_****=Esperanto word meaning "Troop"**

**_Gardisto_****= "Guard"**

**_Skolto_****= "Scout"**

**Heh-heh. How about that? Yeah, we think of things like that! So, we have nearly come to an end to this story and I want to thank each and every one of you readers from the bottom of my heart for your AWESOME support and encouragement. You have made this incredible BLAST and honor of co-writing with pearl truly SPECIAL! And, thanks, of course to you, pearl, my very AWESOME friend and epic writer! **

**But wait, everyone! Don't close the book on this story, yet. We have one more surprise for ya! Hope you stay tuned! **

**Pearl:**

**Ah, we have finally reached the end. But, as truephan said, we have one more surprise left for you all. Think of it as an 'extra page' to this book. But you'll see it in due time.**

**A few things, I am working on DoaS, so just to let you know I have not given up on it; I also hope to have that one-shot with Danny's point-of-view soon, too. Also, next week, Truephan is starting her newest conquest, which will tie into this story. It is called 'Gold Tested in Fire.' I am beating, and let me tell you, it's gonna be good! So, make sure you read.**

**And speaking of which, I did promise a sweet reader of mine, Jenniezzz88, that I would advertise her story, 'Like father, like Son.' She has wonderful writing and the story is a future fic, dealing with Danny and… someone else's kids. I'll let you find out the rest on your own. So, definitely, if you like future fics, you'll like this one! **

**Link: ****w ww. fanfiction. n et/s/7497535/1/**

**Also, another reader, Lightningpool, has begun a quest to bring back Danny Phantom. I know it's been many years, but things are only impossible when we don't try. So, help me lend her a hand with her campaign. We all love Danny Phantom, or you would not be reading this story, so go to her website and sign the petition! **

**Website:** **h tt p : / / savedannyphantom. weebly. c om/index. html**

**Lastly, I want to thank you all for your support. You readers make writing all the more fun, and you give us that drive to keep doing what we do. So, thank you all. Of course, a big thanks to Truephan. We sure had fun writing this piece for you, especially the challenge of merging her ideas and my own. But we are very synchronized, like Danny and Vlad! Lol! It was our intention for both our styles to meld together, so I hope we accomplished that! And I hope we were able to give you a new prospective on the Observants. Thank you all once more.**

**Ta for now. **


	36. Kvargvid's Story, deleted from Chap 24

**A/N: truephan here: *laughs and then cries* Hey, everybodee! I am laughing because I'm thrilled that pearl and I to get to share this surprise bonus chapter with y'all! But I'm crying because this means the real end of Seeing is _dis_Believing! It's sort of like having to leave a very fun party that has lots of colorful characters entertaining you! *sniff* Well, what can you do? Just cry! But also laugh at having such a great time, which I did, all because of you and pearl! Thanks again! **

**Now, if you recall, Chapter 24 was the 'great escape' chapter where the hybrids and their allies finally escaped from the Realm Beyond Time. And Team Phantom and Skulker had a close encounter of the third kind with Kvargvid. When their fight was through, Kvargvid tells Team Phantom that he was imprisoned here and innocent and when the kids want to know his story, he refrains from that because it will delay them from their quest to find Danny. They agree and take off. But that is not how it originally went. So, here is that bonus chapter and we'll explain more about it down below. Enjoy!**

**Pearl: **

**As Truephan said, this is the untold story of the mysterious four-headed ghost that the kids and Skulker met in Iluzisto's prison! I hope you all like it! And really, the credit goes all to Truephan, since this is her character and she thought of his real cool background! It is quite a tale, so read on! XD**

* * *

**Seeing is _dis_Believing—Kvargvid's Story—Deleted Scene from Chapter 24**

* * *

"You are imprisoned here but you're innocent?" Sam gasped, her heart moved to pity.

"Why?" Jazz added, feeling the tug on her heartstrings as well.

"Please, our sad history will only delay you," the creature gloomily said.

Clearly irritated, Skulker suddenly said, "The beast is correct! We need to leave! We have already wasted too much time and I fear there will be even less for hope!"

But Jazz could no longer hold in the great pity she had for the beast with such sad eyes. "Is there any way we can help you?" she pleaded.

"No, I think not. You do not know the ways of my world and therefore, I was wrong for you to try to understand how I and my brothers came to be here," Kvargvid added.

"Please, we want to understand," Sam was the next to reply. Her love of animals was begging her to listen to this strange creature—even if it were a very large and ghostly animal.

Tucker also nodded, but Skulker sulked. They could not tarry. He walked over to the door and tried to open it. But it did not budge. And the way those three silly humans looked, he knew that at this moment, they would not budge as well.

The ebony head paused as he turned to look at his brothers. Silently nodding to them, the ebony head sighed before continuing, "I will try to make it brief, then."

"You see, I have not always been this discarded and unwanted. We were once a young and happy Kvargvid among other ghost creatures similar to, yet different than, us. Though all of us who inhabit our beloved Thera are known as Theracites to other worlds, my kind call ourselves the '_Koncians_', which means the 'Aware or Knowing Ones' in our language because we have the highest sentience among all the ghost races who inhabit Thera... But unfortunately for us, my brothers and I were a special kind of _Koncian_."

Sam, Tucker and Jazz frowned, trying to put that odd information together, but the beast didn't stop with his story.

"In my world, most of my kin have one, two or even three heads upon their single torso similar to me... But that is all how they are similar to us. For you see, once the blue and yellow moons of our world align, shining their soft green light upon our sweet world, a four-headed being such as us is formed. And that had not happened for over a thousand of our world's years."

Seeing that the humans were still attentive, Kvargvid continued, "When such a creature as us arrives, it is both a sign of hope—and doom—for Thera."

The three teens frowned and glanced at each other in confusion before turning back to the beast with questioning eyes.

But Skulker had never stopped scowling and stood with his arms crossed by the cell's door, eager to leave.

Noticing the humans' reaction, Kvargvid said, "Please allow me to further explain my statement. The Olden Ones—ones you might call 'Sages' in your world— had said that when such beings such as my brothers and I arrive, that means that the natural forces of our world will soon become chaotic and _even catastrophic_. Why, we do not know, but the unstable phenomenon has been recorded in various times of our history. How long it lasts each time it comes is uncertain. It could be months, years, even centuries of your world's time before order in what you would call our 'weather' is restored…"

"But because of what other Kvargvids before me and my brothers did, the phenomenon's destructiveness to Thera was always averted. It has been our destiny, then, to maintain balance, to counter the chaotic weather changes our arrival heralds. And how were we to do that? With our powers, which, again, are not like any other Koncian or Theracite. I did not know until I came to this awful place we all find ourselves right now that a typical Koncian or Theracite only has the abilities of all other ghosts that exist. They can turn invisible or intangible, and can defend themselves with ectoplasmic energy. But that is all."

"We Kvargvids, however, are much different in power abilities. As you each experienced only a little while ago, each of our four heads has his own unique energy…one of fire, one of ice, one of sabers and one of mind and energy. And because of those powers, each of us can command the directions of the different forces of Thera all at once. And if necessary, we can correctly steer the movements of the odd distortion of the weather until it dissipates. Otherwise, Thera could be trapped and in danger by being forever bathed in only one kind of force, which we call a season…"

"Uh, even though that is very cool, Kvargvid, how can you steer the forces or, uh, the seasons? Does that mean you can control the winds?" Tucker suddenly asked.

"Two astute questions, master," the black head said with a slight but respectful nod as he immediately answered the boy.

"I hope I can explain it, for what I have learned of some worlds, including yours while being captive here, our 'winds'—as you call them — on Thera are not made the…same. But if it is simpler for you to understand, then I will call them as such and try to make what happens clearer for you."

The beast waited for the three humans to nod in understanding before he continued, "Thera is actually a world within a world. The part of Thera where all of Theracites abide is solid. But the atmosphere surrounding the solid part of Thera is neither solid nor liquid; nor gas-like as the atmosphere is in this prison.

"Do you mean that Thera doesn't have 'air' like we have in here?" Jazz queried.

"Ah, is that what you call this incredibly thin atmosphere?" the leader of the four said with a slight grin before continuing, "Then, yes, the sphere surrounding the solid part of Thera is not solid, liquid or air. In fact, it is a combination of them." The beast paused a moment, trying to search for the word. "Yes, that is how best to describe it," he concluded to himself before adding, "The shell of atmosphere surrounding the solid part of Thera is viscous, gelatin-like. And that is our 'wind' because it moves in four different ways, and made up of four different consistencies and temperatures which bathe the main solid part of Thera, and keep its temperature the same throughout the entire year..."

The three teens' eyes widened, enthralled with this story, especially since they had never heard of an atmosphere not made up of some kind of gas or gases. Nevertheless, they kept quiet and attentive to what the creature would say next.

And Kvargvid continued right away. "But because the gelatinous atmosphere is as it is, the seasons, or winds, usually make it thicker or thinner. The cold kind of wind makes the atmosphere almost like ice; the hot kind makes the atmosphere almost melt into nothingness; and the other two types of gelatinous winds are just the right consistency and have milder temperatures. But they are like that only during the regular times when there is no Chaos in our weather….And notice I had said, 'almost' for the two extremes of gelatinous winds; for I said that with a purpose, which I will shortly explain."

Jazz, Sam and Tucker weren't even aware that they had nodded in agreement before the ebony head added, "When Chaos comes, however, either of the two extremes can overpower the other forces, causing all of the semi-solid winds to become only one temperature. The cold wind can cause the other three to freeze as well, and therefore, Thera will be frozen in a block of ice that had once been its gelatinous atmosphere. None of the Theracites are able to phase through this kind of complex ice and so, therefore, could be trapped indefinitely."

He paused a bit while the three humans tried to comprehend what he had just said. When Kvargvid could see that understanding shining out of the three humans' eyes, he further said, "The hot wind can likewise cause all the other three movements of semi-solid atmosphere to burn abnormally, and Thera becomes engulfed in a hot bath, bubbling with thick steam. This is the more dangerous of the two extremes because it can actually thin out the auras of all the Theracites to the point of many of them becoming extinct."

Unexpectedly, all of the heads of the beast fell into obvious chagrin before also falling into a sudden silence.

The three humans' eyes widened in confusion and anxiety at the beast's abrupt change. Skulker, too, pulled himself up to more attention.

"What's wrong?" Jazz finally blurted out, unable to help herself.

"Forgive me," Kvargvid began, "But this next part is difficult. For you see, sometimes, the Chaos may bring these two scenarios or sometimes it can bring an even direr event."

This time Jazz, Sam and Tucker hitched in a gasp, while Skulker merely rolled his eyes with the histrionics so typical of young humans.

"I can cease in my story," Kvargvid offered as he frowned at the change in the humans.

"No, please go on," Tucker implored. "It's just that we can't help but react to your story. It's so…"

"Compelling," Jazz piped in.

"Yeah, and, uh, weird," Tucker agreed, while Sam merely nodded in agreement.

"That is good—the 'weird' part?" the beast suddenly asked.

"Well, let's just say that we want to know the rest of your story," Sam then added with a slight smile.

Jazz and Tucker then nodded in agreement with the Goth girl.

Kvargvid next glanced over to Skulker, who just shrugged with a slight frown.

Now satisfied that no one was not going to object to his continuing, the four-headed beast said, "When Chaos causes the hot and cold elements of each of their winds to increase to the point that both overtake the other two winds at their sides and then move onward until they meet, one or the other can overtake the other as I described above….But…if neither is strong enough to counter the other, then a sort of battle between them erupts. And when it does, it causes a force stronger than the both of them, which thrusts into the solid part of Thera, hammering our world until that combined force bites pieces right out of the solid below them. If left unchecked, the vortex they had formed would split our world into thousands of pieces! The forces do not totally destroy our world and our world is capable of reforming, but the destruction is enough that Theracites do not want to see the Chaos take control."

The large beast paused only a second before adding, "And it is during this time, when all of the signs point to Chaos moving like I have just described, that a Kvargvid is born."

But then, how can you stop it when you're just born?" Tucker suddenly couldn't help but ask.

"Another astute question, master," the beast respectfully said.

Tucker smirked a bit before Kvargvid continued.

"The signs for change are slow enough for each Kvargvid to mature and hone their powers. There is usually no difficulty in this matter. It is as if—for the lack of a better way to explain it—it is as if fate knows and coordinates a formation of a Kvargvid."

Kvargvid suddenly stopped and turned to his brothers. He nodded to them before turning back to the teens and continuing, "Thank you for reminding me, brothers. They want me to tell you more about the Chaos that is imperative to know for you to understand our unique role in it… Sometimes, the changes in the atmosphere are so drastic that our actions must be practically instantaneous. And so, that is why only one of the four of us speaks. We communicate telepathically because if we could not and we had to speak during intense moments so all of us can understand, that could be enough of a delay for disaster to succeed. Only Kvargvids, or what translates to 'Four-heads' in your human language—and no other Koncian or Theracite — have and can garner this kind of power….And no other Koncian or Theracite can coordinate their communication with each other as effectively as Kvargvids."

The ebony leader suddenly said in a hush, "But there is another part of our destiny that can also be quite dangerous to all of Thera…"

The creature paused another moment, suddenly pained by the memories. He was unaware that all four of his faces had fallen in sadness or that all of the human teens had noticed.

The black head then slowly said, "Because my brothers and I command such force among us, it demands grave responsibility from us as well. We are indeed at that time of our existence the most powerful creature on our world. So then, it is also our destiny to rule. But not only to rule over all Koncians but also of all the other races on Thera..." Kvargvid then almost growled in indignation, "Still, that rule should not be in domination, but to govern in peace and unity!"

Though the teens were in complete agreement with the creature, the teens once again frowned in confusion at the abrupt change in the creature's voice just now. Why did he seem _angry _about saying the right thing? Nevertheless, they did not interrupt the ghost as sighed before he continued.

"Though I did not know it for a very long time, I now know that evil ran amok with news of my arrival from those who opposed the Olden Ones."

The black head sighed even as he said, "Those who opposed the Sages reminded them of the past destinies of other Kvargvids; and that, in truth, Kvargvids such as we were to be hated and rejected, for we would be the downfall of our world."

All of the humans' eyes widened in disbelief. They were about to ask questions when the beast lowered all of his heads in shame and continued.

"And that is because in truth some of the Kvargvids of our history were ruthless rulers. In fact, there was one Kvargvid to govern Thera who was particularly coreless and brutal; and his cruel, pained memory still burned within the central cores of many Theracites at the time my brothers and I came to be because that last Kvargvid and his brothers were our immediate predecessor. And that is because that Kvargvid used his powers over the winds to destroy those who opposed him and his brothers. They also used their powers to steal the treasures of others because they felt those treasures were owed to them for their important role in keeping the weather of Thera under control….."

Kvargvid paused again before he continued, "So, by the time it was my destiny to arrive, there was unrest everywhere and many on Thera argued that they would rather brave the Chaos than be under the rule of any Kvargvid that would abuse their powers…And, really, I would agree about such fears; especially when my immediate predecessor was so despicable…"

The black head sighed with slight remorse as he offered, "Of course, since I and my brothers were so young and helpless at the time, we did not know of this conflict at first. Nor did we know how much of a threat we could be to all of Thera…So, our clan sent us to a faraway world to be kept hidden until what could be decided of us. They thought they had plenty of time in which to do that, for the signs in the winds were still slow in coming."

The large creature sighed again at the memories, but he still pressed on. "For many years, we were happy. We had a simple, even pampered, life. And I have to admit that my brothers and I were a bit…spoiled, as great pains were taken by our clan that we be happy in our exile. We now understand that we had been quite obnoxious in our demands, so we really did not think our exile was a bad thing. Not only that, but I and my brothers constantly bickered with each other, rivaling the others of who was the best and all that sort of triviality."

Jazz winced as she said, "Uh, isn't that kind of normal for siblings?"

"Yes, it is. But it is very unusual for my kind because we have our special bond. We were not destined to have such discord with each other because of that bond. But you see, we had become prideful, arrogant, impatient and selfish with how we were treated by our clan. They did not treat us badly, you understand. In fact, they indulged us too much, even so much as to equating us with some god—which blinded us to our purpose. They made sure to visit us often so that we would not be alone. But, of course, we were never alone; for I and my brothers have each other's company all of the time."

He turned toward his other mute brothers and sadly smiled before he said, "And we thought during our naïve, selfish little life that all was well, until that first of many dark days…."

All of Kvargvid's yellow eyes sudden darkened and flared a bit, even though they conveyed mostly sadness. "You see, we were the youngest of my clan, and we had two other separate siblings who each had only one head. We thought we had gotten along. But the eldest, whose name was Plej-Malnova **(1)**, was secretly jealous of us. We never knew that until that particular dark day, but Plej-Malnova wanted to rule our entire world. Our father had moved up into the ruling hierarchy, and was in the position to ascend the highest station, which meant that he would be the supreme ruler of the Konocians and have incredible influence over all of the other ghost races on Thera. And, more importantly, one of his kin would ascend from him. And Plej-Malnova wanted to be the one granted the honor and not us. He did not think it fair that my brothers and me should be the ones to get that honor just because of any omens—especially when he had been among the ones who did not believe in them. Nor did he want me to have the privilege of ruling Thera in its entirety."

"But then, many things happened very quickly. And since I and my brothers were still quite young—and really, should I say, quite narcissistic and naïve —we were not aware of any of it until it was too late. Our father vanished under mysterious circumstances. And in the meantime, the evil ones of our world who had opposed the Olden Ones had actually been defeated and were banished from our world. And that meant that the Olden Ones and our world were about to welcome my brothers and me back to our realm to rule."

"We were very frightened about the news, for as you can see, we had been unprepared in all those years we were away. Then our eldest brother, who you recall was named Plej-Malnova, took us under his tutelage. We, of course, welcomed it without hesitation."

"But like I told you before, our oldest brother did not have honorable intentions. Yes, he taught us well, but it was so that his plan to usurp us would be believable….And he had many in our ruling body convinced that my brothers and I were still very much a threat to Thera."

The creature lowered his head and closed his eyes at the painful memory before he continued, "Plej-Malnova set a trap for us….It all started when he had obtained a strange object. I did not know how he had gotten it until when I was forced to come here; and I soon learned that he had taken it with ill-will."

"What do you mean by that?" Tucker suddenly asked.

Kvargvid glanced at the young male and sadly replied, "Plej-Malnova must have had evil intent; for you see, my brothers and I were the ones who were accused of stealing this strange medallion."

"What medallion?" Sam finally piped in, intrigued by this newest information.

The ebony head blinked in slight surprise at the younger girl's slight outburst, but he answered her question nevertheless.

"Quite honestly, we do not know its true purpose," he began. "But it is definitely a much prized object of its owner, for he was the one who came after it and was quite upset that it had been taken. He had particularly admonished us for toying with its great power; though I assure you that I and my brothers had not even known of its existence until we somehow found it in our possession, much less attempt to use any of its powers."

The three teens were silent for a moment, unsure what that meant.

Finally, Jazz voiced what was on all of the three humans' minds. "Who was its owner?"

Kvargvid blinked in slight confusion this time before he brightened with the realization. "Forgive us. But of course you would not know who the owner of the strange medallion was. Still, we are not certain you would know him even if you heard his name. But we will tell you it all the same. His name was Clockwork."

"**Clockwork?"** all three of the teens exclaimed in both shock and dread.

The four heads of the large beast startled. They had not expected such a reaction from the young humans.

"W-We did not know that you knew of the Time Spirit," Kvargvid finally stammered, still taken aback at how these three could possibly know of the powerful Time Master.

"Long story," Tucker answered him with a weak smile. "But though Clockwork is very powerful, I can't believe that he would capture and bring you here."

"He did not bring us here, master. The guards of the same race here who has imprisoned me brought me," Kvargvid replied.

"But then, I can't believe that Clockwork wouldn't know that you were innocent!" Sam piped in.

"By my actions before, I can say that I was guilty of selfishness. But by the Time Master's actions, I can say that he is unjust," Kvargvid sadly added.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked with a worried frown since she had not liked how Kvargvid had said that.

"As I told you," the ebony head of the beast replied, "Clockwork had somehow been able to track his medallion to Thera. And when he found out that it was inexplicably in my brothers' and my possession, he did not believe our vehement insistence that we had not stolen it from him…But even direr, the Time Master accused us of using its powers!"

Kvargvid suddenly paused before he sadly added, "But then again, how could we have expected the Time Master to believe us when Plej-Malnova did not give us his own support? In fact, my oldest brother admonished us as well, claiming that we had brought disgrace upon our clan by taking and using what was not ours to possess."

"And so, instead of fulfilling our destiny to protect and rule Thera, my brothers and I were brought to this awful place. We were put on trial by the Observants and accused of crimes against Time and Existence because of how Clockwork's Time Medallion was used…."

The beast paused and this time sighed in sadness with the memories before he continued, "As I told you, our father disappeared mysteriously. We found out in our trial that it was through the power of this medallion that he vanished. And because his timeline was erased, the future was altered. All in the assembly that judged us said it must have been our plan to do this horrid thing to our father so that we could ascend the throne sooner than what was meant to be. And so, that was the crime against Time and Existence of which we were accused….By what we now hold dear, I swear that me and my brothers had not committed this crime, especially when we were not even at Thera when it happened! But, once again, Plej-Malnova had made sure to send a message that we were on Thera when my father disappeared. So, as you probably have already guessed by now, we were found guilty and have been here since then. For how long, we cannot say; for as you also have realized by now, this horrible place has no time evolving. Nevertheless, we did our best to keep track of many things for all the while we have been here."

Kvargvid stepped away from the wall a bit and pointed out to the teens all the scratched-in odd writing that littered some of the walls. "Forgive me, but there is no other way to say it. But we did not _waste any of our time_ while we have been here. We have studied all that we observed or heard within these walls by any creature that paid us a visit; which, as I told you before, were many, since their dark purpose was to torture us in the end. But not only that, we listened to any creature that may have passed by our cell to learn all that we knew of them."

The black head suddenly frowned in thought before he added, "You know, I never understood this; but sometimes, we were allowed to look at the books that belong in this realm, and I have come to understand some of their strange language. Honestly, all of the time we have been forced to be here has been a mystery to me and my brothers in the end."

Once again, ever being in the room fell silent, though Skulker hadn't really counted since he had kept quiet and seemed uninterested throughout Kvargvid's story.

Finally, Jazz queried, "So, if you were so important to your world, what happened to it now that you're here and not there?"

"Another astute question, young female," the black-headed leader replied. "But, obviously, I do not know for certain. And I am not certain whether I completely believe what I have been told about my world."

"Why not?" Sam asked with curiosity and slight confusion over what the creature had just said.

All of the yellow eyes of the beast flared a bit before the ebony head answered, "Because of whom had told us about our world. For a reason we will never understand, Clockwork had also been one of our frequent visitors."

The three teens gasped and even Skulker's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, we find it upsetting as well as ironical," Kvargvid continued. "The very being responsible for our capture and condemnation was the very same one to keep us aware of most things happening to our world; of providing us those books of which I spoke; and, dare I say, who also gave us company on occasion."

The beast lowered his head a bit as he added, "But since I have had no other news about Thera to contradict the Time Master, the information he had deigned to give us has given us both sorrow and hope."

Though worried about the tone and the words of the four-headed creature, the foursome stayed quiet and patiently waited for him to continue.

Finally, the ebony-headed leader sighed and said, "The Chaos of Thera was not as intense as feared. But half of Thera has been frozen and still remains frozen to this day because of the Chaos. Had I and my brothers been there…then my clan would not have been trapped under the ice, where they must remain until a new Kvargvid is formed. And since we still exist, that could be indefinitely. Ironically, then, Plej- Malnova did not have much time before his coveted reign was brought to a cold end. So, in many ways, he, too, has been as much a prisoner as I and my brothers have been these many years…."

The beast paused before his three brothers lowered their heads. The leader sighed once more, "Somehow, we cannot feel vindicated. We feel ashamed that we could not rise above our own egos and pettiness to save Thera from its present pathetic state."

"But you couldn't help it, Kvargvid," Tucker insisted. "You were just a, uh, well, a kid at the time!"

The black head smiled sadly and replied, "Though that is true, master, we were not younglings. Though young, we were mature enough to know better; but we still gave into our selfishness instead, which is why our assertion to innocence was not believed. But while we have been imprisoned here, I have finally learned to be patient and push aside our selfish desires for many things, something that we did not know how to do before we came here. We have also learned what mercy should be, which was a foreign concept to us until what we have endured here gave us insight of what that is. And that is because there was an incredible amount of _mercilessness_ from all of our torture we have borne at the hands of the Prison Head. So, that is another reason why we gave in to you only a while ago: because we recognized _your_ mercy in not destroying us while you had the chance."

The beast paused again and everyone else in the room couldn't help but be moved by what Kvargvid had just said.

But then the leader of the four-headed creature said with sudden realization, "It is most odd… Now that we are sharing our story with you all, we have realized something… We feel that in some puzzling way, we were also treated with mercy by the Time Master during our time here… I can see now that perhaps he did all this with a deeper purpose. Yes…, the Time Master wanted us to learn replace our selfishness with _selflessness and mercy!_ It is also possible that Clockwork might have also wanted to teach the Theracites to understand and appreciate the wisdom of the old… And perhaps, it was, too, destined that we all meet now, for your mercy has once more given me hope! I understand now at last—just as the Time Master assured me!...Therefore, if we are ever released before another Kvargvid is formed, we have promised to not only rescue Thera, but forgive the evilness done to us. And after taking all our hard lessons to our cores, we will always strive to rule Thera while keeping mercy foremost in our decisions and bow down to wisdom before selfishness."

Once again, silence surrounded all the beings in the room.

Finally, Kvargvid broke the silence. "Thank you for your mercy…But I have already delayed you too long in your quest to find your friend. Once again, please pardon us for attacking you. Our oppressor here regularly sends imaginary creatures to torment us, and we thought you were such."

"Wow, what a story!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Yeah, now we understand everything. Thanks for sharing your story with us," Jazz replied. "Now, maybe we can help you…."

* * *

**Plej Malnova= Esperanto translation for 'Oldest'.**

**Truephan here: Hey, there, everyone: We left the ending open because this was a deleted scene that we would have woven in better into Chapter 24 had we decided to use it. But, obviously, we didn't use it for two major reasons: 1. It would have slowed the action in this chapter WAY down! And we didn't want to do that at all. And 2. Chapter 24 was HUMONGOUS enough as it was and as you can see, this is no 'short' story in terms of embedding it into an already long chapter. **

**Hope you like it anyways! Thanks for reading! I also hope you'll join us in that chat that pearl will announce and also invite you to join me at another double feature tonight: I begin my next story, "Gold Tested in Fire"! See you! And, happy b'day again, AA! *winks* truephan **

**Pearl: **

**Well, it's time to bid a fond farewell to yet another story. It truly was awesome to write this with Truephan! I say we made a pretty cool team! XD Thank you all for your continuing support! Please let us know what you thought of this deleted scene and the overall story! Our muses need their attention, you know! Lol! So, then, as Truephan moves on to her newest story, I will be picking up Doas once more, as you all know. I am still doing that one-shot, too. Not sure which you will see up first since it depends on which my muse chooses to finish first. And, of course, we have another big project at a computer-screen near you; but not until spring! LOL! In any case, you all will be reading Truephan and I very soon; we hope to have you all as well in our individual writing projects. So, until then, my wonderful readers! **

**Oh, but don't forget the chat at the HiddenPearl! It is this Saturday (Feb 4th) at 4pm Eastern Standard Time (New York Time!) Ta!**


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